WISHING

As part of my final evaluation of my project, I’d like to put my final thoughts down according to Sandy Guild’s “Worksheet 4 – Research Process Questionnaire” from Chapter 7 of the Stripling/HH text. You will notice that I’ve used Guild’s worksheets and thoughts often throughout my blog. I really appreciated her insight into the information search process, but most of all, I appreciate the practical tools and advice she provides within the chapter. Other teachers and students would appreciate them too, I think. I am the type of learner that these sort of structured worksheets are perfect for!! I’m not necessarily a visual/graphical organizer, but these worksheets are right up my alley. :) I did complete that graphical organizer in Inspiration, and while I appreciate its value, it didn’t really help me. Like I said earlier – MS Word is my perfect organizer!! I can do anything I want with that program!!

WORKSHEET 4 – RESEARCH PROCESS QUESTIONNAIRE

(Sandy Guild, Ch.7, Stripling/HH text)

1. What additional instruction could you have used?

None, really. For the research process, I pulled from personal experience as a researcher and the recommendations and resources provided by Dr. Lamb to conduct a thorough, efficient search. Researching this project was a perfect excuse to put into practice what I am learning in my “Online Search and Retrieval” class. The instruction provided in that class helped me access the most relevant articles.

2. What would you have done differently if you could do it over?

If I had more time, I would really spice up my final product – changing some of the Word documents to actual webpages, adding a page perhaps documenting my personal weight loss experience and I feel that eating dairy foods has helped me achieve my weight loss goals.

3. What was the scariest thing that happened during your research? How did it turn out?

It wasn’t that scary, but when I first started doing research, I realized right away how controversial this topic is. There is a wealth of information both supporting the weight loss/dairy link, as well as hordes of information stating that the link is not proven. After my initial readings, I knew I would have to evaluate my sources carefully to select the most accurate and unbiased information.

4. What question would you still like to chase down if we gave you more time just to do it and you knew there wasn’t a paper or grade at the end?

I’d love to find out more about the actual physical effect of dairy calcium on belly fat – I read some initial findings about how calcium specifically targets the “subcutaneous” fat found in the belly. What’s up with that? Why the belly and not somewhere else?

And – two added questions – from Dr. Lamb’s “wishing” website : What were the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of the project? How are your personal inquiry experiences like and unlike those of the children and young adults who might come into your classroom, lab, or media center?

Strengths – I think my final product turned out really well. I like that others can not only view my findings in a user-friendly FAQ document, but also they can peek into how I performed some of my research. I also think that I learned very quickly how to read nutritional information with a critical eye. This will help me immensely in life in general – I’m already viewing any ad with a “studies have shown” claim with a more skeptical eye!!! :)

Another strength was my early development of good, “telling questions.” As Jamie Mckenzie (2000) states, “It doesn't help to gather 600 files about crime in San Francisco. What the student must do is ask telling questions such as ‘What is the homicide rate per hundred thousand and how has it been changing during the past decade?’” I think my questions were focused and specific enough that I was really able to pull the facts and information that was most relevant to me.

Weaknesses – (Do I really have to put something here? Geez…) :) I would have loved to talk to more people about my findings, getting their opinions. I just didn’t take the time to talk with people besides my husband.

Challenges / Like/unlike children’s experiences – As I stated previously, it was a real challenge for me to document this whole process. I’m used to just “getting it done” because so often in an academic setting you are juggling several classes, using spare minutes to complete the project. The whole research process means nothing to instructors, they just want to see your final product. In this respect, my experience was much like the average student’s experience. If high school students carrying full loads of 8-9 classes were assigned this project, I wonder if they would resent the teacher for the time it took to complete? As a teacher, I would need to make sure that adequate time is provided for any inquiry projects.

I have also stated previously that, like other students, outside events will always influence the momentum of research. I had to fly home to visit family for a wedding in NJ – that took 4 days out of my research time. Students have events like this, too, and we need to adjust schedules accordingly to allow enough time, being understanding when students approach us about special circumstances that may have affected their research.

