Cognitive Development,
College Students,
& Information Literacy
Meghan Sitar
Instruction and Outreach Librarian
University of Texas Libraries
msitar@austin.utexas.edu
www.lib.utexas.edu/services/instruction/meghan.html
Goals for Today
 Examine models of intellectual and cognitive
development in college students
 Understand which stages most college
students are at when we’re working with them
as librarians
 Discuss the challenges presented by the
ACRL IL Standards and possible solutions for
improving our instruction to address these
challenges
Most Useful References
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive
development: The missing link in teaching
information literacy skills. Reference &
User Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
Jackson, R. (2008). Information literacy
and its relationship to cognitive
development and reflective judgment. New
Directions for Teaching and Learning,
2008(114), 47-61.
Perry’s Scheme (1970)
 Interviewed mostly male
students at Harvard in the
60s
 9 stages of intellectual
development that occur in
undergraduates
Perry’s Scheme (1970)
1. The authorities know
“The teacher knows what is right and wrong"
2. The true authorities are right, the others are frauds
“My teacher doesn't know what is right and wrong but other's do"
3. There are some uncertainties and the authorities are working on them to
find the truth
“My teachers don't know, but somebody out there is trying to find out"
4. (a) Everyone has right to their own opinion
(b) The authorities don't want the right answers. They want us to think
in a certain way.
“Different teachers think different things“
“There is an answer that the teachers want and we have to find it"
William G. Perry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Perry.
Perry’s Scheme (1970)
5. Everything is relative but not equally valid
“There are no right and wrong answers, it depends on the situation, but some
answers might be better than others"
6. You have to make your own decisions
“What is important is not what the teacher thinks but what I think"
7. First commitment
“For this particular topic, I think that…”
8. Several Commitments
“For these topics I think that...."
9. Believe own values, respect others, be ready to learn
“I know what i believe in and what I think is valid, others may think differently
and I’m prepared to reconsider my views"
William G. Perry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Perry.
Perry’s Scheme (1970)
1 – 2. Dualism
•There are right/wrong answers, known to Authorities.
•“What is the right answer?”
3 – 4. Multiplicity
•There are conflicting answers.
•"Everyone has a right to his or her own opinion."
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive Development. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
Rapaport, W.J. William Perry’s Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development.
http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/perry.positions.html.
Perry’s Scheme (1970)
5 – 6. Relativity
•Evidence is needed to support an opinion.
•There are few areas in which "right" answers exist, and that most knowledge is
"contextual and relativistic."
•What was once Authority (with a capital "A") becomes authority (with a lowercase
"a"), and there may be multiple authorities who might often disagree.
7 – 9. Commitment
• Integration of knowledge learned from others with personal experience and
reflection.
• Students must make choices based on consideration, weighing alternatives, and
coming to conclusions about areas of life such as relationships, careers, and
values.
• Commitments are constantly reaffirmed or altered based on new evidence.
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive Development. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
Rapaport, W.J. William Perry’s Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development.
http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/perry.positions.html.
King and Kitchener (1994)
 More diverse sample
 20-year longitudinal study
 Based their measures on
the solution of illstructured problems
 7 stages of reflective
judgment, similar to
Perry’s Scheme
King and Kitchener (1994)
Pre-reflective thinking
Students progress through the inability to "understand that two people can disagree
about an issue“ and believe that "knowledge is gained through the word of an
authority figure or through firsthand observation, rather than through the evaluation
of evidence.
1. "I know what I have seen."
2. "If it is on the news, it has to be true."
3. "When there is evidence that people can give to convince everybody one way or
another, then it will be knowledge, until then, it's just a guess."
King, P.M. & Kitchener, K.S. (1994). Developing Reflective Judgment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
King and Kitchener (1994)
Quasi-reflective thinking
Students progress through an inability to an understand that "knowledge is
assumed to be absolutely certain, or certain but not immediately available“ and do
not understand how evidence entails a conclusion and tend to view judgments as
highly idiosyncratic.
