Information Literacy : Separating Fact from Fiction [1 ed.] 9781425825881, 9781425817565

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INFORMATION LITERACY

Separating Fact from Fiction

FINDING INFORMATION ANALYZING INFORMATION USING INFORMATION Sara Armstrong Pamela Brunskill

INFORMATION LITERACY

Separating Fact from Fiction

FINDING INFORMATION ANALYZING INFORMATION USING INFORMATION Authors

Sara Armstrong, Ph.D., and Pamela Brunskill, Ed.M. Forewords Kathryn H. Au, Ph.D., Taffy E. Raphael, Ph.D., and Suzanne Zimbler, M.S.Ed.

Foreword Authors

Publishing Credits

Taffy E. Raphael, Ph.D. Kathryn H. Au, Ph.D. Co-founders & Senior Advisors, SchoolRise LLC

Corinne Burton, M.A.Ed., President Conni Medina, M.A.Ed., Managing Editor Emily R. Smith, M.A.Ed., Content Director Shaun Bernadou, Art Director Stephanie Bernard, Assistant Editor

Suzanne Zimbler, M.S.Ed. Executive Editor, Special Projects TIME For Kids

Image Credits All images are from Shutterstock.

Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. © 2007–2015. Texas Education Association (TEA). All rights reserved. © 2016 International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). All rights reserved.

Shell Education

A division of Teacher Created Materials 5301 Oceanus Drive Huntington Beach, CA 92649-1030 www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/shell-education/

ISBN 978-1-4258-1756-5

© 2018 Shell Educational Publishing, Inc.

All companies mentioned in this book are registered trademarks of their respective owners or developers and are used in this book strictly for editorial purposes. No commercial claim to their use is made by the authors or the publisher. The classroom teacher may reproduce copies of materials in this book for classroom use only. The reproduction of any part for an entire school or school system is strictly prohibited. No part of this publication may be transmitted, stored, or recorded in any form without written permission from the publisher. Website addresses included in this book are public domain and may be subject to changes or alterations of content after publication of this product. Teacher Created Materials does not take responsibility for the future accuracy or relevance and appropriateness of website addresses included in this book. Please contact the company if you come across any inappropriate or inaccurate website addresses, and they will be corrected in product reprints.

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Table of Contents Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Finding Information Chapter 1—Introduction to Information Literacy Information in Daily Lives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Information in Schools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Activity 1: Communication Time Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Activity 2: Information Then & Now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Activity 3: Library Linkup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Chapter 2—Search Techniques and Strategies Searching Suggestions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Additional Searching Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Using Google’s Searching Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Alternatives to Google. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Activity 4: Practicing Searching Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Activity 5: Word Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Analyzing Information Chapter 3—Asking and Answering Good Questions Essential Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Educational Strategies for Questioning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Activity 6: Writing Critical Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Activity 7: What Is the Question?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Activity 8: What Do They Really Mean?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Chapter 4—Thinking Visually Parallel Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Images on the Brain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Sources of Visual Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Activity 9: Advertising—Pictures and Words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Activity 10: Article Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Activity 11: Video Humor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Activity 12: What Do You Do?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Activity 13: Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Chapter 5—Organizing Information Graphic Organizers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Teaching with Graphic Organizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Activity 14: Graphic Organizers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Activity 15: Storyboards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

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Table of Contents (cont.) Chapter 6—Civic Online Reasoning Analyzing Student Reasoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Evaluating News Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Fighting Fake News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Activity 16: Snap Decisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Activity 17: If It’s On the Web, It Must Be True. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Activity 18: Evaluating News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Chapter 7—Citing Online Sources Key Things to Know about Copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Public Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Fair Use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Creative Commons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Copyright and Fair Use for Educators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Teacher Activity 1: The Copyright Quiz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Importance of Citing Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Activity 19: Student Copyright Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Activity 20: Who You Gonna Call?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Activity 21: Citing Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Using Information Chapter 8—Using Primary Sources Library of Congress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Using Primary Sources in the Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Activity 22: Analyzing Primary Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Chapter 9—Using Technology to Teach Online Interactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Cyber Safety and Cyberbullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Focus on Writing Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Educational Apps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Podcasts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Social Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Teacher Activity 2: Online Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Chapter 10—Project Based Learning with Technology Project Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Project Assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Activity 23: Creating Project Based Learning Rubrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Activity 24: Developing a Project Based Learning Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Appendices Appendix A: References Cited. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Appendix B: Teacher Resources and Digital Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Appendix C: Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