I am also like most other students in that I have very little personal experience with inquiry projects – I can’t really think of one inquiry project I’ve ever completed, besides this one. I had to get used to the fact that Dr. Lamb wanted to see how I thought, researched, and analyzed, and not just the final product. I think this kind of thinking might be new to a lot of students (unfortunately).

My experience was unlike that of children in that, as a graduate student, I have years more experience at gathering information and selecting the most relevant sites. I also have a class in online searching and have experience with searching online databases – most students won’t know much more than to type keywords into Google. Finally, I’m more technologically savvy than very young students might be (well, actually, who knows, maybe they’ll know more than me!), as I used Photoshop, Word, Insight, UNIX, FTP and other technological tools to publish my results. Young students would definitely need some tutorials for things like this.

Personal Connection. Describe your personal approach to inquiry before starting the project. Reflect on how this has or has not changed during the scope of the project.

Before this experience, I had not ever taken part in a formal personal inquiry project (other than learning German in a seven week ‘immersion’ program, which did not quite follow the information search process). I was overwhelmed at first, after I read all the prescribed course readings. At first, I thought, “Does all this documenting and journaling really matter? Won’t it make kids mad that they have to write down every thought? Can’t they just create a project, reflect on the process and be done with it?” What I loved about the inquiry models, however, was the emphasis placed on PERSONAL INTEREST and IMMERSION in a topic, not just a cursory lesson.

I have to admit that I still feel that some of the documenting along the way is excessive – at least for me. I guess the internal, emotional, thinking and analyzing has just been a natural part of my research for so long that it feels cumbersome to have to say, “Well, gee, what was I thinking about that article at that time? How did I pick it?” Sometimes I wanted to say, “I don’t know – I just did.” :) But then again, I realize years of research experience have allowed me to arrive at where I am, confident in evaluating sources (though I am by no means perfect and am always learning). I have completed plenty of dry, boring, “spit-the-info-back” reports to get to this point. It IS important to provide opportunities to get kids thinking, from an early age, about the way to approach research, not cutting and pasting, but making learning personally relevant. As Mckenzie (2000) states, “In a time of information abundance (some would say "infoglut"), it is folly to jump into gathering without first giving careful thought to strategies for targeting and then storing the most relevant information.” I’m excited about being part of this process for kids – excited to help them on their journey, aiding them through their frustrations and guiding them in their personal explorations.

RESOURCES

Stripling, Barbara & Hughes-Hassell, Sandra (2003). Curriculum connections through the library. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Mckenzie, Jamie (2000). The research cycle. From Now On : The Educational Technology Journal, 9(4). Accessed September 30, 2005 from http://questioning.org/rcycle.html

Final Project - Wrapping and Waving

The URL for my final project is here:
http://mypage.iu.edu/~seley/L551/Dairy.html

Choosing a form for my final product was a natural outgrowth of my research process.

I love Microsoft Word, and I used it throughout my research process to organize my thoughts and relevant articles, especially since many articles were online. Once I had organized my thoughts into relevant categories, I thought that the FAQ word document that resulted was a perfect product. I could share the document itself via a weblink, or reformat it into a webpage. Due to time constraints and the stipulation that we weren’t to spend too much time on our product, I decided to leave the document “as is.” A second “Web Links” word document was created to provide relevant links to anyone interested. A third Word document listed my initial search strategy.

From the beginning of my research, others expressed their interest in my final product. I knew that a webpage would be a perfect way to make my ideas accessible “to all,” even more than this blog.

I used Adobe Photoshop to create a simple background for my main page. Using the trial version of Inspiration, I also created an Inspiration graphical concept map and exported it as an HTML document. The Inspiration graphical map is linked off this webpage. The main webpage itself was generated by hand, typing in HTML into ‘pico’ in the UNIX server, though I could have used a tool like MS Frontpage or Macromedia Dreamweaver to generate it.

