Browsing by Author "Moore, Penelope Anne"

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    Children as information seekers : the cognitive demands of topic work, books and library systems : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1988) Moore, Penelope Anne
    The problems associated with retrieving information are becoming more evident to library professionals and teachers as knowledge continues to grow exponentially. However, children are frequently expected to use library resources independently, yet little is known of the cognitive demands imposed upon them by research tasks, books and library systems. Here 23 Form 1 children shared their thinking processes as they endeavoured to generate questions and find information for topic work. Video recordings of think aloud/concurrent interviews, and subsequent audio recording of retrospective interviews, were used to gain a child's view of the problems involved in such assignments. It was found that the children's limited knowledge base resulted in formulation of general, frequently vague, questions. These made the choice of search terms compatible with the demands of indexing systems rather difficult. The children understood the Dewey Decimal system in terms of locating a broad subject area but the distinctions made possible by the use of decimal points were understood by only 1 child. The children's theoretical understanding of the Dewey system could not always be put into practise because of a lack of understanding about the relationship between catalogue index cards and the actual books on the shelves, together with confusions caused by the manner in which books are shelved. Only 3 children showed clear evidence that they knew that the library shelving consisted of adjacent bays rather than shelves which ran continuously around the room. 15 children located books relevant to the topic BIRDS. Most children relied on cover information to determine which books should be examined more closely. 7 of them sought a title which contained the exact word they had chosen as a search term. While only 1 child failed to use the table of contents or indexes in books, the children found relevant information during the interviews to answer only 30 of the 86 questions generated. Completed projects included answers to only 48% of the questions originally posed by the children together with questions substituted to fit the information found. This appeared to be a function of the questions themselves, the search terms chosen and whether the table of contents or index was examined. Further, several books were found to lack both (or either) contents or indexes and some had no page numbers, thus making information location extremely difficult. The management of a task as complex as information seeking demands knowledge of the information retrieval process itself and a range of appropriate cognitive and metacognitive strategies to allow the searcher to monitor and regulate strategy application in terms of information seeking and the demands of the information resources to hand. Given the barriers to information location inherent in both the books and the library system as viewed by these children, it appears that students need to approach information seeking with a problem-solving orientation. Several levels of assistance are required by Form 1 students engaged in topic work. Blanket assessment of the end product of such assignments ignores much of the learning potential inherent in the task. The implications of these findings for the teaching of information and thinking skills are discussed.
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    The cognitive and metacognitive demands of library research as experienced by Form one students : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1992) Moore, Penelope Anne
    In recent years educators have become increasingly aware of the necessity to support the development of higher order thinking abilities in all students. It has been suggested that, in this regard, special attention should be given to those aspects of the curriculum "which are inherently enabling of further learning" (Resnick, 1987, p44). Library research skills tuition is one such area but traditional modes of teaching these have frequently overlooked the cognitive and metacognitive demands of tasks requiring information retrieval and use. The extent of these demands as they affect students undertaking project assignments independently was largely unknown and prompted the following study. To access the levels of knowledge and thinking processes used by students, think aloud/concurrent interviews were conducted individually while 23 Form 1 students (mean age 11 years 8 months) attempted to gather information for a project. These interviews were videotaped and then replayed to students to provide memory cueing for retrospective interviews. Students were found to have wide ranging metacognitive knowledge, the accuracy of which influenced their performance on the information retrieval task. However, the knowledge they made public concerning the learning task and the criteria by which their learning would be assessed was very limited. Few students voiced recognition that the criteria for evaluation would have implications for the way in which they approached the learning task itself. In contrast, they voiced considerable awareness concerning the expected features of the materials they must use, qualities of their own learning abilities and processes, and interactions between these. However, Form 1 students often lacked an accurate understanding of the relationships within the library system and between access structures in individual books. Overall they had insufficient general and tactical knowledge to facilitate the use of alternative action paths when a favoured approach failed. However, both able and less able students were found to engage in some form of executive control processing. Two case studies are presented which illustrate differences in the quality of students' executive control processes. In particular, students varied in the degree to which monitoring events triggered associated planning and regulation/revision episodes. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for providing a learning environment that supports the development of higher order thinking and increased information retrieval success.