Even though I am not a classroom teacher, I do teach
critical thinking skills to students who visit the media center. One of the
biggest skills I teach is finding credible sources when students are conducting
research. Students must be able to understand why a particular source is a good
choice for them and if the source contains accurate information. This skill is
important because everyone will use it in his or her lives someday. Being able
to think critically about things allows someone to make a judgment call or dig
deeper into the meaning of something important to them. One thing I would like
to work on more with this skill is getting students more involved and
practicing this skill in the media center. I do not have many teachers sign up
for a class about this skill. I typically am working one on one with students
who happen to come to the media center for research. So, trying to get teacher
buy in is something I am constantly working on. Also, finding good lessons to
teach these skills can be a challenge sometimes. I would like to have a good
resource of lessons for myself. Any thoughts about good lessons?
I couldn't agree with you more! Our society is so internet dependent and we need to make sure that our students understand what creditable sources are and how to find them. Students often spend so much time unproductively "surfing" the internet (playing silly games, watching YouTube videos, etc), that they have grown accustomed to just clicking without even thinking about what site they are visiting and the content they will encounter. We need to make sure we are adequately preparing students to be responsible digital citizens!
ReplyDeleteDiana, it seems like finding a good and reputable source would be a simple task for students. However, I am amazed at the poor inferential skills my students have when it comes to looking for additional help on a topic. I love showing them cool technological resources I find that can help them with math. These are usually resources I find by doing a very basic google search or maybe a little bit of digging. Even though I tell them how easy it is to get online and be proactive, I am amazed at how little of my students even try. I think what you do to help them develop their research skills is awesome and much needed!
ReplyDeleteDiana,
ReplyDeleteYes I agree with you. Being able to distinguish credible sources of information is a critical skill in this digital information era. Definitely, critical thinking is a key to this. Gosh, as we all know, there are too many misleading information on the Web. Sometimes I even get confused. IIt is sometime scary how our kids can be fooled by such things...:(