Integrating Information Literacy into the Science Curriculum

Abstract

A science librarian and a microbiology professor collaborated to assess information-seeking, evaluating, and usage abilities before, during, and at the end of a senior-level geomicrobiology course. ACRL's Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education was used as a guide in designing a survey and checklists to measure literacy levels. Following an initial survey of the students' information literacy level, two instruction sessions were provided in the use of bibliographic finding tools available from the University of Oklahoma Libraries. During each subsequent class meeting, students presented, critiqued, and discussed a referred article. The cycle was repeated, and the survey was administered again at the end of the semester. The survey results indicated an 11 percent increase in information literacy, but no significant improvement in the students' ability to present, critique, and discuss information. A model for incorporating information literacy into upper-level undergraduate science courses and an instrument for measuring information literacy are proposed.n 1989, the American Library Association's (ALA) Presidential Committee on Information Literacy defined information literacy as a set of abilities requiring individuals to locate, evaluate, and effectively use needed information.

Enhancing Information Literacy Using Bernard Lonergan's Generalized Empirical Method: A Three-year Case Study in a First Year Biology Course

“…Information literacy is particularly important in the sciences, including biology (Brown & Krumholz, 2002;Freeman and Lynd-Balta, 2010;Ferrer-Vinent et al 2015;Thompson & Blankinship, 2015;Jacobs et al 2016). Robinson and McDonald (2014) relate information literacy to higher level skills, such as critical and creative thinking.…”

Assessing information literacy skills using the ACRL standards as a guide

“…It is a useful paper to review prior to the development of an assessment tool. Brown & Krumholz (2002) and Samson (2000) are two good examples, however, of assessment plans that utilized the tool development with close association between assessment questions and methodologies and the desired learning outcomes to be measured, for course-integrated (aka single-session) library instruction sessions. Brown's research exemplifies the multifaceted approach that seeks data on students' skills throughout the semester.…”

“…Themes emerge on the development of assessment tools: those that measure mastery of skills, (Brown andKrumholz, 2002, Samson, 2000), rather than, or in addition to, student attitudes and self-perceptions, (Knight, 2002); assessment of undergraduates' skills, (Daugherty andCarter, 1997, Verhey, 1999, to name but a few) with far fewer on graduate student skill acquisition and assessment of those skills (Cooney and Hiris, 2003, Emde and Emmett, 2004, Mabrouk, 2001.…”

Developing data literacy competencies to enhance faculty collaborations

“…Best practices for implementing similar programs have been delineated (Badotti et al, 2013;Bednarski et al, 2005;Miskowski, Howard, Abler, & Grunwald, 2007;Via et al, 2011;Weisman, 2010), while others have discussed the programmatic role librarians can provide in supporting molecular biologists as they navigate the myriad data resources (MacMullen & Denn, 2005). Effective collaborations between librarians and the life sciences faculty have also been described in the literature (Bowden & DiBenedetto, 2001;Brown & Krumholz, 2002;Callinan, 2005;Dinkelman, 2010;Ferrer-Vinent & Carello, 2008;MacMillan, 2010;Winterman, 2009).…”