Frey, Fisher and Gonzalez (2010) state, “There is more information at our fingertips today than ever before” (pg. 33). Technology has vastly changed how we gather information. While books and other texts in print are still valuable, the Internet has provided students with a myriad of options to obtain information. In fact, it can be quite overwhelming at times. Simply typing some keywords into the search bar in Google can yield thousands upon thousands of results. Consequently, our students need to be taught how to effectively search and sift through this overabundance of information.
One way teachers can guide students to developing and practicing effective search skills is to teach them about Boolean Operators. Boolean Operators come in handy when you have a fairly broad topic and need to narrow down the results. Simply adding quotation marks, a plus sign, using the words “or,” “and, “not,” or the minus sign can greatly reduce the amount of websites the search engine gives the researcher. In addition to teaching students about Boolean Operators, teachers need to introduce students to specialized search engines. These search engine are specifically created to produce results about a given topic.
Another helpful tool that will aid students in finding information are Web feed tools. These are tools that will search the Web for postings or websites that are related to the person’s interests. (Frey, Fisher & Gonzalez, 2010, p. 46). These tools are extremely beneficial because they bring the news to the student; the student does not have to go out and continually search, remember to revisit, or bookmark a site. It collects all the information and displays it in one place.
Once students have learned how to effectively research, teachers must teach them how to determine if the information is credible. Anyone can post anything on the Internet. Just because it says it on the Internet, does not make it true. It is the responsibility of the researcher to do their due diligence to ensure that the information they are reporting is accurate. The CARS (Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, Support) Checklist for Information Quality is a great resource to guide students in their thinking as they evaluate a website (Frey, Fisher & Gonzalez, 2010, p. 43). Providing students with an evaluation tool based on CARS would be very beneficial, especially at the beginning stages of becoming an effective researcher.
It is imperative for teachers not to overlook the importance of teaching our students these skills. We can not assume our students know how to do these things just because they are so inundated with technology on a daily basis at such a young age. Today’s students need to learn how to effectively search the Internet and determine the credibility of such information in order to be successful users of technology in this digital era.
Reference:
Frey, N., Fisher, D., & Gonzalez, A. (2010). Literacy 2.0: reading and writing in 21st century classrooms. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteI must have completely missed web feed tools in our reading. Are these just for blogs and news sites or are the aggregators out there for informative sites as well? I remember something like this to keep track of multiple blogs. I need to do more research into these because I really like the "one stop shopping" convenience of web feed tools. On the flip side, I think students could become dependent on relying on these as well or expecting information to be all in one place.
I noticed you talked about credibility evaluations. I left that out of my blog because I went for the literal interpretation of search strategies. I agree with you that evaluating credibility of sources is so important and should also be a skill that we teach our students. Thank you for posting the CARS list and page number so I can check that out!
Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteI think that the CARS checklist is a great tool as well. I have notices that students at this time do not have the skills needed to evaluate a website on their own. I like to give my students a webquest that involves going to DHMO.org. This website is full of facts about dihydrogen monoxide and convinces the students that this chemical is terrible and should be completely banned. We then discuss what they learned and how they think that the chemical should be handled. At this point, I reveal to them that dihydrogen monoxide is another name for water. We then discuss why it is so important to be sure that a site is credible and to check multiple sites. At one point the site directs the students to a friends of dihydrogen monoxide in which they could have seen the benefits of the chemical, but none of the students have ever bothered to do so.
Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteRE: "Consequently, our students need to be taught how to effectively search and sift through this overabundance of information."
Yes! This overabundance of information in the classroom leads to wasted time as students try to deal with the infowhelm. This is especially true in the elementary grades. This is one of the reasons I love Google Custom Search engines. CSEs allow you to reduce the infowhelm by providing students with only high quality websites. You can still teach effective search skill such as keyword and operators.
Dr. Dell