Collaboration and Standards Connection

My project aligns perfectly with some of the national curriculum standards for health, as well as all of the ALA Information Literacy Standards (especially Standard 2 - evaluating information critically, and Standard 3 – using information accurately and creatively). While I did not participate in a group to complete my project (ILS Standard 9), I often discussed my project with my husband, asking him to read relevant articles and provide his opinion. He took a personal interest in my personal inquiry project!

This project aligns with the following subject-based standards:

McRel Health Standard 1. Knows the availability and effective use of health services, products, and information.

Indiana Academic Standards – Health #2 - Students will demonstrate the ability to access
health information, products, and services.

Indiana Academic Standards – Health #4 - Students will demonstrate the ability to analyze the influence of family, culture, peers, community, media, and technology
on health and health behaviors.

(The National Health Standards seem to be the basis for the Indiana Academic Health Standards.)

National Health Academic Standards #2 – Students will demonstrate the ability to access valid health information and health-promoting products and services.

National Health Academic Standards #4 - Students will analyze the influence of culture, media, technology and other factors on health.

Webbing, Wiggling and Weaving

Here I will attempt to document my research process, detailing the sources I consulted and how I evaluated the information from each, synthesizing the information and pulling them into a final product. (Please keep in mind that my final product also reflects much of this process.)

In my research, I was attempting to answer my two “big questions” as well as the other related questions detailed in my previous posts. I planned on incorporating my answers into an Inspiration graphical map as well as some other product.

Sources I consulted:

1) Online database searching – Web of Science and DIALOG.
For a full description of this search process, see my document here: http://mypage.iu.edu/~seley/L551/DAIRySearchStrategyWorksheet.doc
This search yielded the most amount of relevant information to cull through – that process is detailed below.

2) Internet Pathfinder – started with the Nutrition section of the Internet Public Library:
http://www.ipl.org/div/pf/entry/48513

3) Askanexpert.com – I loved this site! I found it interesting that once you found the experts by topic, you could view their credentials and “prestige” and other ratings given to them by other users before deciding to send email questions. I sent emails to George Rapitis, Nutritionist and Laura Kraemer, BSN. Here are their replies:

Question:

I am doing some basic research on the effect that eating dairy foods has on weight loss. (I lost 45 lbs. this year, and I did include lowfat yogurt as part of my diet, and I'm just interested in this topic personally.)

I have reviewed the studies that the dairy industry constantly uses as the basis of its "3-a-day" campaign. These studies were performed by Michael Zemel at the University of Tennessee, but Zemel used very small study groups. I have also reviewed information stating that Zemel's research is inconclusive (especially this article from the Nutrition Action Healthletter: http://www.cspinet.org/nah/09_05/milking.pdf). (By the way, do you know whether or not this publication is trustworthy?)

I would like to ask you about your personal experience with and knowledge of what effect eating dairy foods has on weight loss. Some more specific questions I have are as follows:

- Why is low-fat dairy a recommended part of almost every diet for weight loss? - Does eating dairy products somehow speed up your metabolism to aid in weight loss?
- Is yogurt the best dairy food to eat, because it is somehow good for your digestive tract?
- Is organic yogurt better than non-organic somehow?
- How does this affect people with lactose intolerance? If they
drink Lactaid or eat similar products, will it be just as beneficial?
- Would calcium supplements be just as effective for weight loss?

I realize that's a lot of questions!! I appreciate any insights you may have.

Many thanks,
Susan Eley

Answer #1
Hello Susan!

