Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Penelope Brown
Committee Member
Charles Schlosser
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
5th-grade students, academic success, American Association of School Librarians, classroom teachers, collaboration, collaborative planning, control groups, information literacy, information literacy skills, information literacy standards, information technology, integrated units, learning-disabled students, library media specialists, media specialists, peer learning, proficiency levels, research tasks, school libraries, social success, teacher collaboration, technological approaches, vocational success, web literacy
Abstract
This investigation was conducted with 100 5th-grade students, 1 library media specialist, and 4 5th-grade teachers in order to determine whether collaboration between the media specialist and 2 classroom teachers caused an increase in information literacy scores in the 2 classes of 5th-grade students (50 students) over the information literacy scores of the control group of 2 5th-grade classes (50 students).
The media specialist collaborated with 2 5th-grade teachers, creating an integrated unit and combining an existing subject unit with a technological approach. The media specialist acted as a facilitator and consultant, assisting the teachers and the 2 experimental classes in using information technology to meet the aims of the subject unit. The 2 control classes did not have the assistance of the media specialist on that particular subject unit.
At the conclusion of 6 weeks of collaboration, the 4 classes were given a research task that was based on the American Association of School Librarians’ 9 Standards of Information Literacy (Haycock, 2002). The collaborative teaching approach provided both learning-disabled students and their nondisadvantaged peers with improved opportunities for achieving academic, social, and vocational success. In this study, collaborative planning appeared to have a positive influence on both the teaching and the learning of information literacy skills. Proficiency levels increased on all concepts.