1. The Research Cycle. QUESTIONING PLANNING GATHERING SORTING & SIFTING
SYNTHESIZING
EVALUATING
REPORTING
Russel David Williams –
07/03/09

2. QUESTIONING Research questions 07/03/09
We find that most research used to be topical. Students were asked to "go find out about" Dolly Madison or Connecticut. These assignments turned students into simple "word movers." New technologies make word moving - "cutting and pasting" - even more ridiculous. We now emphasize research questions which require either problem-solving or decision-making. Examples: How might we restore the salmon harvest? Which New England city should our family move to?
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3. PLANNING
Resources
The student team spends time carving up the question in subsidiary questions. They ask where the best information might lie? What sources are likely to provide the most insight with the most efficiency? Which resources are reliable? How will they sort, sift and store their findings? (database? word processing file?)
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4. GATHERING Information sites 07/03/09
If the planning has been thoughtful and productive, the team proceeds to good information sites swiftly and efficiently, gathering only that information which is relevant and useful. Otherwise, teams might wander for many hours, scooping up hundreds of files which will later prove frustrating and valueless.
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5. SORTING & SIFTING Organizing of Data 07/03/09
The more complex the research question, the more important the sorting and sifting which provides the data to support the next stage - synthesis. Some selecting and sorting took place during the previous stage - gathering - but now the team moves toward even more systematic scanning and organizing of data to set aside that which is most likely to contribute to INSIGHT. The team sorts and sifts the information much as a fishing boat must cull the harvest brought to the surface in a net (McKenzie, 1994).
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6. SYNTHESIZING Arranges and Rearranges information 07/03/09
Synthesis is fueled by the tension of a powerful research question. Answer the questions in the analysis. My design will be safe because I will test a model/prototype first.
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7. EVALUATING Information harvest 07/03/09
At this point, the team asks if more research is needed before proceeding to the REPORTING stage. In the case of complex and demanding research questions, it often requires several repetitions of the CYCLE. The time for the reporting and sharing of insights is determined by the quality of the "information harvest" during this EVALUATION stage.
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8. REPORTING Multimedia presentation 07/03/09
As multimedia presentation software becomes readily available to our schools and our students, we are seeing movement toward persuasive presentations. The research team, charged with making a decision or creating a solution, reports its findings and its recommendations to an audience of decision-makers (simulated or real).
Two excellent additional print sources to expand the reader's understanding of information problem-solving would be Michael Eisenberg's Big Six model (1990)( and Marty and Jacqueline Brooks' 1993 ASCD ( publication: In Search of Understanding: the Case for Constructivist Classrooms. An electronic source would be the WWW page devoted to constructivist learning (
IV. On the Horizon
We see great movement toward information literacy as the information landscape shifts with powerful new technologies. The importance of library media specialists grows dramatically as information systems shift and research becomes central to student-centered. constructivist classrooms. The journey will probably take a full five years of staff development, team planning and invention, but it is a journey well worth undertaking. The pay-off for this investment is the graduation of a generation prepared to make their own meanings in an often confusing, rapidly changing world.
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