Thank you for your nutrition questions. I had a chance to look at the Center of Public Interest and it looks very interesting. Most of the dairy diet studies have been funded by the dairy industry. And researchers disagree on just how big of an effect dairy foods really can have on weight management. Exactly how calcium and dairy might help with weight management isn't clear. Dairy products, in general, may simply be more satisfying than other foods, making high-dairy dieters less hungry and more likely to stick to their diet.
Low fat yogurt is probably the best dairy product since it contains healthy bacteria called Acidophilus which help you maintain a healthy flora in your intestines.
There is not a big difference between organic and non organic yogurt. The nutritional value is still the same however, organic food producers must meet additional requirements in order to label their food organic.
Lactaid milk is simply milk that has had the lactose removed for people that are lactose intolerant. The nutritional value is still intact.
It has'nt been proven that calcium supplements can aid with weight loss so I can't recommend any. Weight loss is really only accomplished when you burn more calories then you take in.

Hope this helps.

-George Rapitis, Nutritionist
http://www.juiceblend.com


Answer #2
Dear Susan, I really don't have any personal experience regarding dairy foods and weight loss. Studies are inconclusive and the dairy ad people have pulled their weight loss ads due to the debate. Everybody needs calcium in their diet and drinking three cups of milk a day is just an easy way of getting that calcium. Yogurt is a cultured milk product containing lactobacillus. The body uses the lactobacillus to increase the healthy flora in the intestines of the body, but I don't think it helps in weight reduction.
Dairy foods are a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals, especially the added vitamins A and D.
So again, I personally don't view dairy foods as weight loss foods, but I do view them as a healthy addition to any diet, weight loss or no weight loss. Hope I helped, Laura Kraemer,Slimkids.com
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

4) Print resources – I had already read French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. Her insights were a starting point for my research and interest in this topic. I returned to the book often to review Ms. Guiliano’s points. Though she’s not a scientist or doctor, her experience represents that of the “woman on the street,” a perspective I didn’t get from reading through medical studies and journal articles. After reading many articles and formulating my thesis, I skimmed through the book The Calcium Key by Michael Zemel, doctor and author of several studies linking weight loss and dairy consumption. I incorporated some of his findings into my product.
Why didn't I use more print resources? The fact is, medical science is continuously updated and nutritional recommendations change very quickly. The most recent studies in the field have only just been completed. The information I found in online journal articles was really the most relevant and most comprehensive, so I didn't need to consult many print resources.


Evaluating and Assimilating the Information

After retrieving a large set of documents and websites relevant to my search, I went to work, reading and evaluating what I found to determine what I could use in my product. When I found an article citation or internet link I particularly liked, I copied the URL or fulltext into an MS WORD document, adding my comments. (This “copy” feature is one nice thing about digital information!) By the end of this process, the MS Word document was really messy. I reviewed the articles I had chosen, reading them over again, asking myself, “Which question(s) would this article answer?” I then categorized my comments and article links underneath the appropriate question in my Word document.

Deciding What Form My Product Would Take: At this point, I felt that my final product would take the form of an “FAQ” webpage about dairy and weight loss. I already had a Word document set up! I knew that others would be interested to see the answers to my initial questions on a webpage, as well as my resources, with links where possible. I felt it was important to include links because others, like myself, might be surprised to learn how much medical and scientific information is available for FREE on the internet. (It is also important that my product took this form because medical science as it relates to nutrition is CONSTANTLY being revised…the most recent and highest quality information really is found online, not in print.) I had always assumed you would have to pay for medical journal fulltexts, but it turns out I was wrong!! I did create a final FAQ Word document, linking it off my final webpage product.

Right away, I realized I would have to be careful in evaluation. Much of what is passed off as “science” in advertisements and articles is really unproven or based on preliminary research.

For example, the dairy industry has created a plethora of websites promoting dairy and health and pushing the dairy-weight loss connection.

Just a few examples: National Dairy Council webpage, Gotmilk.com, 3aday.org, Power of Cheese. These link to sites like to seemingly impartial, innocuous sites like the NutritionExplorations.org or aboutyogurt.com. What is important to remember is that the dairy industry has a vested interest in scientific studies about dairy, often funding scientific studies regarding dairy. (Anything that makes them look better will naturally be a marketing tool.) I had to look at this information with a critical eye, choosing instead to rely on impartial, third party sites and research for a bulk of my information. (Just seeing “.org” doesn’t make it an impartial site!)