4. "I'd be more inclined to believe evolution if they had proof. It's just like the
pyramids: I don't think we'll ever know. Who are you going to ask? No one was
there."
5. "People think differently and so they attack the problem differently. Other
theories could be as true as my own, but based on different evidence."
King, P.M. & Kitchener, K.S. (1994). Developing Reflective Judgment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
King and Kitchener (1994)
Reflective thinking
Students progress through an inability to recognize “that in some areas knowledge
will never be certain," and finally to the understanding that "the adequacy of . . .
solutions is evaluated in terms of what is more reasonable or probable on the basis
of current evidence and is reevaluated when relevant new evidence, perspectives,
or tools of inquiry become available.'“
6. "It's very difficult in this life to be sure. There are degrees of sureness. You come
to a point at which you are sure enough for a personal stance on the issue.”
7. "One can judge an argument by how well thought-out the positions are, what
kinds of reasoning and evidence are used to support it, and how consistent the way
one argues on this topic is as compared with other topics."
King, P.M. & Kitchener, K.S. (1994). Developing Reflective Judgment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
Other notable models
Belenky et al,
Women’s Ways of
Knowing (1986)
 Silence
 Connected knowing,
stepping into what one
is trying to know rather
than stepping back
Baxter Magolda,
Knowing and Reasoning
in College(1992)
 Epistemological
reflection
 Role of gender
 Intersections of
intellectual, identity, and
relational development
in young adulthood
Magolda, M. B. B. (2006). Intellectual development in the college years. Change, 38(3), 50-54.
Whitmire, E. (2003). Epistemological beliefs and the information-seeking behavior of undergraduates. Library &
Information Science Research, 25(2), 127-142.
Perry’s students at Harvard
Most students ended freshman year at
Position 3 or 4.
3. There are some uncertainties and the authorities are working on them to
find the truth
“My teachers don't know, but somebody out there is trying to find out"
4. (a) Everyone has right to their own opinion
(b) The authorities don't want the right answers. They want us to think
in a certain way.
“Different teachers think different things“
“There is an answer that the teachers want and we have to find it"
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive development: The missing link in teaching information literacy skills. Reference & User
Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
Jackson, R. (2008). Information literacy and its relationship to cognitive development and reflective judgment. New
Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2008(114), 47-61.
Perry’s students at Harvard
Most students at the end of their
undergraduate career had attained at least
Position 6.
6. You have to make your own decisions
“What is important is not what the teacher thinks but what I think"
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive development: The missing link in teaching information literacy skills. Reference & User
Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
Jackson, R. (2008). Information literacy and its relationship to cognitive development and reflective judgment. New
Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2008(114), 47-61.
Perry’s students at Harvard
Most of the students did not get beyond
Position 5.
None reached Position 9.
5. Everything is relative but not equally valid
“There are no right and wrong answers, it depends on the situation, but some
answers might be better than others"
9. Believe own values, respect others, be ready to learn
“I know what i believe in and what I think is valid, others may think differently
and I’m prepared to reconsider my views"
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive development: The missing link in teaching information literacy skills. Reference & User
Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
Jackson, R. (2008). Information literacy and its relationship to cognitive development and reflective judgment. New
Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2008(114), 47-61.
Other researchers using Perry’s
Scheme found that students at other
institutions:
Reached Position 2 or 3 at the end of their
freshman year
May reach Position 4 or 5 by the time
they graduate
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive development: The missing link in teaching information literacy skills. Reference & User
Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
Jackson, R. (2008). Information literacy and its relationship to cognitive development and reflective judgment. New
Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2008(114), 47-61.
King and Kitchener
"the functional level…is between
Stages 3 and 4
3. "When there is evidence that people can give to convince everybody one way or
another, then it will be knowledge, until then, it's just a guess."
4. "I'd be more inclined to believe evolution if they had proof. It's just like the
pyramids: I don't think we'll ever know. Who are you going to ask? No one was
there."
5. "People think differently and so they attack the problem differently. Other
theories could be as true as my own, but based on different evidence."
