The contents of this page are an edited version of the table in James Herring's new book "The Internet and information skills: a guide for teachers and school librarians". London, Facet Publishing, 2004.
It is an attempt to translate the skills which teachers and teacher librarians might define, into the questions which students might ask. A very good exercise for teachers and teacher librarians individually or as part of an inservice day, is to cover up the questions on the right of the table and fill in the questions which you individually or as a group, think students might ask. This is also a useful exercise for senior school students.
| Skills - Purpose | Cognitive skills in identifying the topic and existing knowledge of the topic |
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| Thinking skills such as brainstorming or concept mapping |
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| Skills in forming questions |
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| Skills in identifying print and electronic information resources |
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| Skills - Location | Locational skills such as the ability to find information in library catalogues, books, CD-ROMs and the Web |
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| Selection skills in assessing the relevance of information resources |
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| IT skills using electronic sources such as the Web |
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| Skills - Use | Reading skills including the ability to skim and scan print and electronic information resources to find relevant information and ideas |
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| Interactive skills including the ability to understand the content of what is being read, viewed or listened to and the ability to relate this to existing knowledge |
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| Selective skills including the ability to select the appropriate information and reject irrelevant information in the context of the above purpose |
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| Evaluation skills including the ability to evaluate information and ideas in relation to aspects such as the authority, reliability and currency of books, journals and websites |
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| Recording skills including the ability to take notes in a systematic way which relates to understanding and purpose |
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| Synthesising skills including the ability to bring together related ideas, facts and information about a topic and relating this to existing knowledge |
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| Writing or presentational skills including the ability to write an essay/report/project or give a verbal presentation, in a well structured, logically ordered manner which uses the ideas and information found to good effect |
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| Skills - Self-evaluation | Self-evaluation skills including the ability to reflect on the processes involved in assignment-related work and to identify areas of improvement in planning, finding information for and writing/presenting an assignment in the future |
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