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Internet Reserach
Internet Research
The Internet has transformed research into a largely independent pursuit. Gone may be the chat a parent would conduct on the car ride to the library or what librarians call the in-person ?reference interview,? where an information professional intervenes to help a student assess a problem, focus a topic, suggest keywords, suggest a critical book, or recommend the best index or database in which to begin a search. Student independence is something we promote and can celebrate at many points in the research process, but adult intervention is critical. Even the brightest of our 17-year olds don?t know what they don?t know (e.g., the keywords associated with a specialized field the historical context for an event, the seminal works or classics in an area of knowledge).[i]
Good researchers not only have specific skills, but also a set of attitudes and behaviors that promote success. In terms of cognitive abilities, the information-fluent student:
? Knows what he or she is looking for
? Realizes he or she has search choices
? Recognizes research holes
? Knows basic strategies for evaluating sources
? Recognizes that searching on the
? Knows that advanced search screens exist and offer greater searching power
? Knows that there are three main types of searching: keyword, subject/topic, and field searching
? Knows how to think about a query
? Knows when quality matters
This article hits home to me because more and more so much of our time is spent using the internet to do research. In my classroom I show two different movies starting in the sixth grade on how to do internet research effectively. I am going to incorporate this article into my lesson plans because I think it hits on all the right topics for good internet research.
I try and teach my students that as they progress through high school and college it will become increasing important to develop internet research skills because locating, recognizing, and effectively using information are critical life skills they are going to need to stay competitive.
I use several different lesson plans that require students to research the internet and provide back to me in a word document their finding. The key here is to develop the lesson plan so that students can not just cut and paste and have to find the subject matter, read the subject matter, and in their own words report what they have read.
I also use this to explain that keywords are beneficial when searching within designated fields of databases. For instance, looking for keyword in a title or abstract might be more meaningful than looking for that same keyword in an article?s full text. When a student learns how to construct a query, he or she knows how to formally pose a question to a search box, making use of its syntax, or special language. As the eighth grade computer test becomes more and more geared toward database and spreadsheet usage, the quicker the student can query the information the less time they will spend on that particular problem.
Posted at 06:06PM Nov 29, 2006 by LASKIN, RICHARD in General | Comments[21]
Wikis
Wikis
Wikis are collaborative environments by design, and can serve a variety of purposes for collaborative online projects. Wikis are commonly used as personal information managers (PIMs), knowledge bases or knowledge management systems, content for academic instruction, sites for collaborative authoring of a document or project development, and collaborative communication forums (Mattison, 2003; Thoeny, 2005). Webopedia (n.d.) defines "wiki" as follows: A collaborative Web site comprised of the perpetual collective work of many authors. Similar to a blog in structure and logic, a wiki allows anyone to edit, delete or modify content that has been placed on the website using a browser interface, including the work of previous authors. In contrast, a blog, typically authored by an individual, does not allow visitors to change the original posted material, only add comments to the original content.
Because they are organized by content, rather than chronology, wikis are often used to promote collaborative content creation and editing (Coodwin-Jones, 2005;
At the school I teach at we have progressed a long ways in the last five years concerning technology and the implementation of technology. My first year there we converted form old Macintosh computers to two computer labs of 26 IBM computers. The next year we provided a new IBM to each classroom teacher. The third year we installed a local area network and wide area network allowing communication throughout the school building and the county. In the fourth year we provide multiple computers to classroom and two wireless computer carts with 20 computers on each cart.
The one area we have not progressed in is providing students with their own individual student e-mail accounts. I support the author in that students need a medium to express them selves and to build communications skills. I see Wikis as that missing component we need to implement to provide students with a tool to express thoughts and promote communications.
When I teach Economics to the eighth grade class I have them do a project that researches a county and the students are required to provide certain economic information about their country of choice. I would like to use a Wiki to start the students on a discussion to compare the economic standards of their country to each others countries and, to discuss the economic differences and opportunities of living in the Unites States compared to the counties they have picked.
Posted at 04:25PM Nov 29, 2006 by LASKIN, RICHARD in General | Comments[0]
WebQuests
WebQuests
Since it was first developed in1995 by Bernie Dodge with Tom March, the Web Quest model has been incorporated into hundreds of education courses and staff development efforts around the globe (Dodge, 1995). A WebQuest, according to http://edweb.sdsu.edu/ webquest/overview.htm, is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web.
WebQuests are designed to use learners? time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners? thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. WebQuests are appealing because they provide structure and guidance both for students and for teachers. The stated ideal of engaging higher-level thinking skills?though making good use of limited computer access?seems to resonate with many educators.
