The Interpretation stage engages searchers in the process of analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information to determine its relevancy and usefulness to their research question or information need. Interpretation is another stage in this holistic process that is very important and often neglected. Instructional activities or units must first be designed to require students to engage in critical thinking or problem solving. Middle school students watch a video scenario on a laserdisc that depicts pollution problems in the oceans. Students work in groups to figure out what is causing the pollution and how the problem can be solved.
Students make inferences from their readings and draw conclusions in small groups.
Each small group shares its conclusions with the whole class. The class analyzes the situation and makes inferences about the causes of pollution. Finally the teacher enters the decisions of the class into the simulation software, which provides feedback about the problem that tells students if they have solved the problem or whether they must continue to evaluate the situation in further video scenarios and readings. Sign the Guest Book , View the Guest Book Copyright. 1999-2001, I N T IME .