Paseo 3.1 Personal Information Inquiry: Wondering (for LIS S574)

Wondering is the first step of the InfoZone inquiry process.  It is defined for us as, "defining the need for information."  Frankly, I think that definition is a little tricksy.  Wondering is pretty straight forward and I think I would introduce this step simply.  The website for this process suggests some different online resources that have information on broad topics that kids can peruse for inspiration. You may remember from the introduction that this process was designed for children and I chose it because I teach research to children in the library where I work.  I opted not to work with these sights because, just when I thought that my inspiration fountain was blocked up, I got an idea.

The idea came from a book I read to my K-3rd graders called Blackout by John Rocco.  It is the story of a fictional family from New York City that were part of a huge power outage that affected millions of people in August of 2003. The setting for the story is the real blackout and the story itself is simple and precious and reminds us of the value of unplugging from the things that keep us busy sometimes and plugging in to family. This year, Blackout is one of the 20 nominees for the grades K-3 Young Hoosier Book Award.

Go to http://www.ilfonline.org/?YHBA for more information on this state book award.

To introduce the book, I showed the book trailer video.  The video gave a little bit of factual information about the blackout, including interviews with New Yorkers that had experienced it. The video was entertaining and it was also curiosity inspiring.  I decided to wonder about the facts that prompted John Rocco to write this story.

Here is the book trailer that made me wonder:

Next time on Do You Read Me: Step 2- Seeking


Infozone Website
http://web.archive.org/web/20040407021851/http://www.assd.winnipeg.mb.ca/infozone/

Work Cited

Rocco, J. (2011). Blackout. New York: Disney/Hyperion Books.