According to Johnson and Johnson (2000), the critical attributes of a successful cooperative learning environment include the following
:
? Positive interdependence: Learners perceive that they cannot succeed without each other.
? Pro-motive interaction (preferably face to-face): Students help teach and applaud each other as they wrestle with authentic work.
? Individual and group accountability: The group is held accountable for completing the task, and each individual is held accountable for his or her part in the process.
? Interpersonal and small group skills: Most children (and many adults) need to be taught how to work together.
? Group processing: Conversation about how to improve the group?s effectiveness is deliberately built into the process.[i]
In my classes I am using the Internet and Web Quests or a form of a Web based learning tools on a more frequent basis to supplement text book and power point presentations One site that I use to assess sixth, seventh, and eighth grade knowledge of computer skills and terms is http://www.ncwiseowl.org/ . I am using this site to provide Internet research instead of other sites such as Goggle. This is a safe environment for students to do research in and it cuts down on the occurrences of students going some where they should be.
I use this site in a number of ways. I will have the students use the Grolier Multimedia site, http://go.grolier.com/, to look up terms and definitions as we enter each new subject area. Using this technique the students find the terms and start a word document to store their finding for future reference. I also use the Jukebox site, http://www.ncwiseowl.org/Kscope/Hovercraft/Jukebox/, to support the Standard Course of Study for seventh grade technology students. This site is broken down into the modules that are in the Standard Course of Study module by module.
I will split the class room into teams and I use the projects or Web Quests on this site to support Positive interdependence, Pro-motive interaction, group accountability, Interpersonal and small group skill, and Group processing skills that the author of this article points out above. The students enjoy the different Web Quests, projects, terms matching, and concentration modules that this offers and the benefit is they are not only learning the subject material but are also learning social skills. .
We can not replace the traditional book learning approach but as we are being driven to standardized testing Web Quests give the student a chance to experience environments they would normally not have access to and it gives the student a chance to use a medium they enjoy learning with.
[i] Five Rules for Writing a Great WebQuest
By Bernie Dodge
Copyright © 2001, ISTE (International Society for Technology in
Education), 800.336.5191 (
iste@iste.org, www.iste.org. All rights reserved.
Posted at 02:56PM Nov 29, 2006 by LASKIN, RICHARD in General | Comments[3]
Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are computerized, numerical record keeping systems that were designed originally to replace paper-based, ledger accounting systems. Essentially, a spreadsheet is a grid or matrix of empty cells with columns identified by letters and rows identified by numbers. Each cell is a placeholder for values, formulas relating values in other cells, or functions that mathematically or logically manipulate values in other cells. Functions are small programmed sequences that may, for instance, match values in cells with other cells, look up a variable in a table of values, or create an index of values to be compared with other cells.
Spreadsheets were originally developed and are most commonly used to support business decision making and accounting operations. They are especially useful for answering ?what if? questions, for instance, what if interest rates increased by one percent? Changes made in one cell automatically recalculate all of the affected values in other cells. Spreadsheets are also commonly used for personal accounting and budgeting.[i]
From the article by David H. Jonassen,-Chad Carr,-Hsiu-Ping Yueh I am trying to support the following key point. Technologies should not support learning by attempting to instruct the learners, but rather should be used as knowledge construction tools that students learn with, not from. In this way, learners function as designers, and the computers function as Mind tools for interpreting and organizing their personal knowledge.
Mind tools are computer applications that, when used by learners to represent what they know, necessarily engage them in critical thinking about the content they are studying (Jonassen, 1996). Mind tools scaffold different forms of reasoning about content. That is, they require students to think about what they know in different, meaningful ways. For instance, using databases to organize students? understanding of content organization necessarily engages them in analytical reasoning, where creating an expert system rule base requires them to think about the causal relationships between ideas. Students can not use Mind tools as learning strategies without thinking deeply about what they are studying.
I am trying to provide students with real life experiences instead of just doing spreadsheet worksheets that were traditionally used to teach spreadsheet and spreadsheet formulas usage. I believe the students get more from this kind of learning experience and retain the knowledge learned for a longer period of time. Also, the students enjoy the project as they get to research material from the internet to assist them with their learning.
For an eighth grade project I have my students create a Budget project. This project focuses on what career they will pursue in college and based on their career choice they prepare a monthly budget to support their life style. The students use
The first spreadsheet consists of their yearly salary divided by 12 months to get a monthly pay roll rate. Then they must construct a pay roll record that shows Federal, State, FICA, and Heath insurance deductions from their monthly pay. Also on the first spreadsheet they choose a automobile and finance it the loan for 60 months. The last item on the first sheet is their monthly apartment or home loan.
