Tech Play 4

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.