PROBLEM SOLVING:
- THE BIG SIX SKILLS APPROACH TO INFORMATION PROBLEM SOLVING(copyright Eisenberg
and Berkowitz, 1988)The Big Six is an information literacy curriculum,
an information problem-solving process, and a set of skills which provide
a strategy for effectively and efficiently meeting information needs. The
Big Six Skills approach can be used whenever students are in a situation,
academic or personal, which requires information to solve a problem, make
a decision or complete a task. This model is transferable to school, personal,
and work applications, as well as all content areas and the full range
of grade levels. When taught collaboratively with content area teachers
in concert with content-area objectives, it serves to ensure that students
are information literate.
The Big Six:
1. Task Definition
i. Define the task (the information problem)
ii. Identify information needed in order to complete the task (to solve
the information problem)
2. Information Seeking Strategies
i. Brainstorm all possible sources
ii. Select the best sources
3. Location and Access
i. Locate sources
ii. Find information within the source
4. Use of Information
i. Engage in the source (read, hear, view, touch)
ii. Extract relevant information
5. Synthesis
i.Organize information from multiple sources
ii. Present the information
6. Evaluation
i. Judge the process (efficiency)
ii.Judge the product (effectiveness)
MULTIMEDIA ENCYCLOPEDIA:
- Multimedia is the term used to describe two or more types of media combined into a single package—usually
denoting a combination of some or all of the following: video, sound,
animation, text, and pictures. Multimedia gives the user the opportunity
to influence the presentation of material. The selection and
manipulation of various aspects of the presentation material is the
interactive aspect of a multimedia presentation. Interactive features
could range from a question-and-answer function to choosing from a menu
of particular subjects or aspects of a presentation. One application of
multimedia, for example, involves presenting the user with a “what if”
scenario, in which the choices the user makes affect the outcome of the
presentation. This affords the user a degree of control, not unlike
directing a motion picture and having the opportunity to make changes to
the plot at various junctures.
Multimedia devices have an almost innumerable variety of
applications. They are used in home-entertainment systems and can be
extremely powerful educational tools. Educators, for example, have been
exceptionally creative in combining some of the exciting elements of
video-game applications with select features of educational material. By doing this, the concept of “edutainment”
was created. The goal of using the multimedia edutainment approach is
to entertain the user so effectively that the user remains unaware that
he or she is actually learning in the process. Training, informational and promotional materials, sales presentations,
and point-of-sale displays that allow for customer interaction and
communication both within and outside the organization are all common
applications of multimedia in the business world. Multimedia
presentations for many such applications can be highly portable,
particularly in the cases of the CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and videotape. The
equipment required to produce these presentations is relatively
commonplace or otherwise easy to access.
ELECTRONIC BOOK:
- Electronic
books (or e-books) can be defined as any group of text in a digital
format that is to be read and displayed on a computer screen. They
can be accessed in a myriad of different ways including through the
internet, on a CD-ROM or by many of the portable e-book readers
available on the market. Many types of content are also available for
free download or purchase including popular fiction, non-fiction, as
well as educational titles (Maynard, 2005, p. 103). This emerging
technology has opened the possibility for a large range of new
learning experiences for students because of its advantages over
traditional printed textbooks. Electronic books often contain rich
multimedia features that cannot be found in textbooks. These
frequently include recordings of the text read-aloud, lively
animations, music, video and various sound effects. Young children
are found to especially respond well to these enhanced features
(Korat, 2008, p.111). Many companies are now producing more
electronic textbooks for use in classrooms as researchers
believe that they can prove to be excellent supplementary material
for teachers, as well as being quite effective in early literacy
development, reading comprehension and language development for young
children (De Jong, 2004; Grant, 2004; Grimshaw, 2007; Higgins, 1999;
Korat, 2008; Lewin, 2000; Maynard, 2005). This paper highlights the
successes of children’s interactions with electronic books in
their learning environments.
Grimshaw (2007) believes that
rich multimedia features such as audio narration, sound effects and
animations embedded into electronic books can very much help children
improve their reading comprehension skills. The reasoning is that
these features support the text, help the child "decode"
new words and children actually improve on their understanding of the
text (p.584). If a book has audio narration and also highlights the
text as it goes along, the child is able to follow along much easier.
Sound and 3-D animation in the electronic text can help illustrate
meaning to young children and can provide better examples in
comparison to a traditional 2-dimensional book. Voice narration also
aids children in pronunciation of particular words and helps with
understanding of syntax. Children also respond well to these features
because if they need help defining or pronouncing the words, they can
instantly access help for themselves within the electronic book.
There is the added advantage of a degree of privacy as many children
are shy and reluctant to ask a teacher for help in a classroom
setting. Some children are impatient, choosing to ignore the fact
that they do not understand the text, and will just keep on reading
anyway (p.585). When children are motivated to read and to do so
without fear of failure, they also tend to excel in reading at or
above their grade level (p.586). Electronic texts can provide this
kind of support to them because it actively engages their minds.
