I will explore the information
literacy option because I was concerned about some of the responses I saw from
educated people concerning this subject in the reading discussion 5 from this
course. The most concerning response I
saw was about teachers teaching students how to find the “correct” answers on
the internet. It led me to worry about
the skills that have been given to teachers to show students how to disseminate
the vast amounts of information on the internet.
I have attempted to find the most
basic (elementary level) resources to support learning information literacy
skills. My first search was on Boolean
logic. I am familiar with Boolean
because of my software engineering background and worry about the ability of
most people to use Boolean logic to search in Google or other search engines. I appreciated the Boolean Machine by Rockwell
Schrock. (http://rockwellschrock.com/rbs3k/boolean/index.htm)
It uses the familiar Venn Diagram and an interactive presentation to
explain Boolean logic. I think this
along with some teacher provided topics with student-led Boolean logic would
help students to understand the concepts.
The
second tool I likes was from Berkeley, Googling to the Max – Exercises,
Getting the most from:
http://www.google.com
(http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Googling_Max-Exercises.pdf).
Although this is not specifically for students, I think it is important
for teachers to understand the concepts taught here so that they can best guide
their students.
The
next tool that I appreciated is Kathy Schrock’s FIVE W’S OF WEB SITE EVALUATION
(http://www.schrockguide.net/uploads/3/9/2/2/392267/5ws.pdf).
This is a PDF that uses the familiar 5 Ws
(who, what, when, where and why) to help students with determining the accuracy
of a website.
The
last tool that I thought was worth considering is Kidport (http://www.kidport.com/Contents.htm) which is a website which limits
the possible sources of information.
While I kind of disagree with the concept, I have to compare it to the
firewalls which exist in most school districts (although more extreme). Without extensive amounts of time to judge
the validity and comprehensiveness of the sources included, I include this
source with caution.
Because
my focus is on the earliest elementary level students, I have focused on the
most concrete areas: Research and Library Skills and Critical Literacy. I feel that Media Literacy can be developed
within the scope of learning these other skills and Information Ethics, while
at its highest level should be discussed, can be further developed at a later
age.
