Information literacy skills run throughout the Common Core standards, especially in the Language Arts as noted below:
Students use technology and digital media strategically and capably. (found here in the standards)
Students employ technology thoughtfully to enhance their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language use. They tailor their searches online to acquire useful information efficiently, and they integrate what they learn using technology with what they learn offline. They are familiar with the strengths and limitations of various technological tools and mediums and can select and use those best suited to their communication goals.
Media and Technology (found here in the standards)
Just as media and technology are integrated in school and life in the twenty-first century, skills related to media use (both critical analysis and production of media) are integrated throughout the standards.
Rather than teaching these skills out of context, instead try weaving them into your existing lesson plans. Using the Big6 Research Model will go a long way towards helping your students become more information literate. Repeated exposure and use of this process will hone their information, media, and technology literacy skills along with their critical thinking and problem solving skills.
The Big6 Steps:
1. Task Definition - evaluate the nature and type of information needed.
1.1 Define the problem. What is the problem to be solved?
1.2 Identify the information needed. What information is needed in order to solve the problem or make the decision?
2. Information Seeking Strategies - evaluate information among potential sources
2.1 Determine all possible sources. What are all possible sources of information?
2.2 Select the best sources. What are the best sources?
3. Location and Access - evaluate how to represent information as search terms
3.1 Locate sources. Where are sources of information located?
3.2 Find information within sources. Where is the information located within the source?
4. Use of Information - evaluate what information is relevant and useful
4.1 Engage. What information does the source provide? (engage info by reading, listening, etc.)
4.2 Extract relevant information. What specific information is worth applying to the task? (relevance, understanding)
5. Synthesis - evaluate the specific information to apply to the task and how the information fits together
5.1 Organize information from multiple sources. How does the information gathered all fit together?
5.2 Present the result. What form will the synthesized information take?
6. Evaluation - evaluate the quality of information in the final product and effectiveness in the process
6.1 Judge the result. Is the task completed? Is the problem resolved?
6.2 Judge the process. What could have been changed or done better?
Using Big6 - No new curriculum content is needed! These skills can and should be taught within the existing curriculum.
Effective teaching of these skills begins with choosing "juicy" curriculum units. Information-rich units that feature information needs, resources, and processing. These types of units offer the best opportunities for teaching information literacy skills.
Design unit and lesson plans to teach these skills in the context of the subject area curriculum. For lesson plan examples see here.
Repetition is crucial. The skills themselves may seem simple at first but they are actually quite involved and can be difficult to master.
Everyone learns through repetition so the more often these skills are integrated into existing curriculum the more proficient the students will become with them.
Continually work with students to help them recognize where they are in this process as they work on assignments and projects
The process is not linear. The tasks can and do repeat.
A simple first introduction to the research process can be done by introducing a problem the student can relate to such as the purchase of a new electronic device (game console, phone, tablet, etc.)