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Foreword In the summer of 2017, a video purportedly showing a bolt of lightning striking a river went viral on social media. An Arkansas meteorologist even posted the clip on his Facebook page, along with the comment, “If you aren’t terrified of lightning in a swimming pool, you will be now!” Later, the meteorologist updated his post to let followers know that the video did not show what he had thought. The apparent lightning bolt came from a wire on a hill. “It’s not lightning, but instead a detonation cord!” he clarified. The video had already racked up millions of views. Not long ago, we relied on professional journalists for all our news. Now, anyone with Internet access can disseminate information to a wide audience. The good news? Students today have access to more information than at any time in the past. The bad news? A fair amount of that information cannot be trusted. When I was teaching fifth grade at a New York City public school, my colleagues and I put much of our effort into building our students’ reading comprehension skills. But it has recently become clear that being able to understand what we read is not sufficient. We need to know how to critically evaluate the information we come across. As an editor at TIME For Kids for more than 10 years, I have seen evidence of a shift in how students approach text. In response to my articles, I receive emails—and sometimes still, good old-fashioned letters—from kids around the country. In more and more of these messages, students are taking a critical stance. “I completely disagree,” one 12-year-old wrote after she read that some scientists had suggested a government tax on heavily sweetened foods. These correspondences reveal that teachers are taking on the task of giving their students the tools to think critically. Julie Coiro, a professor who specializes in digital literacy at the University of Rhode Island School of Education, warns against the “checklist approach” to evaluating sources of information. Simply giving students a list of things to look for and check the boxes, she points out, can lead to surface-level thinking. In Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction, Pamela Brunskill and Sara Armstrong provide research-based lessons and resources for developing critical consumers of information. Their thoughtfully crafted lesson plans and activities are sequenced to help students learn to locate relevant information, to analyze and evaluate the information they find, and finally, to apply that information, whether it be for a school project or a real-life decision. Weeks before the 2016 election, I visited a middle school in Brooklyn, New York, to see a news literacy program in action. Seventh grader Danish was doing his best to make sense of the nonstop coverage of the candidates. Someday, “we’re going to have to elect a president,” the seventh grader told me. “Knowing what to believe about the candidates is important.” Indeed, in the not too distant future, today’s students will be making important decisions—who to vote for, where to go to college, what career to pursue. It is crucial that they have the skills and discipline to base those decisions on information that is credible. —Suzanne Zimbler Executive Editor, Special Projects TIME For Kids

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Foreword (cont.) Back in 2006, Don Leu and colleagues at the University of Connecticut conducted a now-famous experiment. These researchers created a spoof website dedicated to a supposedly endangered species—the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. In the study, all 25 middle school students, their school’s most proficient online readers, found the site to be “very credible.” Furthermore, the students continued to believe the fake information, even after being informed that the site was a hoax. Some students insisted adamantly that the information remained true! Facebook, Twitter, the World Wide Web, 24/7 news channels, deep societal divisions, “Fake News”—what do these have to do with literacy instruction in today’s elementary schools? With much reading activity shifting from the page to the screen, it has become critical to prepare even young students to read in a discerning manner. When we began our careers as elementary teachers several decades ago, Kathy in early primary and Taffy in intermediate grades, the very definition of reading was naively simple—reading = listening + decoding. Accountability was framed in terms of students’ personal enjoyment of reading (largely narratives and a few poems) and their abilities to read and respond to knownanswer questions (primarily in short stories and activities associated with basal reading programs). It was a simpler time, not defined by high stakes testing and the need to evaluate critically a barrage of largely unfiltered and untrustworthy information. It was a time when students “learned to read” and then later “read to learn.” What changes four decades have brought! Our now rich body of research—on multiple literacies, cognitive and social contributors to meaning-making, text difficulty and text diversity, and reading skills for a digital era—informs both literacy pedagogical practices and the materials through which our students become literate. Four decades have also seen a shift from a dominance of vetted, relatively credible information sources to the current “anything goes” platforms afforded by new technologies and a wealth of propaganda and sales-oriented information sources. If we could draw only one conclusion from all these years of research, it would be that teachers and students should be extraordinarily well prepared to handle the range and quality of information available. Furthermore, this preparation should begin in the early grades. Brunskill and Armstrong’s text, Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction, is a timely resource for teachers, with useful background and engaging activities appropriate for students from 3rd grade through 8th grade—and those students in 9th–12th who are working to shore up their informational literacy repertoire of strategies. The book is designed for easy access to specific activities to introduce students to concepts fundamental for acquiring, interpreting, and applying information from a range of resources, from traditional print materials to those available through twenty-first century tools and sites. The authors have used a reader-friendly format that teaches through background knowledge and models of activities. The book is organized in terms of three key areas—finding, analyzing, and using information—applicable to thematic or topical projects using multiple texts or an individual lesson using a single text. This framework is relevant not only to literacy instruction but is a way of conceptualizing information literacy practices that will benefit both educators and their students across school subjects and real-world tasks.

