Before the MAPping Information Activity
When I was doing my
student teaching, I wanted to show my mentor teacher a site about the White
House that I wanted to use. I pulled up
the site, and it was NOT about the White House in Washington DC. It was scantily clad women. I was shocked and amazed. I figured out I had used .com instead of
.gov. Thankfully, I only showed my
mentor, was able to fix the problem, and lead the kids to the correct
site. WOW! That was a major learning experience which made
me aware that I have to watch the information that my students use in their research
and learning.
Our district, also,
has limits in place that keep them from going to certain sites. However, they still have to be taught to
filter through those sites to find who is writing the website and what the
author’s purpose is in the site.
After MAPping Information Activity
I did not know about easywhois.com
and archive.com. I am looking forward to
showing the students how to use those two sites. Another thing I haven’t ever really devoted
time to is going over the extensions and what they represent. I have briefly discussed them, but not in
length while giving them the entire list.
This would help them to become educated researchers. I also think we will compare search
engines. We have never done that. The students are told that they can’t use
google at school. (It’s a district rule).
However, I believe letting the students compare them and come to their
own conclusion will help them become better at information gathering. In short, I am seeing that I need to teach
web research with more depth than I have done in the past.
Conclusion
This was a great activity to help us
understand the importance of being informed learners. I encourage my students to constantly seek
out truth. Look to see if they are using
primary or secondary sources, etc.
However, I see a real need to look closely at the website that I use and
the ones I want my 4th graders to use. In fact, I am going to go to my class website
and recheck all of the ones I have listed to see who the publisher is and what
the purpose is of the website. This
activity has made me question. I love
that!
After reading about your experience about the website being about the wrong white house it got me thinking about other times I have cited information and it not being form a .gov or .edu or a more credible website than .com is. I always worry if my information I'm getting or giving is correct. I think its a good idea to tell our students/future student about our findings and the different extensions on website, even make them use certain one during papers and projects so that they know and understand more about what is a credible source and what isn't.
ReplyDeleteKelsey Laster
Kelsey,
DeleteI know! Since that experience, I have always checked the websites before giving them to students to use. However, I haven't ever taught them to test the websites for themselves. I am very excited about starting this with my students this fall! I think it will be awesome! It thrilled that they be able to discern credible sources!!!
I didn't know about easywhois.com or archive.com either. I found this very interesting, and will be using this for my classroom. I am loving this class! I have already learned so much in this first week that I'm going to use in the future.
ReplyDeleteErin,
DeleteMe, too! I'm excited about what else we are going to learn!
I'm glad to find out that something like easywhois.com exists. This will be a great tool for me to use to verify my sources before I teach it to my students.
ReplyDeleteElba Smith
Elba,
DeleteI completely agree! I look forward to using it with my students in the fall.
Its experience's like the one you had that make us realize we need to be more aware of what we are providing our students with. I am glad we do have websites and resources that help us verify the websites that we use for the protection of our students.
ReplyDeleteRocio,
DeleteAbsolutely!! I'm very thankful to learn about this site!