There is now a rich literature that points to the importance of information literacy at all levels. According to a United Nations Prague Declaration, information literacy is a “prerequisite for participating effectively in the information society.” Such participation, as researcher Baroness Susan Grenfield has discussed, is more than simply sitting in front of a screen and getting “bombarded with facts.” Rather, at the heart of the drive for information literacy is the point that, in her words, “we owe it to young people…to help them ask questions.” It is this qualitative and central aspect of information literacy that is the overriding concern of this resource book.

Information literacy will be re-interpreted here as having information skills. This may be defined as having the competencies to access and use information in the most knowledgeable and focused manner. This involves:
      • being able to compose the main question for an investigation, stating the related questions
        and reviewing them as the work proceeds;
      • knowing how to access resources in a purposeful way and how to use them effectively;
      • skimming, speed reading and scanning to use the resources more effectively;
      • having well-developed note-making skills to transform information from the resources into
        answers to the main question and sub-questions;
      • being knowledgeable about how to present the results of the investigation in text and
        non-text media (compositions; reports; illustrated oral presentations; and graphics such as
        pictures, maps and graphs).
      • knowing what the evaluation criteria mean in practice and working towards them.

This resource is a structured, activity-based library and classroom resource that aims to develop the above skills and knowledge through a range of practical tasks designed for the conceptual and readability levels of students in the middle grades.

The resource is divided into three sections. In each section, activities test students’ understanding of selected content. Questions in each activity are worth one mark each unless otherwise specified. Assessment records for each student’s performance in the program activities are included at the end of each section. Answers to activity questions are at the end of the resource.

Download the Table of Contents here.

Grades 5-8.