Information literacy: programming ideas for teacher librarians when collaborating with teachers: selecting
Topic: Stage 4 History - Multiple histories: the life and times of Lachlan
Macquarie
The teaching ideas below support Multiple histories: the life and times of Lachlan Macquarie Teaching ideas and the accompanying SMART notebook, Multiple histories: the life and times of
Lachlan Macquarie.The lesson below supports the Selecting phase of the 6 phase Information
Skills Process, which includes Defining, Locating, Selecting, Organising, Presenting and Assessing.
Quality Teaching elements: Problematic knowledge, Substantive communication.
Resources:
* For a complete list, see the Resources column in the matrix for this topic.
Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive - www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital/lema/
Multiple histories: the life and times of Lachlan Macquarie – Smart notebook – School Libraries
and Information Literacy Unit
Multiple histories: the life and times of Lachlan Macquarie – Teaching ideas – SLIL – *contains full
resource list of websites
Pre-unit assessment and introductory activities to gauge current level of
understanding: Multiple histories can be written about any single person or event because
history can be recorded from a number of perspectives – there is not “one” history. When studying
the past, it is important to notice which groups were powerful and which groups were
disempowered and why.
Focus for this information skills lesson: When analysing information from a website, it is
important to evaluate the expertise and perspective of the author, and to discover the purpose,
audience, context and bias of the site. Selecting is a phase in the Information Skills Process which
involves choosing relevant information that meets the requirements of the task. Website
navigation involves skim reading as an important skill in the Selecting phase.
Syllabus outcomes:
4.7 identifies different contexts,
perspectives and interpretations
of the past
4.9 uses historical terms and
concepts in appropriate
contexts
4.10 selects and uses
appropriate oral, written and
other forms, including ICT, to
communicate effectively about
the past
Related computer
competencies focus:
Students learn effective website
navigation skills. They use
OneNote to organise their work,
within a digital portfolio. They
critique each others’ work,
using comment balloons in
OneNote. Students insert
screen clippings into OneNote,
if required.
They create timelines, using the
digital tool Timetoast. They
create mind maps of key
concepts, using the digital tool
Wordle. Students cite websites
using BibMe.
Suggested teaching and learning
activities/strategies
Prior learning: Teacher has explained that history is really a
number of stories, based on people’s perspectives. Students
have played an eye witness account game, where they can see
that people give different accounts of the same staged event in
the classroom. Students have discussed Lachlan Macquarie
from the point of view of his present day admirers, completing
their own timeline of Lachlan Macquarie’s life. They have read
Nathan Rees’ memorandum in praise of Lachlan Macquarie,
calling for 2010 to celebrate his life and legacy, 200 years after
his time as Governor of NSW.
The task for this lesson: Students will evaluate the expertise
and credibility of a site, and select and make notes for research
purposes. The teacher explains that gathering notes from the
Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive will assist students in
preparing for an extended response in which they will report on
varying viewpoints held by Macquarie’s peers on Macquarie’s
achievements.
Digital portfolio: Teacher shows students how to construct an
organisational framework for research in a digital portfolio using
OneNote. Teacher explains how to cite websites using BibMe.
Teacher explains how to insert screen clippings into OneNote, if
required.
Selecting phase – the importance of skim reading
Information skills focus for the lesson: Skim reading to access
main ideas and relevant information BEFORE reading in detail.
Website navigation skills involve skim reading.
© NSW Department of Education and Training. School Libraries and Information Literacy Unit.
Related information skills
focus area:
Using the Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive - the teacher
models website navigation skills for students.
Selecting
Website navigation skills
Students use the following:
Students make decisions in
answer to these questions:




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What information do I really
need to use?
What information can I
leave out?
How relevant is the
information I have found?
How credible is the
information I have found?
How will I record the
information I need?
* See the matrix for more
information about the
Selecting phase.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
menus
navigation bars
contents listings
index or glossary
webpage titles
subheadings
images and captions
fact boxes
to assist in SELECTING information which answers the specific
research question they have been set.
Teacher teaches students to check the credibility and
expertise of the website’s creator by looking at the ABOUT
section of the site.
Website evaluation checklist
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Author/organisation – expert?
Purpose/funding – stated? Aimed at which audience?
Bias/neutrality – clear to the reader? [Are other
viewpoints mentioned if the topic is controversial?]
Sources/statistics – primary sources? secondary sources?
referenced?
Quality of ideas and information?
Website layout – easy to navigate?
Page layouts – clear, uncluttered, use visual information
and useful headings?
Up to date information?
Teacher explains fact/opinion difference. Students and teacher
discuss examples of cat and opinion – a distinguishing game.
Rewording methods – transforming information into
knowledge
Form students into groups, each group will report back about
one section they have researched using the LEMA Sites2See.
Once students have selected their information from the Lachlan
and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive Sites2See – on TaLe, at, they save
it in OneNote, then change the wording so that it becomes their
“own”.
The teacher shows students how to make notes and reword the
original information, using their own words. Teacher
demonstrates to students how to paraphrase, rearrange
sentences, rebuild from key words and substitute synonyms.
Teacher explains that transforming knowledge into one’s own
words 1) transfers it into one’s long term memory, 2) builds
personal understanding and 3) avoids plagiarism
© NSW Department of Education and Training. School Libraries and Information Literacy Unit.
Post unit assessment to determine progress towards stated outcomes
Assessment for learning
Students analyse sources and evaluate their own and their peers’ work in their digital portfolios,
using OneNote comment balloons.
Task at end of lesson sequence
Students write about the varying perspectives on Lachlan Macquarie’s life, held by his peers.
© NSW Department of Education and Training. School Libraries and Information Literacy Unit.