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Foreword (cont.) The format Brunskill and Armstrong created parallels the very point they are making about the “stuff” of information literacy and the strategies that readers employ. We found a range of pathways through the text, depending on the various purposes we set for ourselves. To answer the question, “What is information literacy, and how should I think about it conceptually in planning for the school year?” we valued the authors’ guiding us step-by-step through each section (finding, analyzing, using), introducing us to key researchers and concepts for each aspect of information literacy, and viewing the range of activities as illustrations. As active readers, we could tease out basic principles that we would follow in adapting for our particular learners. We could see the importance of classroom talk. This included conventional teacherled opportunities to introduce a new concept or learn a new strategy, small-group discussion as students collaborated to create products or shared products they had developed individually, and paired discussions. We could see the importance of student products that allow teachers to build in accountability and see where students might need additional support. In contrast, we could also use the text in applying search strategies of our own. For example, to answer the question, “What can I do to improve my students’ abilities to analyze the trustworthiness of an article?” we were able to dive into various activities within each section, choosing ones that led our students to think about who wrote a particular article, what their purposes might be, and where their position may vary from other sources. In short, Brunskill and Armstrong have created a timely text that practicing teachers, literacy coaches, and preservice teachers will find both conceptually useful and practically valuable. Conceptually, the authors have pulled together decades of research in a way that helps readers develop or fine-tune their concept of information literacy and how it can be taught. Through words and graphics, they demonstrate that information literacy is not solely about using digital tools as ends in and of themselves. Practically, the authors present a wide variety of activities that teachers can easily adapt to readers of different age and ability levels and of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Guiding your students through these activities will keep them from being fooled the next time a Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus comes their way. —Taffy E. Raphael, Ph.D. —Kathryn H. Au, Ph.D. Co-founders & Senior Advisors SchoolRise LLC

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Introduction People today live in a world of information overload. Each day, information is shared from countless sources through numerous devices. Learning how to handle this information has become an important daily task for everyone. Teachers and students in today’s classrooms benefit from finding, analyzing, and using online information, but students must be taught how to reason critically as they interact with information. Online reasoning skills serve students in their personal lives as well. By the time they reach upper elementary school, most students are on smartphones, social media, video websites, blogs, and interactive digital games. Students need coaching on how to take in all these information sources, critically think about the content, and apply it to their decision-making. To that purpose, this book was created with research, explanations, and easy-to-use activities to support teachers as they teach the key skills of harnessing and understanding information. The book is divided into three sections to guide teachers through the necessary lessons and activities needed to encourage critical reasoning. Additional resources are also provided in the appendices to further support teachers. Digital resources are included with this book to better support teachers. (See page 198 for more information.)

Finding Information This section introduces terms such as information literacy, online reasoning, and digital literacy. The content and activities answer these and other questions: What is information? What are the information sources people encounter every day? and What kinds of information are shared and how?

Chapter 1—Introduction to Information Literacy: Learn about the history of digital information and communication.

Chapter 2—Search Techniques and Strategies: Discover how to use advanced searches to gather focused information on the Internet.

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Introduction (cont.) Analyzing Information This section provides opportunities to practice critically analyzing and questioning information wisely. Today’s students need to become the future’s intelligent digital citizens. The content and activities give strong, easy-to-use online reasoning strategies to help students carefully and critically analyze the information they encounter daily. It answers these and other questions: What makes a good question? Can I trust this source and why? and How do I organize and make sense of information?

