Ban those Dinosaur Units: Implementing Independent Research though Guided Inquiry

"Those Dinosaur Units" refers to many meaningless forms of library research assignments or projects; the result of which is copying or outright plagiarism, and low levels of development of knowledge and understanding.  In today’s complex and conflicting information landscape, how do you move from low-level learning activities and replace them with exciting learning experiences that enable students to build new knowledge and real understanding? This seminar focuses on the dynamics of Guided Inquiry as an approach to meaningful learning though independent research.  It will provide strategies, examples, and case studies of some effective approaches. This program is for school librarians and classroom teachers who want to learn and work together to bring about the best learning opportunities for students in information age schools through a guided inquiry framework.

Each participant will come away with:

• An understanding of guided inquiry: philosophy and grounding in constructivist learning theory
• A knowledge of the current research in guided inquiry
• Ability to plan and implement guided inquiry learning
• Strategies to develop a school community in guided inquiry
• Capacity to train district and regional librarians in guided inquiry

Prototypes of learning materials and impact measurement instruments.

Ross J Todd, PhD, Associate Professor Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA

Dr Ross Todd is associate professor in the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He is Director of Research in the Center for International scholarship in School Libraries, at Rutgers University.  His primary teaching and research interests focus on adolescent information seeking and use, and how students learn through using information. The research is multi-faceted, and includes: understanding how children learn and build new knowledge from information; how school librarians and classroom teachers can more effectively empower student learning; and how the development of information and critical literacy’s can foster meaningful learning. He has published more than 120 papers and book chapters and has been an invited speaker at many international conferences, most recently in Hong Kong, Netherlands, Philippines, Croatia and Australia.