Does the Information Literacy of University Students Depend on their Scientific Literacy?
Bojana Boh Podgornik 1 * , Danica Dolničar 1, Saša Aleksej Glažar 2
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1 University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering2 University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Background:
Information literate students with a good understanding of science are regarded as an important a pool of future successful professionals. The study explored correlations between information literacy (IL) and scientific literacy (SL) of university students, and analyzed their achievements according to Bloom’s cognitive categories of remembering, understanding and applying knowledge. A theoretical connection between IL standards and SL competencies was exposed.

Material and methods:
An information literacy test and a science literacy test, derived from the PISA 2006 science scale, were used for assessment.

Results:
The results showed a significant moderate positive correlation between students’ SL and IL. Students with better understanding of science were more successful in all three cognitive levels of IL, and students with higher SL scores were better in application of IL knowledge. A specialized credit-bearing IL course with active learning significantly improved the IL level of all students, most notably in applying IL knowledge, and thus reduced the initial IL disparities between students with low and high SL.

Conclusions:
The study brought the realization that IL of university students depend on their SL obtained in previous education, however, a well-designed university IL course contributes towards higher cognitive levels of IL for all students.

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2017, Volume 13, Issue 7, 3869-3891

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00762a

Publication date: 15 Jun 2017

Article Views: 2240

Article Downloads: 1419

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