Curiosity is a Luxury of the Financially Secure: The Affective Thresholds of Information Literacy

Abstract

Prior research has examined the ways in which affect and poverty impact cognitive processing.In this article, we examine themes that emerged via directed conversations with focus groups of students enrolled at a large, open-enrollment community college located in a high-poverty area of Southwest Missouri.We explore several affective dimensions of information literacy, including frustration and anxiety with the process of and expectations surrounding academic research, feelings of information overload, and guilt and shame about relying on web sources as well as the intersections with class status and economic privilege.We propose additional affective learning practices and dispositions that articulate the steps to information literacy that learners need to develop along the way.Finally, we examine some considerations for designing effective assignments that acknowledge the many affective components of college-level research.

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