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Teaching information literacy through learning styles

The application of Gardner's multiple intelligences

Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, iam{at}pmail.ntu.edu.sg

Shaheen Majid

Division of Information Studies, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

Schubert Foo

Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) and the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

The key for students of today to become independent learners and knowledge workers of tomorrow lies in being information literate. However, existing information literacy (IL) teaching approaches have not always been successful in equipping students with these crucial skills to ensure deep erudition and long-lasting retention. Hence, sound pedagogical approaches become critical in IL education. This research hypothesizes that students grasp IL skills more effectively when their innate interests, such as that determined by their respective dominant intelligences, are stimulated and applied to their work. Consequently, they would produce work of better quality. To verify these postulations, an IL course was designed for students undertaking project work to equip them with the necessary IL skills, by using an established pedagogical approach — Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. Subsequently the quality of students' project work between the experimental and control groups were compared. It was found that the performance of students who had undergone IL training through the application of learning styles was superior in their project work.

Key Words: information literacy • learning styles • multiple intelligences • pedagogy • project work

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