The phrase “inquiring minds want to know” may bring a mental picture of yourself in line at a grocery store gazing at a crazy picture of a celebrity with an alien on the cover of the National Enquirer magazine. Yes, inquiring minds want to know! Do we, as librarians and educators, still need to nudge them toward better inquiry? I believe so.

The human brain is built for inquiry and naturally seeks new ideas. In fact, Baylor College of Medicine neuroscientist David Eagleman says, “the human brains runs on conflict.” Child developmental psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, shared the same view nearly a century ago. Vygostky believed the student’s brain learned through social interaction, going as far as to say in “collision with others.”

Eliza Dresang’s work with radically changing digital information found that the “use of computer technology does not have to be a socially isolating activity and may, in fact, provide greater connectivity in a social environment” (Dresang 2005 p. 192).

If social interaction is of great importance to learning, as experts illustrate, the rise in social media may be beneficial to inquiry and knowledge; however, critics argue that much of social networking is shared trivia or unrelated to educational content. Our goal as information professionals and educators is not only to provide access and promote inquiry, but to provide the BEST resources while helping students prepare the BEST projects and share them in creative ways.

A study on every day information seeking behavior of preteens found that “libraries and information professionals labor to build collections, both physical and virtual, under the assumption that access to print and media is of central importance to resolving users’ information needs. In discussing everyday-life information problems with tweens, however, we found that it is access to other people that often makes or breaks an information search” (Meyer et al. 2009 p. 337.)

The AASL (American Association of School Librarians) standards for the 21st Century Learner present four skill sets that learners must build to thrive in a complex information environment. These skills include inquiry, application of knowledge, participation in productivity, and a pursuit of personal and aesthetic growth. Encouraging (nudging toward inquiry) students to succeed in the future not only requires building skills, it also necessitates embracing a flexible disposition and personal responsibility. AASL believes school libraries are essential to developing these skills- both as individuals and as a community because learning has a social context (AASL 2011 p. 3).

The term itself “information literacy” has been challenged by some who argue about other multiple literacies, including digital literacy, media literacy, and a new term championed by a group of librarians- transliteracy (http://librariesandtransliteracy.wordpress.com/ ). Transliteracy is The ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.

Eric Meyers illustrates the blending of literacy skills by children within a shared virtual environment (SVE) by saying, “Logging in, creating an online identity, chatting, and sharing a profile with others are skills and “literacies” that transfer across several applications (Meyers 2009 p. 231).

Literacy is like breathing. Reading is mental inhalation and writing is mental exhalation. The human brain craves both. I have always wondered how educators could separate the two. A health teacher would never say, “This semester we are going to study inhalation and next semester we will study exhalation!” To take the health metaphor further, literacy is like healthy food. A constant diet of junk food will lead to sluggishness and poor performance. What makes it good? Aesthetically pleasing resources, with accurate high quality content, are available but not always easy to obtain, especially in the “online sea of chaos” (I use that phrase on my blog at http://vhill.edublogs.org/ ). The constant stream of user-generated content on social networking sites and through texting encourages students to post and upload without much thought or revision. Are we consuming mass quantities of literacy junk food? The health teacher would suggest a balanced diet and the information literacy teacher might agree.

As a National Writing Project Trainer, I believe strongly in the power of personal connections to all literary formats. Unless an individual finds personal meaning in literacy (including digital literacy, transliteracy), the effort is often irrelevant or quickly forgotten. So what DO inquiring minds want to know and need to know in this rapidly changing digital world? Perhaps the nudge toward inquiry may happen through social interaction and numerous communication formats, but it may also need a campaign for “healthy intake” based on proven research processes, like the Big 6.

Research models, like Mike Eisenberg’s Big 6, give specific steps for the research process from defining the problem, locating sources, gathering, organizing, creating, and evaluating the individual’s performance. Although formats have rapidly (radically) changed over the past decade, the underlying criteria used to evaluate best teaching practices and for evaluation of resources remain constant. Good teaching is still good teaching in any format. Meaningful content can be high quality in any format. After exploring the new media format of virtual worlds, I decided to create a 3D Model of Mike Eisenberg’s Big 6 in Second Life. An avatar (an individual represented virtually by a character) can simulate moving through the research process while gathering information needed to build a virtual 3D vehicle.

How will literacy change in the future, as students move into virtual worlds, and as augmented reality becomes part of our landscape? We will need to make sure we are providing students with the opportunities for critical thinking, for making informed decisions, application of knowledge, synthesis and evaluation of personal growth. Adapting strategies and processes that have proven to be successful, such as the Big 6, will assure that our students “with inquiring minds” will make good choices.

Because user-generated content has revolutionized information seeking behavior (think of Youtube), waiting in line at the grocery store may actually be a fair analogy. And outside the grocery store is a bake sale! Homemade goodies (information uploaded by anyone and everyone) is now commonplace on the Internet. Information is no longer primarily provided by professional publishers. The produce department may be full of ripe vegetables and fruits and grocery stores now stock a wide selection of healthy foods and organic options. But, we all know, when waiting in line at the grocery store, kids are always tempted by the candy.