Information Literacy Instruction and Assessment in an Honors College Science Fundamentals Course

Abstract

The Washington State University Honors College course, UH 290, “Science as a Way of Knowing,” engages freshmen in scientific inquiry and scholarly literature research. The UH 290 instructor, a learning design consultant, and two librarians collaborated to develop and deliver the course’s information literacy curriculum. The team used student surveys, research blogs, case studies, library instruction sessions, homework problem sets and exams. Students gained from scaffolded instruction including hands-on practice activities and feedback; embedded assessments informed adjustments to the course syllabus and activities. This case study details the progressively improved use of this approach and these tools over two semesters.