The effects of integrating information literacy into inquiry learning: A longitudinal study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of four-year integrated information literacy instruction on elementary students’ comprehension of subject contents through inquiry learning. Moderating factors of students’ academic achievements was another focus of this study. The subjects were 72 students who have participated in this study since they entered an elementary school. This elementary school adopted the information literacy instruction and integrated it into various subject matters via the framework of inquiry learning, such as Super 3 and Big6 models. A total of seven inquiry learning projects have been implemented from grade one through grade four. The results show that inquiry-based integrated information literacy instruction could help students from grade one through grade four grasp and apply the new concepts of subject contents. Regardless of academic achievements, if students would like to devote their efforts to inquiry processes, their conceptual understanding of subject contents improved effectively.