[and] they may be able to comprehend
Stage 5 concepts."'
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive development: The missing link in teaching information literacy skills. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 46(4),
28-32.
Jackson, R. (2008). Information literacy and its relationship to cognitive development and reflective judgment. New Directions for Teaching and
Learning, 2008(114), 47-61.
Keep in mind…
Don’t make assumptions based on a
student’s year in school.
Students can be at different stages in
different subject areas.
There’s an emotional component -- stress,
anxiety, and confusion can cause
regression.
What are the ACRL IL Standards asking
undergraduates to accomplish
developmentally?
Standard One, outcome 1.f.
“the information literate student recognizes
that existing information can be combined
with original thought, experimentation,
and/or analysis to produce new
information.”
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive Development. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
What are the ACRL IL Standards asking
undergraduates to accomplish
developmentally?
Standard Two, outcome 5.a.
“the information literate student selects
among various technologies the most
appropriate one for the task of extracting
the needed information"
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive Development. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
What are the ACRL IL Standards asking
undergraduates to accomplish
developmentally?
Standard Three
“The information literate student evaluates
information and its sources critically and
incorporates selected information into his
or her knowledge base and value system.”
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive Development. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
Possible Solutions - Jackson
Lower undergraduate levels
Standard One, Outcome1a
Identification of a topic is doable
Identification of what type of information they might
need would push development
Standard One, Performance Indicator 2
Outcomes focusing on concrete information would be
doable
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive development: The missing link in teaching information literacy skills. Reference & User
Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
Jackson, R. (2008). Information literacy and its relationship to cognitive development and reflective judgment. New
Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2008(114), 47-61.
Possible Solutions - Mellon
Dualistic: only basic strategies for solving
information problems should be taught,
though students should be made aware of
more complex information-seeking
processes, and they should encouraged to
ask questions of librarians.
Mellon, C. A. “Information Problem-Solving: A Developmental Approach to Library Instruction,” In C. Oberman and K.
Strauch (eds.), Theories of Bibliographic Education: Designs for Teaching. New York: Bowker, 1981.
Possible Solutions - Mellon
Multiplistic : Mention that search strategy
is a very individual thing and that the aim
of a library instruction is to produce an
independent library user who has
developed a successful problem-solving
search strategy.
Mellon, C. A. “Information Problem-Solving: A Developmental Approach to Library Instruction,” In C. Oberman and K.
Strauch (eds.), Theories of Bibliographic Education: Designs for Teaching. New York: Bowker, 1981.
Possible Solutions - Mellon
Relativistic: Librarians are free to discuss
all the complexities of information retrieval
and evaluation and analysis of sources.
Mellon, C. A. “Information Problem-Solving: A Developmental Approach to Library Instruction,” In C. Oberman and K.
Strauch (eds.), Theories of Bibliographic Education: Designs for Teaching. New York: Bowker, 1981.
Possible Solutions - Fields
Scaffolding – design prompts and
questions that help students build on
exiting knowledge
Encourage students to move beyond their
current level without skipping levels
Fields, A. (2006). Ill-structured problems and the reference consultation: The librarian's role in developing student expertise,”
Reference Services Review 34(3), 405-20.
Possible Solutions - Jackson
Make sure faculty recognize the impact of
their authority on student research
“Find a journal article in a journal like X”
“Don’t use the Web”
Work with faculty to establish the librarian
as an authority with whom students may
interact
Jackson, R. (2007). Cognitive development: The missing link in teaching information literacy skills. Reference & User
Services Quarterly, 46(4), 28-32.
Jackson, R. (2008). Information literacy and its relationship to cognitive development and reflective judgment. New
Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2008(114), 47-61.
Possible Solutions - King & Kitchener
“If students perceive disrespect or lack of
emotional support, they may be less
willing to . . . take the intellectual
and personal risks required for
development.”
King, P.M. & Kitchener, K.S. (1994). Developing Reflective Judgment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
Other solutions?
Questions?