The six capacities include understanding the role of technology for self and in society.
There are many reasons students need to understand the role of technology. The increase in access to information is just one aspect but a salient one. A few months back, I was teaching a lesson in a grade 4 classroom. I shared with them the above site and they believed every word. After exploring the site and engaging them in the plight of the tree octopus, I explained how to look at information we find on the web.
The conversation included things like:
checking for other sources that say the same information
a google search has this as the first entry but others talk about hoaxes....
checking the web host - in this case a personal .net
checking other information on the host - in this case also AFBD
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
While the grade 4’s complained that I lied to them, I was able to redirect their energy to ways of assessing a website for authenticity and validity.
One last comment for today is looking at use of hardware. Some schools are looking at banning cell phones in their school. They are also looking at banning all digital devices between 8:00am and 3:30pm. (Interesting how this would impact the media arts classes.)
We need to teach students to be social responsible in society. If students mis-use a cell phone in school, I ask the questions of why?
They are bored?
They don’t know any better?
It is more important than learning?
They aren’t engaged?
They can cheat by text messaging test answers?
Are we asking the right questions if they can be answered by a text message?
Why aren’t we using the cell phone features to enhance learning?
Thoughts??
There are many reasons students need to understand the role of technology. The increase in access to information is just one aspect but a salient one. A few months back, I was teaching a lesson in a grade 4 classroom. I shared with them the above site and they believed every word. After exploring the site and engaging them in the plight of the tree octopus, I explained how to look at information we find on the web.
The conversation included things like:
checking for other sources that say the same information
a google search has this as the first entry but others talk about hoaxes....
checking the web host - in this case a personal .net
checking other information on the host - in this case also AFBD
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
While the grade 4’s complained that I lied to them, I was able to redirect their energy to ways of assessing a website for authenticity and validity.
One last comment for today is looking at use of hardware. Some schools are looking at banning cell phones in their school. They are also looking at banning all digital devices between 8:00am and 3:30pm. (Interesting how this would impact the media arts classes.)
We need to teach students to be social responsible in society. If students mis-use a cell phone in school, I ask the questions of why?
They are bored?
They don’t know any better?
It is more important than learning?
They aren’t engaged?
They can cheat by text messaging test answers?
Are we asking the right questions if they can be answered by a text message?
Why aren’t we using the cell phone features to enhance learning?
Thoughts??
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