Chapter 3—Asking and Answering Good Questions: Study strong questioning techniques and the differences between open and closed questions, which is at the heart of critical thinking.

Chapter 4—Thinking Visually: Learn how to find meaning in pictures and words, with an introduction to evaluating the purposes of the information shared.

Chapter 5—Organizing Information: Gather tips for how to harness information into organized collections, so it can be reviewed and applied.

Chapter 6—Civic Online Reasoning: Develop civic online reasoning in students to help them evaluate resources and news on the Internet.

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Introduction (cont.)

Chapter 7—Citing Online Sources: Investigate copyright regulations and fair use of materials.

Using Information This section provides guidelines for how students can effectively move online information from their devices into knowledge they can use to create and share products. The content and activities answer this question: How do we use various types of information in our lives?

Chapter 8—Using Primary Sources: Discover guidelines for using primary sources in the classroom.

Chapter 9—Using Technology to Teach: Learn about key programs and apps that encourage digital literacy.

Chapter 10—Project Based Learning with Technology: Bring everything together for students to apply what’s been learned from the activities in this book.

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Finding Information

Chapter 1

Introduction to Information Literacy

“The flood of fake news, propaganda, rumors, and advertising that often masquerades as news has made it harder than ever to separate fact from fiction.” —Center for News Literacy, Stony Brook University School of Journalism (www.centerfornewsliteracy.org)

Information in Daily Lives

Finding Information

From the moment people wake up each day until the moment they go to sleep, they are bombarded with words, pictures, sounds, and smells, all presented in a dizzying array of media. Our increasingly difficult job is to make sense of everything encountered throughout the day. As educators, our focus needs to be on helping students become confident, critical thinkers and users of information from all the sources they encounter.

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In his article, “Why Historical Thinking is Not about History,” Sam Wineburg writes, “We live in an age when going to the library means turning on our laptops and making sure that we have a wireless connection.” This is different from a generation ago when doing research involved actually leaving home to find books and articles about a topic. People would hold the physical references in their hands as they read the important information. He continues, “Only a small number of us were actual authors. Most of us consumed information that others had produced” (2016, 14). Today, anyone with an Internet connection can be an author. Anyone can write a blog, create a video, post a social media comment, or even edit online reference sites. Understanding where information comes from is a critical skill that many students today do not have. One of the major reasons students don’t have this skill is that adults of today haven’t necessarily mastered this skill either. This is not surprising; the amount of online data and information one has to sort through is intense. The World Wide Web began in 1991 with one website. According to Internet Live Stats (www.internetlivestats.com), a website of the international Real Time Statistics Project, by September 2014, there were over one billion websites. And there are millions of things one can constantly read or contribute to on the Internet.

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I nternet Statistics In August 2017, Internet Live Stats reported that in every second there are:

795 Instagram photos uploaded

1,269 Tumblr posts

2,697 Skype calls

7,704 Tweets

61,707 Google searches

70,220 YouTube videos viewed

2,611,203 emails sent

Source: Internet Live Stats—www.internetlivestats.com/one-second/

And the amount of data is increasing daily. There is no way to consume everything. One must be critical and responsible when navigating information online. To demonstrate to students the many sources of information, you may want to brainstorm with them various sources of information. Many sources combine text, images, and sound in a variety of ways. Use this list as a reference while you brainstorm.

advertisements

journals

plays

apps

magazines

political organizations

billboards

manuals

radio stations

blogs

maps

social media

books

memes

stories

charts/graphs

movies

television

church/scouts/teams/other groups

music

text messages

emails

newspapers

video games

family/friends/other people

paintings

videos

GPS

pamphlets

vlogs

instant messages

photographs

websites

However, it’s not only important for students to think about where they get information. They also need to always be thinking about what information they are sharing. In 2017, an American university rescinded acceptance offers to rising freshman based on social media posts the teenagers had made. Students need to understand “that the things you type, post and share behind a computer screen can still impact your life” (Ajayi 2017). Decisions made by young people can have far-reaching consequences with unexpected results. The information and activities in this book may help educate your students about the potential consequences of their behavior. “For your average teen, a quick class in the rules of online conduct could mean the difference between a youthful indiscretion kept private and a life derailed by immaturity that became public” (Ajayi 2017). © Shell Education

