When to Teach Research Skills?

Although no one expects an elementary school student to write a research paper, even primary students should be learning that copying something from a book or online isn’t the best idea. The “copying is okay” mindset causes problems with their writing in middle school and beyond. As Carolyn Jabs tells us in Preventing Plagiarism, “Ironically, teachers often introduce this bad habit” as they encourage the use of Internet content and cutting and pasting, which causes “many kids to quickly jump to the conclusion that the best way to complete a report is to assemble a collection of quotes from other sources.”

Suggestions for helping young students begin to understand about research writing are: teaching the difference between fact and fiction, giving assignments that encourage students to use their own ideas, insisting that students explain where they found the information for their reports, asking students to describe the content in their own words, helping students locate reliable information, and helping them to understand how they can take and organize simple notes and source information by using their computers.

Recognizing Advertorails

Know what an advertorial is? Do your students? You probably can guess. The concept has been around for decades: Design an ad so that it looks more like a positive editorial opinion or a review. Or pay a writer to talk specifically about a company. In print that’s easier to pick out. In a magazine like Time the advertorials are usually in the center of the magazine and have a different kind of border or layout signifying that they are not part of the usual magazine content. But how about in the blogging world? How can you spot an advertorial? How much disclosure is appropriate? What degree of involvement with advertorializing does it take for influential bloggers lose credibility? For a rather facetious look at this looming issue take a look at A Modest Blogging Proposal that advocates that we could all curry favors by becoming walking, talking, blogging advertorials. Might make a great real world writing project.

What Are Your Students Learning from the Presidential Campaign?

Presidential election years are great times to help students learn more about civics and citizenship and also about the issues facing our nation. Education Week's Kathleen Kennedy Manzo in her article Campaign Drama, Classroom Lessons shows how teachers throughout the country are using the election to demonstrate to their students the importance of elections and why voting is essential. Teachers find that their students are interested in what's going on in the election. It just takes good lessons and enthusiastic teaching. (You can read two articles a week from Education Week without subscribing to the magazine, but you do need to register to have access to the articles.)

What Do the Google Kids Know?

Today's kids have been called the "Google Generation". But how much do most kids know and what exactly do they know? A new study (Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future) says that our kids are lacking in information skills-that they aren't really all that Web literate. Their findings, which should come as no surprise to teachers who work with kids and tech, that kids have "zero tolerance for any delay in satisfying their information needs." They are so impatient that they haven't developed strong skills of search and navigation of online resources. The problem is that most of them think they have these skills. Suggestions were made in the report for librarians and teachers to step up efforts to help students with information literacy.

What Do Kids REALLY Know About Tech?

For years educators have been saying, "Don't be fooled. Kids don't know everything about technology." Of course, they want their parents and teachers to think they do, and they are super at text messaging, sending IMs, using cell phones, MP3 players, setting up gadgets and computers, and making adults feel inferior about tech knowledge.  But when it comes to being savvy about applications and Internet understanding they'll need to have for college and the work world, many kids are found lacking. They spend so much time "connecting" that they don't have any time left for what they may consider the less exciting aspects of the digital world. One problem with scheduling kids for sessions on computer skills is attitude. Kids often think they know these skills, or can learn them if they ever need them, without a problem. Sure, they are digital natives and tech comes easy to them. That's great. It may just take them less time to learn what they need to learn-like writing appropriate email, knowing how to use spreadsheets, understanding databases, creating charts and graphs, finding the best sites for research, practicing polite and safe behavior online, using technology as a personal assistant ....

Wikipedia and the Presidential Campaign

A good discussion in a contemporary issues or other social studies class might center on what's happening in Wikipedia entries about the candidates. An article in the Washington Post, On Wikipedia, Debating 2008 Hopefuls' Every Facet, describes the details of the postings; the debates over such things as John Edwards' haircuts, Hillary Clinton's record as First Lady, and Fred Thompson's first name: and the parts played by "editors", supporters and campaign staff. Loads of information about the candidates is available, and with everyone able to edit it, will we end up with a better understanding of the candidates and perhaps also the people posting the information?

Editing Wikipedia: Exactly who is going it?

Think about it. Who is taking the time to edit information in Wikipedia? Cal Tech grad student Virgil Griffith has devised a way of tracking changes in entries. Among the organizations editing their copy were Congressional representatives, government agencies, and corporations. While Wikipedia allows edits by anyone who wants to do so, it makes sense to educate our students so that they'll understand what they might be getting when they use content of this type. Have corporations or individuals enhanced their entries? Have they deleted parts that are not exactly positive? Have they added press release material? Griffith found some entries that fell into these categories, but he says so far in his search most edits are "fairly innocuous." You are invited to try the Wikipedia tracker, and maybe you and your students will come up with some interesting data.

What Do Our Students Know about Finding Information Online?

Parents and teachers sometimes think kids know all there is to know about computers and the Internet. They don't; nobody does. Sure, they know lots about Instant Messaging, text messaging, and chatting, but when it comes to Internet searches, our students fall short. This means they'll spend too much time searching for content and what they get may not be worth their times. Teachers get around this problem by giving their students lists of sites where they can start their searches. But students should know how to search effectively and safely, shouldn't they? Carol Simpson, in a publication of Library Media Center, suggests there are lots of standards out there relating to information literacy and perhaps the standards should be standardized. No matter what, there needs to be an emphasis upon helping students, parents, and everyone learn how to search the Net efficiently.

Internet as Science Source

The Pew Internet & American Life Project, this time in collaboration with the Exploratorium, has conducted yet another national survey citing that fully 40 million Americans use the Internet as their primary source of news and information about science and 87% of online users have at one time used the Internet to carry out research on a scientific topic or concept. The good news is that, with careful consideration of the info available, teachers and students are getting timely updates. The cautionary news is that teachers and students also need to check the sources of the information they are getting as well as when it was put up online to make sure they are getting accurate information. For more on detecting misinformation see Misinformation – Truth or Spoof on this site.

Politicians Tapping the Power and Suffering the Satire of Social Networking

Politicians craving free publicity are flocking to social networking and media sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube , but along with the acclaim they seek comes a dose of political sarcasm and even some embarrassment like fake ads and lists of reasons not to vote for them in postings. While political strategists predict this as a new way to reach younger voters, teachers handing out assignments dealing with the current campaigns need to remind their students that all the information found on these sites may not be “politically correct”, meaning in this case, they might find more misinformation than information on these sites. Make sure to require students cite any sites they visit to find out a candidate’s stance on the issues to alleviate any questions about where the information came from.