So…I needed impartial information, and lots of it. Students often dream of finding the “one perfect article.” Well, in this case, I was lucky. My DIALOG search brought me to an article called “Milking the data” by David Schardt of the Nutrition Action Healthletter, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). The CSPI “has been a strong advocate for nutrition and health, food safety, alcohol policy, and sound science” since 1971 (CSPI, 2005). This article was my jumping-off point. After reading and studying it, I was able to branch out and explore the medical studies it mentioned, as well as many others, incorporating them into my Word document.

I was careful to document my sources. After organizing my FAQ document, I kept a list of all my cited references at the bottom of the page, including links wherever possible. When I was ready to format the bibliography, I was able to return to the links (or print sources, or emails) and cite the sources properly.

Returning Here to Say....

Ok, I am finally going to post to my blog after a long absence from it! I have completed the final product for my project, and I must admit it has been difficult to pull myself away from the research process to document my thoughts and emotions. I am not used to documenting the research process – this is the first time I have had to do it. I suppose that the years and years of schooling have ingrained the “perfect product” mentality in my brain, and I haven’t worried so much about how I arrived at that product.

Sandy Guild, in Chapter 7 of the Stripling/Hughes-Hassell text, reaffirms this, stating, "In an educational environment whose greatest rewards (grades) are intimately linked with products, he or she must mediate the tendency to goal-directed behavior in order to make thoughtful time for recursion" (Stripling & HH, 2003). I think I achieved a happy medium, but maybe next time I'll do better!

Kuhlthau states that researchers experience the information search process “holistically with an interplay of thoughts, feelings, and actions” (Kuhlthau, 2005). I felt a variety of emotions as I moved through the research process. Most of all, I would say I felt “overwhelmed” at first, when I realized there was SO much information out there!

Most of the work of evaluating and synthesizing my research occurred last week. Once I began to see patterns emerge in my research, and the same studies were quoted over and over again, I began to breathe a little easier and was able to formulate my thesis. I then was able to decide when I could “stop” finding information.

I felt under a time crunch, since I was traveling home to NJ for a family visit this past weekend, and I wanted to complete as much as possible before leaving. (Let’s be honest, no one wants to do research when they’re visiting with family, even a vacation as short as 2 days, like mine was!) This is an example of why it’s important to realize that research doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Kuhlthau mentions the researcher’s feelings of optimism, then uncertainty and doubt, then confidence. What about students who have a major life event happen in the middle of their inquiry (e.g., a loss of a loved one or even a hurricane)? These events certainly affect the research process, and we as teachers need to decide how we allow for these events.


Sources:
Kuhlthau, Carol.
INFORMATION SEARCH PROCESS: A SEARCH FOR MEANING
RATHER THAN ANSWERS
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/%7Ekuhlthau/Search%20Process.htm

Stripling, Barbara & Hughes-Hassell, Sandra (2003). Curriculum connections through the library. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Webbing / Initial Search Strategy

As I begin formatting my search strategy, I wish I had some sort of ‘source requirement’ to narrow down the amount of information sources I should consult and cite. After doing some initial searching, I am certain there will be a wealth of information on this topic, and I feel the need to set some limits.

One of the I-Search websites (http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/writing/formatsheet.html) requires that students cite 3 articles, 3 books, and 3 interviews. In this particular website example, the author states that a 66-page paper was handed in at one point!! That’s great, but I don't envy the teachers who would have to browse through all that.

Kuhlthau states that students at this initial stage of research are often "confused and disoriented, often expressing annoyance at the assignment..." Kuhlthau recommends strategies for teachers helping students through this process - "charting, conversing and composing. Charting enables the person to visualize the total search process from initiation to closure and to anticipate what to expect in each stage of the process" (Kuhlthau, 2005)."

I have to admit I’m not a “charting” person. I prefer making lists and journaling to graphic organizers, but I thought I’d give it a go. I created a planning map in Inspiration, and so far it seems to be a good idea for organizing my thoughts, and later, for organizing my search results.

