FOSIL (Framework Of Skills for Inquiry Learning), is a framework for breaking down the stages of the inquiry process developed by Darryl Toerien, Head of Library at Oakham School, an IB school in Rutland.  Inquiry based learning is fundamental to the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, an important component of which is the Diploma Programme Extended Essay.  This approach to learning requires students to undertake independent research to complete a self-directed study of a subject of their choice, culminating in a 4000-word essay.  It is also expected that they adhere to citation and referencing standards often acquired only in their first year of their tertiary studies. In an interview published in a blog post by Elizabeth Hutchinson, Toerien explains that he took issue with two things, the fact that the skills needed to construct “understanding from knowledge from information“ are not imbedded in the education system, and secondly, that Information Literacy (IL), academic skills and ICT skills, if taught at all, often fail to make the connection between IL, and the metacognition attached to it – “we cite and reference because we are working with other people’s ideas as expressed through their work”.

Understanding Information Literacy

According to Lupton (2015), there is often a failure to understand inquiry learning and that the use of an inquiry process model is beneficial in helping both teachers and students to understand this  “more holistic inquiry focus”. For Darryl Toerien, the need to build a framework of inquiry skills to support the IB Continuum sowed the seeds of FOSIL, not just because students need to develop media and information literacy skills but because they need meaningful opportunities to do so while learning from information. Toerien is passionate about the role of the school library in teaching and learning and in his advocacy for the role of the TL expanding the learning pathways of todays students.

Toerien drew on insights from Kuhlthau’s ISP/ Guided Inquiry Design and Stripling’s Cycle of Inquiry/ ESIFC/ FOSIL for inspiration and guidance in establishing FOSIL.

Bibliography:

Lupton, M. (2015). Teacher librarians’ understandings of inquiry learning. Access (Online), 29(4), 18-29. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1764658513?accountid=10344

Toerien, D. (2019). Enabling students to learn by finding out for themselves: Our journey from FOSIL to the FOSIL group. The School Librarian, 67(2), 77-78. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/2398186314?accountid=10344