What to use and what not to use - that is the question!
As I stated in my second Slim Toolkit Questionnaire, I was collecting articles in abundance and I was struggling to find the time to read them thoroughly and keep searching! It quickly became apparent that I needed to start sorting through those that would be useful to my context essay and come up with a system by which I could select articles more accurately. A tutorial at around this time had included a discussion about the things to look for when evaluating the worth of an article for inclusion in your research. Kuhlthau (2007) identifies five characteristics of information that can be utilised in determining whether the article is beneficial to your inquiry or not. These five characteristics are:
- Expertise - Who the author is, their qualifications and credentials
- Accuracy - the factual correctness of the source
- Currency - the date of publication of the material
- Perspective and - the author's point of view, purpose in writing the article and any bias
- Quality - How well written and articulate the piece of writing is
So in order to consider each of these characteristics in the light of my inquiry this is how I applied them when evaluating whether or not information was to be used.
1. The author of the source in this case, needed to be connected to educational research from a university. The list of references to other experts in the area of historical inquiry was an indication of the amount of research that had been drawn upon in writing the article. The journal that it appeared in also helped give the article credibility. For example the journal, "Social Studies Research and Practice" featured articles by credible authors on the specific area of my inquiry.
2. The accuracy of the information was not as clear. I have already referred to my ability to see trends in ideas and concepts across the literature. This was one element that I utilised in determining the accuracy of the information. I felt that the literature was not always as accurate in terms of its relevance to specifically Year 3 students as it tended to encompass all the elementary years. However in the end I generalised the findings to suit the younger years.
3. Part of my search process was to only use sources that were dated from 2001 to the present day. Theories and models of inquiry had changed over the years so I felt that it was important to have recent, up to date information.
4. The point of view of the author wasn't always evident in the title but became more obvious in the first couple of paragraphs.The following article sounded as though it would be worthwhile. However upon further reading it was discarded because it was more about the National Inquiry into School History rather than the inquiry approach used in school history, as suggested in the title.
2. The accuracy of the information was not as clear. I have already referred to my ability to see trends in ideas and concepts across the literature. This was one element that I utilised in determining the accuracy of the information. I felt that the literature was not always as accurate in terms of its relevance to specifically Year 3 students as it tended to encompass all the elementary years. However in the end I generalised the findings to suit the younger years.
3. Part of my search process was to only use sources that were dated from 2001 to the present day. Theories and models of inquiry had changed over the years so I felt that it was important to have recent, up to date information.
4. The point of view of the author wasn't always evident in the title but became more obvious in the first couple of paragraphs.The following article sounded as though it would be worthwhile. However upon further reading it was discarded because it was more about the National Inquiry into School History rather than the inquiry approach used in school history, as suggested in the title.
Title: 'It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it' : the national history inquiry, SOSE and the enacted curriculum.
Personal Author: Taylor, A.
Source: Ethos 7-12; v.9 n.1 p.9-19; Term 1 2001
Abstract: In November 1999 the Commonwealth announced the establishment of a National Inquiry into School History. This article briefly outlines the process of the inquiry and its outcomes and then goes on to focus on one particular aspect of the inquiry research findings which has interesting implications for the teaching of Studies of Society and the Environment.
5. When assessing the worth of an article it was important that it was well written and well structured. Many articles that were included, cited from other works which further added to the quality and validity of the article.
The following articles were included. Both authors were assistant or associate professors and were published in academic journals that were included in an educational database. The abstracts included many of the themes and ideas that were continually surfacing in other articles as well. The information was current and relevant to the teaching of history today for younger students. Whilst the second article was presented from research based around pre-service teachers and their approach to teaching inquiry-based history the findings were still relevant.
Teaching Elementary Students How to Interpret the Past. By: Fertig, Gary. Social Studies, v96 n1 p2 Jan-Feb 2005. (EJ712159)
Elementary students can learn how to take an interpretive approach to learning history so that they can construct knowledge about collective past experience in ways that provide a meaningful context for understanding present experience. Like historians, children communicate their interpretations to others by telling or writing stories in which they "do not discover the past so much as they create it; they choose the events and people that they think constitute the past, and they decide what about them is important to know." The stories or historical narrative accounts are selective for practical and personal reasons. They are practical because it is impossible for anyone to know or gain access to all of the facts surrounding an event, and personal because an individual's life experiences, beliefs, and values influence the choice of phenomena and ways in which that person assigns causality and significance to events. Historical narratives and the sources of evidence relied on to create them require interpretation because they are inherently selective, incomplete, and value based. This article discusses why it is important to teach children to interpret the past and challenges to interpreting the past with children. Suggested activities for teaching elementary students how to interpret the past are appended.
