An Evaluation of the Use of the PLUS Model to Develop Pupils' Information Skills in a Secondary School

Abstract

Various models of information skills have been developed and applied in schools in North America, Australia, and the United Kingdom in recent years, but there have been few attempts to evaluate the application of the models. This article reports a study of the evaluation of the use of the PLUS model in a secondary school in England. The PLUS model (Herring, 1996; Herring, 1999) categorizes information skills into four interrelated steps: Purpose, Location, Use, and Self-Evaluation. In this study, the PLUS model was used by 112 Year 7 pupils (11-12-year-olds) studying physics. Each pupil completed a questionnaire relating to aspects of information skills and the use of the PLUS model. The views of the school librarian and the physics teacher were gained via semistructured interviews. The main findings of the study were: pupils benefited from using a structured approach to project work; pupils saw the model as a useful tool particularly in helping them to plan, organize, and reflect on their own work; and pupils of this age were able to reflect on both the content and processes of learning.