Making the Invisible Visible: Enhancing Information Literacy and Metacognition with a Constructivist Activity

Abstract

A growing body of literature focused on the pedagogical relationship between information literacy (IL) and metacognition suggests that facilitating learners’ reflections promotes IL learning. However, activating and assessing this relationship is difficult. This article describes a constructivist activity that models for students how to practice IL while increasing awareness of metacognitive approaches. The modified jigsaw activity, including a worksheet, facilitates individual reflection and peer-to-peer learning through structured conversation regarding popular press articles. Using a grounded theory approach, coding of students’ worksheets showed IL development related to comprehension, procedure, evaluation, and reflection. Moreover, the worksheet offers instructors insight into student learning processes and progress. This article offers evidence of how to enhance and make more visible the connection between IL and metacognition for both students and instructors.

Keywords

• metacognition
• reflection
• information literacy
• constructivist pedagogy
• information evaluation
• peer-to-peer learning