Collaborative knowledge building to enhance IL in health education. #ecil2018

Tuula Nygard and Laura Palmgren-Neuvonen from the university of Oulu began their presentation by outlining the concept of cognitive authority. Health education is an independent mandatory subject in Finnish schools, and is also a feature in other subjects. Health information literacy is seen to be one of a number of “multiliteracies” taught in schools. Teachers overestimate learners abilities to learn Information practice, and students struggle to evaluate sources. The research aimed to discover collaborative knowledge creation in the classroom. A mixed method case study useing an ethnographic approach was conducted in classrooms. There was a task orientation, it was cumulative and largely uncritical. It was  guided by implicit norms around information acquisition. Members rarely criticised sources, even if they were conflicting. Students favoured official sources and blogs and sources that featured personal stories. Cognitive authority was given to one’s own or a close friend’s personal health experiences. Teachers are recommended not to provide pre-selected material, but instead to encourage students to search for information themselves, and to use framing that encourages deeper exploration of the material.