I love this guy.
Class members should have seen this on their aggregators, but this is too current — too important to let slide.
My idea is simply this. How can we use an event like this, and all of the news sources that are available on a breaking, global story in our classrooms? How can we teach kids about which sources of information are valuable in the midst of swirling rumour? They must be able to evaluate the worthiness of primary information surces at a time like this. There are many different channels of information available. How can our understanding be collated and improved instead of swamped by information and rumour?
This is a real test of information literacy skills.
via Remote Access: Swine Flu and Breaking News in the Classroom.
Clarence is right. This is a real test. More than a test for his kids, it’s a test for us. We *think* we get it.
Do we?
April 30th, 2009 at 9:07 AM
I think that this is one of the hardest things for our children to realize–that everything they see online is NOT true. Honestly, sometimes it is hard for adults to tell what to believe and what not to believe. We have to be very careful and teach our children to be very careful with information they may gather online. Obviously, “research, research, research” is the biggest key in knowing the truth.
May 2nd, 2009 at 12:18 PM
Many adults are having a lot of difficulty distinguishing between valid information on the current flu outbreak and those that are just offering their opinions. I think that is why it is so important to teach students how to analyze the validity of an article.
May 2nd, 2009 at 7:07 PM
I do find it amazing how fast news travels nowadays. A probable case of the swine case has developed in Montgomery Co. today and it is all over the Internet, locals news, Facebook…it is literally everywhere!! It is amazing. I think it is important for teachers to instruct students on how to tell which sources are legit and which are not. Before the Internet existed, I remember learning about this in English class. We learned that some sources are not as reliable, for example, magazines.
May 7th, 2009 at 1:37 PM
Not everything is true on paper and through conversations either.
We need to let children investigate and explore for the truth. They have to think and look for what they believe are facts.
May 10th, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Validation or deterimining reliability of the information needs to be taught along with search and acquisition skills. Cory Doctorow (and others including some commercial servcies) have suggested reputation-based security and filtering. The urgency of the information (or acting upon it) can probably be tied to “known” trusted sources. When students are informed that there is a gun-man on their campus, they need to be able to receive, trust, and act upon the information.