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FINDING INFORMATION

Sources of Information

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Information in Schools For K–12 teachers, the ultimate goal is to produce citizens who critically and actively think, assess, and apply their learning. Teachers want students to assimilate information and discard unusable facts. Good teachers enter the field of education and stay there because learning every day intrigues them. This becomes all the more important as the world shrinks into our phones. Today’s citizens are dealing with a society where the available online information increases exponentially. Whereas people used to rely on editors and publishers to filter their news, today people must all be savvy enough on their own to recognize the sources of information. Some organizations, such as the Metiri Group (metiri.com) and the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (www.p21.org), have conducted research about what employers expect from students who hope to join the workforce. What both groups uncovered is the idea that while reading, writing, and mathematical fluency are extremely important, there are other skill sets that schools generally do not cover that are also vital today. These research groups agree that students need more practice with collaborating, thinking critically, engaging with a variety of sources, working with technology tools, and creating high-quality work. ➜ The Metiri Group and the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (2003) studied the need for schools to teach twenty-first century skills in the digital age. They divided the necessary skills into four categories: digital-age literacies, inventive thinking, effective communication, and high productivity. ➜ The Partnership for 21st Century Learning (2007) has developed a framework of skills. They identify four key skills that people need to succeed today: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. These are called the 4Cs. Along with these key learning and innovation skills, workers in the twenty-first century need life and career skills and information, media, and technology skills. All this is on top of the K–12 content that is already being taught in schools!

FINDING INFORMATION

The International Society for Technology in Education, which is more commonly known as ISTE® (www.iste.org), has educational technology standards to meet today’s unique needs. It is gratifying to note that these standards support the twenty-first century skill ideas described above since they focus on transformative learning with technology. The chart on page 17 indicates the seven categories of their standards for students. (A version of this chart to display in your classroom is provided on page 194.)

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ISTE Standards

for

Students

➜ Empowered Learner—Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences. ➜ Digital Citizen—Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical. ➜ Knowledge Constructor—Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others. ➜ Innovative Designer—Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions. ➜ Computational Thinker—Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions. ➜ Creative Communicator—Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals. ➜ Global Collaborator—Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.

The idea that students need tools to evaluate what they see and hear becomes more compelling with recent research findings. Pre-existing knowledge—that is, what students come to school knowing or thinking they know—is a powerful force on learning. Therefore, it is imperative that teachers assess student knowledge about online digital literacy and their abilities to think critically about what they see online. This will help teachers determine what misconceptions need to be clarified as well as what new knowledge needs to be learned. In November 2016, Sam Wineburg and others at the Stanford History Education Group (sheg.stanford.edu) published a report, “Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning.” During the previous 18 months, the research team had “prototyped, field tested, and validated a bank of assessments that tap civic online reasoning—the ability to judge the credibility of information that floods young people’s smartphones, tablets, and computers” (3). They developed an online analysis assessment tool that teachers can use to evaluate student knowledge. (An informative summary of the results of their research as well as a copy of the assessment tool is available at their website.) © Shell Education

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Source: ISTE Standards for Students 2016, © 2016, ISTE® (International Society for Technology in Education), iste.org. All rights reserved.

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Effective Instructional Strategies A number of effective teaching and learning pedagogies can be supported by the information and activities in this book. For example, Dr. Howard Gardner’s popular theory of multiple intelligences honors the many ways people take in and process information—the ways various people learn best. The multiple intelligences of learners can be supported by engaging students in work that allows them to move, draw, talk about their learning, and explore ideas, patterns, and a variety of forms of expression. As of 2017, there are eight intelligences identified by Gardner. The following chart illustrates instructional strategies that support Gardner's multiple intelligences. For more information on Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, visit his official website (multipleintelligencesoasis.org/about/the-components-of-mi).