The second spreadsheet captures all monthly expense both fixed and flexible. The students use a basic template that I provide for them to set up their spreadsheet. The students modify the template to suit their needs and expenses. On this spreadsheet they also perform total fixed expenses, total flexible expenses, total expenses, and net monthly income.
On the third spreadsheet the students set up a checkbook register. The students must write a check for each expense from spreadsheet two and balance their checkbook. The students are required to show a positive balance at the end of the month and this must match their net income from spreadsheet two.
Posted at 01:15PM Nov 29, 2006 by LASKIN, RICHARD in General | Comments[0]
Smartboards
Smartboards
This year our school, K-12 we purchased four Smartboards and the principal has tasked us to incorporate them into classroom learning. A Smartboard is an interactive whiteboard that is connected to a computer and a data projector. Once the computer image is projected on the board, the Smartboard can be used as a computer. By just using your finger you can control the computer. The Smartboard enables you to write notes, insert diagrams, link to web sites and save work for future use. Also, In Johnston County we have a technical fair each year and this year our principal wants us to use the smart boards in our project. Being able to simply touch the surface to get started makes an interactive whiteboard easy to learn and enjoyable for students to use.
Since this was a new technology for the teachers at my school it helped me to have this section for research to find ideas and find support training materials to get started. I used the module on lesson ideas for Smartboards to introduce ideas to both the elementary and middle school teachers.
We just finished a pilot project with the eighth grade students that involved the following core subject areas, social studies, language arts, math, and the technology department. The software tools used were Front page, Access, Excel, Word, and Smart boards. The name of the project is ?Cost of Having Fun in
As a visitor to our booth you will pick what city you would like to travel to and what interests you have for your vacation. From the data base that the students have built the students will be able to retrieve mileage, gas prices, costs of tickets, restaurants, and hotels for your stay. The students will then use the Smartboard to manipulate the data base and spread sheets to show what the total cost of your vacation would be.
We are now rolling the above project out across the entire eighth grade. Also, I will be using the Smartboard to introduce spread sheets and formulas to the seventh grade students and designing lesson plans and projects to accomplish this. I am hoping that the students will enjoy working with the Smartboard and possibly retain excel experience longer to help them pass their eighth grade computer test. For the eighth grade I am using a lesson plan that uses College Fund of North Carolina (CFNC) to help plan what the student might pick as a profession and what schools will support that degree. Using the pay scale from this lesson the student will use spread sheets to plan a monthly budget and check writing. They will then use the Smartboard to present this project.
Posted at 01:10PM Nov 17, 2006 by LASKIN, RICHARD in General | Comments[0]
Smartboards
Smartboards
This year our school, K-12 we purchased four Smartboards and the principal has tasked us to incorporate them into classroom learning. A Smartboard is an interactive whiteboard that is connected to a computer and a data projector. Once the computer image is projected on the board, the Smartboard can be used as a computer. By just using your finger you can control the computer. The Smartboard enables you to write notes, insert diagrams, link to web sites and save work for future use. Also, In Johnston County we have a technical fair each year and this year our principal wants us to use the smart boards in our project. Being able to simply touch the surface to get started makes an interactive whiteboard easy to learn and enjoyable for students to use.
Since this was a new technology for the teachers at my school it helped me to have this section for research to find ideas and find support training materials to get started. I used the module on lesson ideas for Smartboards to introduce ideas to both the elementary and middle school teachers.
We just finished a pilot project with the eighth grade students that involved the following core subject areas, social studies, language arts, math, and the technology department. The software tools used were Front page, Access, Excel, Word, and Smart boards. The name of the project is ?Cost of Having Fun in
As a visitor to our booth you will pick what city you would like to travel to and what interests you have for your vacation. From the data base that the students have built the students will be able to retrieve mileage, gas prices, costs of tickets, restaurants, and hotels for your stay. The students will then use the Smartboard to manipulate the data base and spread sheets to show what the total cost of your vacation would be.
We are now rolling the above project out across the entire eighth grade. Also, I will be using the Smartboard to introduce spread sheets and formulas to the seventh grade students and designing lesson plans and projects to accomplish this. I am hoping that the students will enjoy working with the Smartboard and possibly retain excel experience longer to help them pass their eighth grade computer test. For the eighth grade I am using a lesson plan that uses College Fund of North Carolina (CFNC) to help plan what the student might pick as a profession and what schools will support that degree. Using the pay scale from this lesson the student will use spread sheets to plan a monthly budget and check writing. They will then use the Smartboard to present this project.
Posted at 01:06PM Nov 17, 2006 by LASKIN, RICHARD in General | Comments[0]