When Googledoesn‘t cut it anymore

Informationliteracyintheundergraduatechemistryclassroom

AnjaBrunner, PhD

AGENDA

InsightsfromfacultyandlibrariansHowstudentsdealwithinformation:amismatchBridging the disconnect

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CalledupfacultyandlibrariansatundergraduateinstitutionsintheUS

Spokewith138contacts• 19librarians• 119faculty,lecturers,labinstructors

inchemistrydepartments

Opendiscussionaboutneedsintheundergraduateclassroom

Insightsfromyou

Whichinformationsystemisusedandwhenisitintroduced?

SciFinder

WebofScience

GoogleScholar

Other

105

40

66

2

46%

27%Lowerdivisioncurriculum Upperdivision

curriculum

Uncertainorother

27%

Takingacloserlook…

Lowerdivision• Cursoryintroductiontolibraryresources

• Workshopleadbylibrarian

• Instructionisoftenrepeatedinupperdivisioncourses

• Exception:studentsinvolvedinresearch

Upperdivision• Instructionistime-consuminganddifficult.Thus,taughtonlytodeclaredmajors.

• Need-basedinstruction(usuallytosupportindividualresearchprojects)

Uncertainorother• Partofgeneralcurriculumorintroductiontolibrary

• Expectstudentstohavethoseskillsforupperdivisionclassbuttheyoftendonot

Whatwelearned

• Morecanbedonetoteachinformationretrieval

• Informationretrievalshouldbeincorporatedearlierinthecurriculum

• Teachingchemistryinformationsystemsisdifficultandtime-consuming

• Evenafterinstruction,studentsstillresortto“oldhabits”

• Instructionmostsuccessfulwithstudentsdoingresearch

Soweasked

• Whatarethese“oldhabits”?

• Whatdostudentsactuallyneedtolearnaboutinformationretrieval?

• Whatcanbedonetobringinformationretrievalearlierintotheclassroom?

• Howcanwemimicthe“researchstudent”situation?

Howstudentsdealwithinformation

“Mostaresavvysearchers.TheyfindincrediblethingsontheInternet.However,theytendtobesuperficialorevenimpatientwiththeirfindings.Iftheycan’tfindananswerwithinthefirst20hits,theystop.”

– Dr.GregoryO’Neil,WesternWashingtonUniversity

Wantdirectanswers3

Assumeasearchengineunderstandsthem

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Informationiseasytofind2

Expectinformationimmediacy1

Donot“dig”deeper

Sourcerelevanceissecondary

Donotexpectorknowhowtoprocessmultipleanddiscordantanswers

Notversedinbuildingsearchstrategies

Amismatch forthestructureofscientificinformation

• Poorresults• Frustration• Studentlearningoutcomesnot

achieved

Whydowethinkstudentscanprocessalistofreferences?

Guidetheirtransformationfromstudentstoscientists

NotversedinbuildingsearchstrategiesAssumeasearchengineunderstandsthem

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Givethemasearchenginethatunderstandsthem

Teachthemhowtobuildsearchstrategies

both

OR

OR

AskReaxys

Bridgingthedisconnect

• Interpretsnaturallanguage

• Automaticallyrecognizessearchintention(reactions)

• Deliversresultsdirectly

Enablequicksearchesandbarrier-freeusefornovices

TransparencyofAskReaxys supportslearning

HowdidAskReaxysinterpretsearchterms?

HowandinwhatcontextdidAskReaxysretrieveresults?

Querylets helpbreakdownaresearchquestionandfindrelevantsearchtermsandsynonyms

“Assignedtoidentifyanunknownantimicrobial compound isolatedfromanaturalproduct.Experimentalresultsindicatethatthesubstancehas30carbonatomsandanopticalrotationof75-85°.”

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Wantdirectanswers Donotexpectorknowhowtoprocessmultipleanddiscordantanswers

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Givethemreal-worlddata

Givethemopportunitiestomakesenseofdatavariability

Excerpteddata

Bridgingthedisconnect

Oleanolic acidisoneresultfromourlastsearch

WithintheSubstancerecord,theHitdatafromoursearchisaclickaway.

60opticalrotationmeasurementswithexperimentaldetailsandreferences

Tabulateddataallowsstudentstoexploreempiricalmeasurementsandunderstandtheinfluenceofexperimentalconditions

Informationiseasytofind Sourcerelevanceissecondary2

Showthemhowtoassesstherelevanceofasourcedocument

Grantthema”glance”intothecontentofasource

Documentrecords

Bridgingthedisconnect

Assessrelevanceincontextoftheliteraturelandscape

Lookatspecificcontentandexploremore

Showthemhowtomakenovelconnections

Deepindexing

Expectinformationimmediacy1

Donot“dig”deeper

Bridgingthedisconnect

FindnewsearchtermstoexpandoroptimizesearchViewrelevancetootherconceptualframeworks

Technology &Engineering1

Biomedicine&Pharmacology2

Geosciences&Environment3

LifeSciences&Medicine4

ChemistryDrugentitiesSpecies&Geography

5 Seechemistryacrossdisciplinaryboundaries

Assignmentsdrivestudentstoinformationsystemsbycreatingacompellingneed.

• Contextisking.Whicheverinformationtoolyouuse,builditintoassignments

• Clearexpectations.Beexplicitaboutwhatstudentsshoulddoandlearn

• TeachhowtoUSEinformation.“Finding”isthedutyoftheinformationsystem

Butnoneofthisworkswithoutyou

Visitwww.elsevier.com/solutions/reaxys/chemistry-education

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