Information Literacy and Inquiry-Based Learning
What Information Literacy and Inquiry-Based Learning covers
The exam tests your ability to co-teach inquiry, teach source evaluation and ethical use, and assess process and product. The library media specialist is an instructional partner, not a checkout clerk.
Core rules and concepts
- AASL Standards Framework for Learners: six shared foundations-Inquire, Include, Collaborate, Curate, Explore, Engage-each with Think, Create, Share, Grow competencies. Use them to plan units and justify collaboration.
- Inquiry models: Kuhlthau's Information Search Process (initiation, selection, exploration, formulation, collection, presentation, assessment); Guided Inquiry Design (Open, Immerse, Explore, Identify, Gather, Create, Share, Evaluate); Big6/Super3; Stripling's model (Connect, Wonder, Investigate, Construct, Express, Reflect). Choose one with the teacher and use its language.
- Questioning: move from topic to essential question; pre-search to build background; teach students to revise questions.
- Source evaluation: teach lateral reading and SIFT (Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, Trace claims) alongside CRAAP (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose). CRAAP alone can reward a polished but biased site.
- Ethical use: MLA 9 or school style, paraphrase, citation, copyright, and AI disclosure. Teach academic honesty as a skill, not a punishment.
- Collaboration: co-plan, co-teach, and co-assess; use gradual release, inquiry journals, conferences, and rubrics that score process and product.
- Differentiation: UDL, multilingual supports, IEP/504 accommodations, choice in product.
Worked example
A 10th-grade teacher asks for a research day. Reasoning: reframe as a co-taught inquiry unit. Pre-search builds background; students write an essential question; a mini-lesson on lateral reading has them compare a viral claim across sources; conferences monitor note-taking; the rubric scores question quality, source justification, and reflection. The librarian teaches the process; the teacher assesses content.
Traps that cost marks
- Teaching databases before students have a question.
- Treating CRAAP as sufficient source evaluation.
- One-shot library visits instead of sustained inquiry.
- Assessing only the final product.
- Ignoring AI use or treating plagiarism only as discipline.