5. When assessing the worth of an article it was important that it was well written and well structured. Many articles that were included, cited from other works which further added to the quality and validity of the article.
The following articles were included. Both authors were assistant or associate professors and were published in academic journals that were included in an educational database. The abstracts included many of the themes and ideas that were continually surfacing in other articles as well. The information was current and relevant to the teaching of history today for younger students. Whilst the second article was presented from research based around pre-service teachers and their approach to teaching inquiry-based history the findings were still relevant.
Teaching Elementary Students How to Interpret the Past. By: Fertig, Gary. Social Studies, v96 n1 p2 Jan-Feb 2005. (EJ712159)
Elementary students can learn how to take an interpretive approach to learning history so that they can construct knowledge about collective past experience in ways that provide a meaningful context for understanding present experience. Like historians, children communicate their interpretations to others by telling or writing stories in which they "do not discover the past so much as they create it; they choose the events and people that they think constitute the past, and they decide what about them is important to know." The stories or historical narrative accounts are selective for practical and personal reasons. They are practical because it is impossible for anyone to know or gain access to all of the facts surrounding an event, and personal because an individual's life experiences, beliefs, and values influence the choice of phenomena and ways in which that person assigns causality and significance to events. Historical narratives and the sources of evidence relied on to create them require interpretation because they are inherently selective, incomplete, and value based. This article discusses why it is important to teach children to interpret the past and challenges to interpreting the past with children. Suggested activities for teaching elementary students how to interpret the past are appended.
Subjects: Historians; Concept Formation; Elementary School Students; Historical Interpretation; History Instruction; Teaching Methods; Class Activities
Historical Inquiry in a Methods Classroom: Examining Our Beliefs and Shedding Our Old Ways. By: Fragnoli, Kristi. Social Studies, v96 n6 p247-251 Nov-Dec 2005. (EJ744196)
Historical inquiry is a multifaceted phenomenon. S. G. Grant describes it as "the passion for pulling ideas apart and putting them back together" (2000, 196). Historical inquiry as an instructional strategy benefits students and the classroom dynamic. It promotes students' appreciation of their personal histories while they are exploring others' histories. Students are more engaged in the subject than they would be in a class in which the teacher requires only rote memorization of minute facts. According to Levstik and Barton (1997), the memorization of isolated facts rarely advances students' conceptual understanding. The study that is reported in this article concerns the way in which preservice teachers negotiate historical inquiry-based teaching and learning in relation to their preexisting conceptions of social studies as a discipline. Another concern was finding whether having an understanding of historical inquiry influences pedagogy.
Historical inquiry is a multifaceted phenomenon. S. G. Grant describes it as "the passion for pulling ideas apart and putting them back together" (2000, 196). Historical inquiry as an instructional strategy benefits students and the classroom dynamic. It promotes students' appreciation of their personal histories while they are exploring others' histories. Students are more engaged in the subject than they would be in a class in which the teacher requires only rote memorization of minute facts. According to Levstik and Barton (1997), the memorization of isolated facts rarely advances students' conceptual understanding. The study that is reported in this article concerns the way in which preservice teachers negotiate historical inquiry-based teaching and learning in relation to their preexisting conceptions of social studies as a discipline. Another concern was finding whether having an understanding of historical inquiry influences pedagogy.
Subjects: Teaching Methods; Preservice Teachers; Student Attitudes; Social Studies; History; Inquiry; Preservice Teacher Education; Methods Courses; Case Studies; Student Surveys
Finally, the mind map that I had developed (See blog entry for Thursday August 11) proved to be a valuable tool as I began to sort the information that I collected. The articles that supported the theories and concepts that I had identified as recurring and supportive of the ILA were put aside for further reading. As my case was strengthening with support information I was able to begin making connections between pieces of information that started out as separate points. For example, the use of artifacts, object-based inquiry and the use of concrete objects in historical inquiry evolved into one point concerning the importance of basing the ILA around the use of primary sources.
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