I will post my Inspiration map(s) toward the end of the project.

Here are the ideas I have listed under the “RESEARCH STRATEGY” portion of my map.

- Using DIALOG (an online database search tool I am learning to use in my L570 class), use appropriate search techniques to search online health databases to retrieve relevant journal articles, and select approximately 5 "most relevant" articles, since there is sure to be a wealth of information. (See keywords below.) Relevant databases include MEDLINE, TGG Health and Wellness, among others. I will determine which to search by using DIALOG bluesheets (informational sheets on what is contained in each database).

- Consult a nutritionist using an "Ask the Expert" website.

- Search online journals and databases to view and select the most important medical studies on this topic, preferably studies performed within past 5 years.

- Consult websites, cull information and compile a list of 5-10 most relevant sites.

- Start with nutrition pathfinders (such as the one at Internet Public Library)

Key concepts (main ideas, terms):

Concept 1	Concept 2
DAIRY	WEIGHT LOSS

3. Synonyms or alternate forms for each concept:

	Synonyms for concept 1		Synonyms for concept 2
A	DAIRY FOOD	AND	WEIGHT CHANGE
	OR		OR
B	CALCIUM	AND	WEIGHT CONTROL
	OR		OR
C	YOGURT OR YOGHURT	AND	BODY WEIGHT
	OR		OR
D		AND	OBESITY

- I have already consulted one print source, “French Women Don’t Get Fat,” for its hypothesis. If other print materials catch my eye, I will take a look, but I think most relevant material will be found in journals.

- Complete an "opinion proof" diagram on Inspiration, linking my hypotheses with supporting documentation.

Sources

Kuhlthau, Carol. Information Search Process: a Search for Meaning Rather than Answers. Accessed September 19, 2005 at http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/%7Ekuhlthau/Search%20Process.htm

Lamb, Annette C. (2005). Information Inquiry: Webbing. http://www.eduscapes.com/info/topic71c.htm

Most Pertinent Questions

Since we're supposed to declare a focus for our investigation, I've decided the "big questions" for my inquiry investigation are as follows:

- Does eating dairy help you lose weight?
- Is yogurt the best dairy food to help you lose weight?

Just Appreciating Led Me to This!

As part of the "Watching" step of Dr. Lamb's 8 W's, we are asked to look around, to do some exploration of the world, asking ourselves, "What do [I] see and hear? What are the current issues of interest and concern" (Lamb, 2005)?

Stage 1 of the Pappas/Tepe Pathways to Knowledge information seeking method invites students to "appreciate literature, the arts, nature and information in the world around them through varied and multiple formats, including stories, film, paintings, natural settings, music, books, periodicals, the Web, video, etc. Appreciation often fosters curiosity and imagination, which can be a prelude to a discovery phase in an information seeking activity"(Pappas & Tepe, 2002, as quoted by Dr. Lamb).

Questions arose in my mind over the past few months, simply as I was doing what Lamb and Pappas & Tepe suggest - reading for pleasure, enjoying what I read, and thinking about its implications for me.

I wanted to share with you some of the information that I found during this background reading that has brought me to this point in the inquiry project.

First, some excerpts from "French Women Don't Get Fat" are shown below. "Dr. Miracle" is Guiliano's French doctor, who helped create an eating plan for her to help her lose 20 pounds when she returned from a trip to America, overweight by about 30 pounds.

"One vital secret of hunger management Dr. Miracle taught me is yogurt - not the sugary supermarket kind, but the real stuff, strained, which is not only of superior texture and flavor, but full of the bacteria essential to health. It isn't readily available in America, unless you live near a dairy. But you can make it yourself once a week...Introduce two daily servings of homemade (or all-natural plain) yogurt as a dessert, breakfast, or snack food" (Guiliano, 2005)

"Yogurt is actually better for you than any of these dairy products [she had mentioned custard, flan, creme anglaise, and pudding]. Doctors typically recommend that patients on antibiotics - destroyers of intestinal flora - eat one serving with each meal. One gram of basic yogurt has something like ten million live bacteria...vital to your digestive well being" (Guiliano, 2005).

