Playing Telephone to Teach Information Literacy

Teachers of information literacy must impart a holistic sense of information to students. While, traditionally, school librarians have taught steps to effectively locate and evaluate information, our prime goal as educators must be to enable students to see the context in which information operates. Thinking about how information is created, shared, and ethically used is vital for information literacy. Students must also learn to recognize that variant points of view about a subject can exist, but information can sometimes be manipulated to try to provide "evidence" for unsubstantiated claims. (Facts are not a point of view.) 

There are many strategies for creating some understanding of information science. One main challenge is overcoming a student belief that they can find any information they need at the touch of a keyboard or click of a mouse. Typing a question or keywords into Google does not demonstrate an ability to efficiently and intelligently fill an information need. We need to break students of bad habits when it comes to information searching and we need to develop better strategies for doing so.

With a holistic approach in mind, the following are some teaching guidelines  when creating a curriculum for information literacy. Students must:

• understand that information is communicated in many forms. 
• realize that not all information is readily available. 
• search for different perspectives that analyze evidence.
• seek the viewpoints of those who are less visible. 
• recognize that the loudest voices are not always the correct ones. 
• realize that not all information is documented. 
• look for the origination of ideas and see primary sources as best evidence.*

Ask a class full of teenagers how many use one of the first five hits they find through Google to answer a question; it is likely that every hand in the room will go up. Ask them who wrote the information on those web pages, if they haven't been taught to evaluate authority and seek authorship, they will look at you with blank stares. Students may have never thought about from where information comes. Google might as well be magic.

A game of telephone 
can boost understanding
about information use

So, to introduce the idea of information as a science, I incorporate a game of telephone into introductory freshmen lessons. This exercise gets students thinking about the creation and distribution of information. In case you have never played:

1. Have a student think of a sentence or two and write it down. 

2. In the in-person/pre-pandemic version, that person will whisper their sentence in the ear of another student.

3. Student 2 whispers what student one said, into student three's ear.

4. Continue the passing of information through whispering until all students have heard the information.

5. Have the last person say the passed on information out loud and confirm against the written version that it was passed on correctly.

It will not be.

Explain that this is how information works. The primary evidence, the original, is the best source of information in terms of accuracy. When others write or otherwise pass on the evidence, it gets changed. Sometimes the meaning changes slightly with paraphrasing. Sometimes people purposefully (perhaps unethically) change the information to deceive. Sometimes the information was not properly conveyed or received and we just do the best we can with what we've got and pass it on. In other words, the farther removed you are from a source, the more likely it is to be incorrect.

Now, in my modified remote learning version of the game, we have the opportunity to do more than just whisper in a classmate's ear. I hope to try this version next year. Students can distribute their information in alternate ways. Have student one write some information to share with others. I think a short scenario might work well when we are talking about recorded information - something not too long, but not too short. Students can choose how they wish to share the information with one other person, but they must re-write it rather than forwarding or cutting and pasting. They can Snapchat, text, or post to Instagram. They can Email the information or snail mail it. They can tweet it or DM through Facebook. They can even call another student or use video chat to relay information verbally. I can see this exercise taking a few days, demonstrating how information travels through various channels and over time.

Weaving information literacy into lessons throughout the year, continually remind students about the lessons learned in telephone. Remind them that it is their challenge to find the best information, to seek the source, and to not assume that the original answer they find is accurate. Through one lesson at a time, convey concepts that demonstrate how the concepts of information science allow one to confidently find the right information, not just the easiest to find information.

Research as a Process

"When you are given a research assignment, how many of you Google a question and take information from the top 5 Google results to write your paper?" The kids in the classroom look at me with saucer eyes. Some glance from side to side at their peers and slowly hands begin to raise. I shoot my hand into the air, though I don't think I have ever "Googled" a question. That not how we were taught in the relatively olden days. You would thumb through the card catalog looking for keywords. Moving to databases was a natural shift for us. Keyword and subject searching still ruled in the 90s. "It's okay," I say. "Almost everyone does it. You can be honest. I'm just going to teach you a better way today. You need to promise me that you will try my way. For this project, the process of finding the answers is just as important, more important, than the answers you find."

It's all about the process and inquiry. To teach information literacy, you must teach process and you must teach (as funny as it sounds) curiosity. 21st century kids want to jump to the answer. They are accustomed to Siri pulling an answer from mysterious parts and handing it to them on a silver platter. It doesn't necessarily matter if it is the right answer; It is an answer. People often think that's all they need. One thing we are lacking as a society (in general and happening only recently) is a natural sense of curiosity.
We have forgotten how to ask questions, allowing our search engines and news feeds to do the work of finding answers for us without question. Instead we should:

• use questions to help us think critically
• question and seek multiple points of view 
• not only question ideas of others, but also question our own ideas
• allow questioning to propel us toward a sound answer, not just any answer

We must teach curiosity as tied to process and inquiry. That's what we do for "The Shakespeare Project." This is a grade 9 assignment that reaches all students and encourages them to ask questions, identify keywords, perform close reading, and build skills for more in-depth research assignments as they continue through high school. Five years ago, I began collaborating with colleagues and re-molding this assignment into one focused on process - walking kids through it in baby steps.  We help the kids pay attention to their thoughts about what they are researching, how they are finding information, how their inquiry improves over the course of the project. We begin with a planning stage through the following:

1.  Write a sentence explaining your topic. Underline the keywords. e.g. I am researching Life in Shakespeare’s London, which includes the occupations and treatment of workers in Elizabethan England.
2. Write synonyms for your underlined words and phrases. e.g. "16th century," Renaissance, sixteenth century, jobs, work
3. Write some questions you have about the topic. Be sure to broaden and narrow your focus. e.g.

• What kinds of jobs did people have in Elizabethan England?
• How much were they paid?
• Were they treated well?
• How many hours did they work and how much were they paid?

As students research, they are encouraged to continually note new words that help them find new answers. They are assessed based on continued questioning of their own ideas and the resources they find.

The process of inquiry is the key to success. In my next post. I will talk about the tools we use to propel research and how this early inquiry or planning piece sets the stage for finding solid answers.