tips for learning on the job mandi goodsett

#TIPS FOR LEARNING ON THE JOB MANDI GOODSETT SERIES#

In the realm of philosophy, the focus is on the ideal critical thinker, and philosophers like Richard Paul, 5 Robert Ennis, 6 Peter Facione, 7 Gerald Nosich, 8 and John McPeck 9 have contributed greatly to the understanding of what critical thinking is.

Much has been written about critical thinking in the fields of psychology, philosophy, and education. The dual nature of this definition emphasizes the skills of evaluation and analysis, as well as the habits of open-mindedness and metacognition, which result in a decision or action. 3 For the purposes of this study, critical thinking is defined as “reason- and evidence-based skepticism that habitually challenges both internally- and externally-generated ideas as a means to guide decision-making, problem-solving, and action.” 4 Internally generated ideas are those that an individual has, while externally generated ideas are those that an individual encounters from outside sources. There are a great many definitions of critical thinking in the literature. This is especially true of information literacy instruction for first-year students, who are still developing cognitively and building a foundation upon which to cultivate their research skills. With the development and increasing use of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy, which emphasizes higher-order thinking concepts, it is clear that academic librarians may have a significant role to play in helping to reinforce and/or develop the critical thinking skills of college students. While critical thinking theory and instruction have been a subject of study for decades, the relationship between critical thinking and information literacy has not been extensively explored in the library literature. To achieve the study objectives, the researchers conducted 21 interviews with librarians who teach first-year students on a regular basis, analyzed their responses, and used a qualitative framework to identify themes related to the study objectives. To determine how much, and in what ways, academic librarians incorporate critical thinking instruction and assessment methods into their information literacy first-year student instruction.To define critical thinking and its relationship to information literacy as understood by librarians who teach first-year students.To explore the attitudes of librarians who teach first-year students toward teaching critical thinking.This study seeks to explore how academic librarians who primarily teach first-year students conceive of, teach, and assess critical thinking skills in relation to information literacy instruction. 2 However, it is not clear from the literature how comfortable academic librarians are with teaching critical thinking or what their attitude toward the concept may be. First-year college students are a particularly important population to target for developing critical thinking skills, as they are spending their first years of postsecondary schooling building foundational skills and cognitive habits. 1 Especially now, as students encounter misinformation, as well as radically conflicting viewpoints in the media and among politicians and leaders, librarians are in a prime position to develop the skills necessary to empower students to navigate this confusing information environment.

IntroductionĬritical thinking, while often used as a buzzword, is clearly relevant to the mission and expertise of librarians who teach, as well as the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy.

#TIPS FOR LEARNING ON THE JOB MANDI GOODSETT SERIES#

Through a series of in-depth interviews, the researchers sought to understand how academic librarians who primarily instruct first-year college students conceive of, teach, and assess critical thinking skills in relation to information literacy. However, this study demonstrates that the relationship between critical thinking and information literacy is not obvious, and relatively little has been recently studied regarding how academic librarians incorporate critical thinking into their library instruction. Fostering Critical Thinking in First-Year Students through Information Literacy InstructionĪs students encounter high volumes of misinformation in online environments, cultivating critical thinking is an important goal of information literacy instruction, especially for first-year college students, who are just beginning to develop cognitive habits in their early years of postsecondary schooling.

Tips for learning on the job mandi goodsett