And finally, the article in Prevention that got me thinking even more...

***Rich 'n' creamy diet food ***

Eating dairy foods seems to speed weight loss. But if you're lactose intolerant, you know that yogurt is the easiest dairyfood to digest. Here's good news: Yogurt works as well as milk and cheese for cutting pounds, a new University of Tennessee study found. Eighteen women who ate 500 fewer calories and 6 ounces of yogurt three times a day for 12 weeks lost 3.6 more pounds and 1.2 more inches from their waists than 16 women who also cut calories but ate no yogurt.

********

Let's see if I can find that study, among others, during my information inquiry!! :)

************
Resources
Guiliano, Mirette (2005). French women don't get fat. Alfred A. Knopf: New York.

Rich 'n creamy diet food (2005, August). Prevention 57 (8), p. 75.

Lamb, Annette C. (2005). Information Inquiry: Watching. http://eduscapes.com/info/topic71a.htm

Pappas, Marjorie L. & Tepe, Ann E. (2002). Pathways to Knowledge and Inquiry Learning. Libraries Unlimited.

Some Watching and Wondering

Though I have already posted a potential topic for my inquiry project, I decided that I’d definitely like to consider other possibilities. After doing some of our class readings, I think it’s always best to have a “backup” in case things don’t work out like I think they should.

I agree with Sandy Guild (2003), who says in Chapter 7 of the Stripling/Hughes-Hassel text that it is best to “introduce recursion as a strategy built into instruction from the very beginning…When the student researcher understands the research process as just another set of linear instructions, he or she finds it harder to recognize the need for recursion….The novice researcher, fearful of losing his or her momentum, may be unwilling to ‘go back’ to an earlier stage…”

I was not satisfied with all of the linear, stepwise models for information inquiry, and I think Guild states perfectly the idea that inquiry research is an up-and-down, circular process. McKenzie’s Research Cycle also emphasizes the cyclical nature of research, and I am excited to begin a project that is more than a “simple shopping trip…that demands little thought, imagination, or skill (McKenzie, 2000).” Besides my German for Singers experience in Middlebury, VT (which I’ve already posted about in Skyhopper 1), I find it difficult to remember a time when I participated in an authentic, inquiry-based experience. I’m looking forward to it! I have thought about this project a lot, specifically in my Online Search class. I can’t wait to put to good use some of the search strategies I am learning!

My entries to Guild’s “Worksheet 1” (p.151 of Stripling/HH text):

Worksheet 1 – Selecting a Topic

1. Here are three possible topics, most interesting first. The other two topics will be back-ups in case my favorite would take too long or not have enough information available.

Topic #1 – I’d like to find out what effect consuming dairy foods, especially yogurt, has on weight loss and/or weight maintenance, if any.

Topic #2 – I’m interested to find out what techniques people use to maintain a large weight loss, specifically those who have lost 50 lbs. or more and have kept it off for at least 2 years.

Topic #3 – I’d like to find out what strength and toning exercises are most effective to firm and tone a woman’s body, especially to firm the “loose skin” that happens after a large weight loss.

You will notice that all three topics are related. Fitness is on my mind lately – I’ve lost 100 lbs. from my heaviest weight (which was about 5 years ago), I’m at my goal weight, and I’m now in the “maintenance” phase. All three of these topics are interesting and relevant to me at my current stage in life.