Multiple I ntelligences

FINDING INFORMATION

Type of Intelligence

18

What It Means

Instructional Strategies

Bodilykinesthetic

Students learn best by touching or moving.

taking field trips; using artifacts; making models; using movement

Interpersonal

Students learn best by talking with others.

collaborative work groups; games or competitions

Intrapersonal

Students learn best by working alone.

setting goals; independent learning projects and reports

Linguistic

Students learn best by reading, writing, listening, and speaking information.

reading text; using audio recordings; talking or chatting with experts; using video; making recordings (such as a news broadcast); conducting debates; paired, small group, or class discussion

Logicalmathematical

Students learn best by analyzing information.

classifying or categorizing information; using graphic organizers; thinking abstractly; forming relationships between and among concepts; using charts or other numerical data such as dates

Musical

Students learn best using rhythm and melody.

hearing music from a particular era; writing songs about information; putting content to a patterned beat (such as a rap)

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Type of Intelligence

What It Means

Instructional Strategies

Naturalistic

Students learn best by working with nature.

using artifacts; making connections to Earth science concepts (i.e., movement of populations and their impact on the environment)

Spatial

Students learn best by seeing or drawing.

taking students on virtual tours (such as battlefields); using video; using graphic organizers; creating visual representations of information (such as concept maps)

Project Based Learning enables teachers to provide opportunities for students to complete cross-curricular activities that challenge their thinking and deepen their understanding of a problem or task. Ideas throughout this book could be executed as meaningful projects. Chapter 10 brings it all together by building and evaluating different project based learning scenarios. On the following pages are activities teachers can use to introduce the idea of information literacy to their students. ➜ Activity 1: Communication Time Line ➜ Activity 2: Information Then & Now

FINDING INFORMATION

➜ Activity 3: Library Linkup

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Activity 1

Communication Time Line Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students study important milestones in the history of communication. Starting with the development of spoken languages, students explore other communication processes (e.g., smoke signals, written language, books and newspapers, radio, television, the Internet, smartphones, tablets, smart watches) and develop time line(s) of these developments.

1. Introduce the idea of communication—one-to-one and one-to-many—and how people throughout time have coped with the need to know important information.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will research milestones in communication throughout time. ➜ Students will reflect on the many information sources available today.

Materials ➜ chart paper ➜ copies of Communication Resources (page 21; page21.pdf)

Finding Information

➜ copies of Reflecting on Communication (page 22; page22.pdf)

20

2. Have student groups brainstorm as many communication devices as possible. Suggest that students list the devices in groups, such as written, visual, audio, or by their earliest introduction. Have groups share their ideas and record them on chart paper. 3. Explain to students that they will be working together to create a large classroom time line that shows how people have communicated throughout history. Form small groups that can work together to research the history and/or various time periods. Then, distribute copies of Communication Resources (page 21). Tell students to use these sources and others they find to explore communication and technology time lines. 4. Have the groups work collaboratively to share what they have learned. Guide students as they collaboratively create a class time line. Have students create a physical time line to post on the classroom wall or develop a digital time line. If you have a particularly large class, you might consider creating more than one time line. 5. Suggest that students draw illustrations of the communication sources they identify and include them on the time line(s). 6. Distribute copies of Reflecting on Communication (page 22). Ask students to use this sheet to make lists of all the ways people currently share and take in information. Have them also list ways that people may do so in the future.

Talk About It! ➜ As students explore different kinds of communication over time, discuss the importance of communication in today’s classrooms and for today’s students.

Extension ➜ Ask students to share their ideas about communication needs of the future. Have them add their predictions to the time line(s). 51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Activity 1

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Communication Resources Directions: Use these sources to explore communication and technology time lines.

Website Name

tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T389/ ITHistoryOutline.htm tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T389/ ITHistoryOutline2.htm

A Short History of Radio

transition.fcc.gov/omd/history/radio/ documents/short_history.pdf

Encyclopaedia Britannica— History of Technology

www.britannica.com/technology/ history-of-technology

PBS—Hieroglyphs: Say What?

www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/ hieroglyph/

NASA—Communications Satellites: Making the Global Village Possible

history.nasa.gov/satcomhistory.html

Shortel—The History of The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

www.shoretel.com/history-federalcommunications-commission-fcc

History.com—The Invention of the Internet

www.history.com/topics/inventions/ invention-of-the-internet

ThoughtCo.—The Early History of Communication

www.thoughtco.com/early-history-ofcommunication-4067897

Finding Information

A History of Information Technology and Systems

Website Address

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© Shell Education

Activity 1

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Reflecting on Communication Directions: Make a list of all the ways people currently share and take in information. Then, think of ways that people may do so in the future.

Today

Finding Information

In the Future

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Activity 2

Information Then & Now Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students examine the amount of information they encounter every day and compare it to the information their parents or other adults encountered as children.

