Information Literacy and Inquiry-Based Learning
Information Literacy and Inquiry-Based Learning tests whether you can design instruction that moves students from finding facts to building understanding. The exam emphasizes the AASL standards, inquiry models, collaboration with classroom teachers, source evaluation, ethical use, and assessment of process as well as product.
Frameworks and process
- Use the AASL Shared Foundations-Inquire, Include, Collaborate, Curate, Explore, Engage-and their Think, Create, Share, Grow domains to plan learning experiences.
- Choose a research model and teach it explicitly: Guided Inquiry Design phases (Open, Immerse, Explore, Identify, Gather, Create, Share, Evaluate), Big6, or Stripling's Connect, Wonder, Investigate, Construct, Express, Reflect.
- Teach question formulation, keyword and Boolean searching, source evaluation for authority, bias, and currency, and synthesis rather than copying.
- Co-plan and co-teach with content teachers so inquiry is embedded in a unit, not a one-shot library visit.
- Assess the process with conferences, research logs, annotated bibliographies, and rubrics that name inquiry behaviors.
Worked example
An eighth-grade ELA teacher wants an argumentative research paper. The librarian co-plans a Guided Inquiry unit: Open with a provocative question about school start times; Immerse in articles and data; Explore subtopics; Identify a focused question; Gather and evaluate sources using a shared rubric; Create an infographic and a short paper; Share in a gallery walk; Evaluate with a reflection. Formative checkpoints include a question conference, a source-evaluation log, and a draft outline. The reasoning: inquiry is scaffolded across phases, evaluation is taught as a habit, and the librarian assesses process evidence, not just the final product.
Traps that cost marks
- Teaching database buttons instead of transferable inquiry strategies.
- Accepting the first search result or a single source as sufficient.
- Assessing only the final product and ignoring process.
- Confusing inquiry with unstructured free research time.
- Treating citation as a formatting afterthought rather than ethical use.