IASL Research Abstracts

IASL Research Abstracts: 126

Findings: Pupils benefited from using a structured approach to project work; pupils saw the model as a useful tool particularly in helping them to plan, organize, and reflect on their own work; and pupils of this age were able to reflect on both the content and process of learning.

Abstract: Various models of information skills have been developed and applied in schools in North America, Australia and the United Kingdom in recent years, but there have been few attempts to evaluate the application of the models. This article reports a study of the evaluation of the use of the PLUS model in a secondary school in England. The PLUS model (Herring, 1996, 1999) categories information skills into four interrelated steps: purpose, location, use and self-evaluation. In this study the PLUS model was used by 112 year 7 pupils (11-12-year-olds) studying physics. Each pupil completed a questionnaire relating to aspects of information skills and the use of the PLUS model. The views of the school librarian and physics teacher were gained via semistructured interviews. See:

Herring, J.E., Tarter, A-M., & Naylor, S. 2002. An evaluation of the use of the PLUS model to develop pupils' information skills in a secondary school. School Libraries Worldwide, 8(1), 1-24.

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