1. Review the time line created in the previous activity. Brainstorm as a class a list of information sources available today (e.g., books, TV news, websites, magazines, video conferences, blogs, social media). Have students discuss the kinds of information sources available to their parents and grandparents when they were students of the same age (e.g., radio, books, TV news, magazines, newspapers).

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will interview adults about information sources of the past. ➜ Students will reflect on information sources available today.

2. Have students work in pairs to develop questions they can ask people from an older generation about information sources available to them when they were in elementary or middle school. If you prefer, students can use the questions on Interview Questions (pages 24–25). The questions should touch on the following topics:

➜ Students will make comparisons and reflect on today’s possibility for “information overload.”



➜ How did the older generation get their information when they were younger?



➜ How did the older generation evaluate the information they received?

Materials



➜ optional: copies of Interview Questions (pages 24–25; page24.pdf)

➜ What does the older generation feel about information sources available today?

3. Have students conduct individual interviews of their parents, grandparents, or other adults. 4. Working again in pairs, ask students to compile their information and develop short presentations about information sources then and now, the importance of access to information, and the skills needed then versus the skills needed now for evaluating available information.

➜ As students engage in intergenerational conversations, their understanding of aspects of their own lives grows deeper. Discuss what surprising things they learned as they interviewed their friends and family members.

Extension ➜ Have students respond to the following question: What information sources and/or communication processes will be developed in the future, and how should they be evaluated for credibility? © Shell Education

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Finding Information

Talk About It!

23

Activity 2

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Interview Questions Directions: Record answers to these questions as you interview someone from an older generation.

1. What information sources do you rely on most today (for example, the Internet, printed newspaper, social media)?

____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

2. What was the most exciting new technology from your childhood? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

3. What were your favorite things to do when you were my age? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

Finding Information

____________________________________________________________

24

4. What have been the most important developments in communication in your lifetime? Why do you think that?

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Activity 2

Student Reproducibles

Interview Questions (cont.) 5. How do you know whether you can believe what you see on TV or online today? How is this different from when you were my age?

____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

6. What advice do you have for kids today about how they should evaluate what they see on TV or online?

____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

7. What, if any, modern communication device do you think we should ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

© Shell Education

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Finding Information

get ride of? Why?

25

Activity 3

Library Linkup Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students learn more about what is available at their schools and within their communities to support learning. To help students get the most out of their library experiences, bridges need to be built between school facilities and local public libraries.

1. Engage students in a discussion about libraries. Ask students what role they think a library plays in a community. Find out how many students have visited the school library and a public library and how often. Ask them to share some of their experiences.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will become familiar with school library resources. ➜ Students will become familiar with the resources of their public library.

Materials ➜ copies of Comparing and Contrasting Libraries (page 28; page28.pdf) ➜ chart paper ➜ copies of Library Information Sheet (page 29; page29.pdf)

Finding Information

➜ optional: Library Information Sheet Example (page 30; page30.pdf)

26

2. Have students work in pairs to complete Comparing and Contrasting Libraries (page 28). Review their ideas and record them on a class chart. 3. Invite your school librarian/media specialist into class to talk about what’s available at school to support reading, research, and projects. Set up a visit or series of visits to the school library during which the librarian/ media specialist can familiarize students with the layout of the library and answer questions about how to locate good information, if this is not part of your school curriculum already. 4. If there is a public library close enough to the school, arrange for a visit. Make sure a librarian will be available to talk with your class about resources available to students. If appropriate, arrange for students to fill out forms for library cards before the visit so they can get cards and/or check out materials while they are there. If there is no public library that you can visit, challenge students to visit with their families. Or, check out your local library’s website together and learn about what is available. 5. After the library visits, have students compare and contrast what is available at school and community libraries and when they might use each set of collections. 6. Add more information to a class copy of Comparing and Contrasting Libraries based on the information students determined during their visits. 7. Distribute copies of the Library Information Sheet (page 29). Tell students they will use the Internet to research local and online libraries. If needed, share the Library Information Sheet Example (page 30) with students. After completing the activity, students will have a document they can use when beginning their next assigned research project.

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Activity 3

Library Linkup (cont.) Talk About It! ➜ As students study libraries, discuss the differences between physical locations and online libraries. Relate those differences to how books and ebooks compare.

