Bridge21 - Information Literacy through Contextualised Inquiry

The main means by which students at post-primary and third level seek out information is via Internet searching. Many post-primary and third-level students consider themselves to have good ICT skills, but these skills do not naturally equate to good information literacy. This workshopwill encourage students to reflect upon and develop their own information literacy skills while engaging in genuine, contextualised inquiry. As such, the core principles of inquiry-based learning will also be outlined and demonstrated in practice. Grounded in the Bridge21 model, this course will require students to critically reflect on processes for finding and assessing information. In doing so they will learn about how they learn, and gain an understanding of how they think about knowledge. Emerging from this process, students will then be required to design and deliver their own inquiry-based scenario that promotes the development of information literacy rooted in their own discipline. The workshop will examine how an ‘information skills rich’ inquiry can be used in tandem with plenary and whole class discussion to create dynamic learning experiences.