2. What I already know about the most interesting topic…

I first started really thinking about Topic #1, my first choice, back in May when I read the book “French Women Don’t Get Fat.” Guiliano, the author, stressed the importance of yogurt in aiding digestion and helping weight loss and weight maintenance. Later in the summer, I read a blurb in Prevention magazine about a study that showed that dieters who consumed dairy were more likely to lose weight than those that didn’t. Let us not forget, either, the messages that are daily sent to us women through those Yoplait commercials…any woman eating Yoplait can easily fit into that “itsy bitsy teeny weenie yellow polka dot bikini.” J

In my recollections here, I am experiencing the “Recall” stage of Kuhlthau’s ISP by “thinking and remembering certain features of what has been gathered and read...” I only “remember selectively rather than recalling everything.”

I also know that low-fat dairy products are constantly on the “recommended dietary guidelines” provided by almost any doctor. On Weight Watchers, the program I used to lose 100 lbs., they also recommend them. I drink skim milk only, I do not eat cheese normally, and I eat tons of yogurt. This summer, I ate low-fat organic yogurt mixed with blueberries or other fruit for breakfast almost every day. I think that helped me reach my weight loss goal. I have heard that the “active cultures” found in yogurt aid in digestion, and I think that may be why organic yogurt is supposedly better for you, because there are more cultures in organic yogurt.

3. Why I am interested in that topic…

I am interested because it’s personally relevant to me, as stated above. I think this topic is also of interest to a lot of people (women, especially), so it’s perfect for this project. When I posted about it on Oncourse, I received a few responses saying that they’d love to hear how this turns out. I’ve even spoken with my husband about my topic (part of Dr. Lamb’s “watching” step), and he can’t wait to find out either. He’s even started drinking more smoothies (made with yogurt), because he’s convinced there’s a connection too.

4. What else I am interested in finding out about that topic:

Pappas and Tepe (2002) talk about this stage as the “presearch” stage, stating that I should be now able to “make a connection between [my] topic and prior knowledge” by brainstorming. Here is a list of preliminary questions I have brainstormed about this topic. I am sure that more will arise as I go along.

- Why is low-fat dairy a recommended part of every diet for weight loss?

- Does eating dairy products somehow speed up your metabolism to aid in weight loss?

- What dairy food is the best to eat?

- Is yogurt the best dairy food to eat?

- Is organic yogurt better than non-organic somehow? Is homemade yogurt even better (Guiliano stresses homemade yogurt)? Why?

- What professional medical studies have been done to prove the effect of dairy on weight loss?

- Who has funded the studies?

- What are the results of those studies?

- How much dairy food should you eat every day?

- How does this affect people with lactose intolerance? If they drink Lactaid or eat similar products, will it be just as beneficial?

- Is the calcium in the dairy products the ingredient that causes weight loss? Would calcium supplements be just as effective?

Guild, Sandy (2003). Modeling recursion in research process instruction. In B. Stripling & Sandra Hughes-Hassell (Eds.), Curriculum connections through the library (pp. 141-154). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Kuhlthau, Carol. Information Search Process: A search for meaning rather than answers. http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/%7Ekuhlthau/Search%20Process.htm

McKenzie, Jamie (2000). The Research Cycle 2000. http://questioning.org/rcycle.html

Pappas, Marjorie L. & Tepe, Ann E. (2002). Pathways to Knowledge and Inquiry Learning. Libraries Unlimited.

I Think I Know Why French Women Don't Get Fat...

About 3 months ago, I read the book "Why French Women Don't Get Fat." Mireille Guiliano, the author, talked about how yogurt really helped her own weight loss efforts, and I thought, "Hmmm....I'll have to try that."

I have lost 40 lbs. since February (through Weight Watchers and lots of exercise), and I have regulary included yogurt (mostly plain, lowfat or nonfat) in my diet. I'm convinced there's a connection there, and there's many studies that have been done that I'd like to explore. Weight Watchers is a big proponent of dairy foods for weight loss.

I'm really interested in how eating dairy can aid in weight loss and weight maintenance. I wonder how this affects the weight-loss efforts of those who are lactose-intolerant? We'll see what my inquiry reveals....

Test - Entry #1

Hi all,

Thanks for coming to view my blog!! This is just a test to make sure this thing works.