Extension

Finding Information

➜ Have students work in groups to design the perfect hybrid libraries that take the best parts of physical libraries and combine them with the best parts of online libraries. Allow time for students to create plans and then draw diagrams of the buildings and/or websites they would create.

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Activity 3

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Comparing and Contrasting Libraries Directions: Think about libraries that you have seen or visited. What kinds of books or other resources are available in each type of library? Compare and contrast these three types of libraries using this chart. Public Libraries

Online Libraries

Finding Information

School Libraries

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Activity 3

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Library Information Sheet Directions: Fill in the appropriate information for at least three libraries you visit, whether physically or online. For location, indicate a physical address for local libraries or URLs for online libraries. Location

Special Features

Contact Info.

Library Name

Location

Special Features

Contact Info.

Library Name

Location

Special Features

Contact Info.

Finding Information

Library Name

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Activity 3

Student Reproducibles

Library Information Sheet Example Directions: Fill in the appropriate information for at least three libraries you visit, whether physically or online. For location, indicate a physical address for local libraries or URLs for online libraries. Library Name

Location

Finding Information

Children«s 476 5th Center at Avenue, New 42nd StreetÑ York, NY 10018 The New York Public Library

30

Special Features

Contact Info.

good children«s section for birth to 6th grade

212-621-0208

Contact Info.

Library Name

Location

Special Features

National Archives

www.archives .gov

collections of records and documents created in the course of business by the U.S. government

Library Name

Location

My school library

12225 7th Avenue, first floor

Special Features

fiction, nonfiction, uses Dewey Decimal system, nice librarian

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Contact Info.

Ms. Torres

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Chapter 2

Search Techniques and Strategies There is so much information available on the Internet that everyone has probably had frustrating and fruitless search experiences. Most people type a few words into a Google® search, and then look through the first few results or the first few pages. The sites that come up can be exactly what people want, but often they are wildly off base. Sometimes, the terms used in the search box limit the results unnecessarily. Thankfully, librarians, researchers, and information technology specialists have developed easier methods to find information. Some advice for more efficient Internet searching includes narrowing your search. You can do this by using a precise description of what you’re looking for. The more specific the terms you include and exclude will narrow the number of pages to wade through. Keep track of the terms you’re searching with. Think about different ways of describing your topic in case your first search fails. This chapter includes suggestions to help searchers be more successful online!

Searching Suggestions The following techniques and strategies will provide you and your students with better success in finding the information you seek. The most common search engine used today is Google. These tips are based on advice from Google Search Help (2017).

to

S earch M ore E ffectively Suggestion

Put AND or + to search for two or more words. Put OR or | between each search query to combine searches.

Example car AND truck car+truck car OR truck car|truck

Put $ in front of a number to search for money.

bicycle $100

Put # in front of a query to search for hashtags.

#bestsongever

Put - in front of a word you want exclude from your search.

jaguar speed -car

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51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Finding Information

H ow

31

H ow

to

S earch M ore E ffectively

(cont.)

Suggestion

Example

Put a word or phrase inside quotation marks to search for an exact match.

“fastest animal”

Put a * in your word or phrase where you want to leave a placeholder and to search for wildcards or unknown words.

“smallest * in the United States”

Put .. between two numbers to search within a range of numbers.

shirt $5..$15

Put site: in front of a site or domain to search on a specific site.

popcorn site:youtube.com popcorn site:.org

Put related: in front of an Internet address you already know to search for related sites.

related:newsweek.com

Put info: in front of the site address to get details about a site.

info:usps.com

Put filetype:pdf to only bring back things that are PDFs.

Ice+cream filetype:pdf

Note that when you use words or symbols to make your search results more precise, don’t put spaces between the word or symbol and your search term. A search for site:nytimes.com will work, but site: nytimes.com won’t work.

FINDING INFORMATION

Additional Searching Tips

32

If you’re looking for an old webpage, and you can’t find it, there are a couple of options. One strategy is to go back to the homepage on the site you’re looking for and search from there to find the new location of the webpage. Another method is to use the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (archive.org/web/). This website takes snapshots over time and shows you what a website looked like at various points in time. At the website, you can enter a website URL and WayBack brings up searchable dates. Click on the year and date that you want, and the search results will appear. Alan Norton (2011) offers these additional tips for refining Internet searches: ➜ Search engines usually ignore common words and punctuation, so don’t include the or a. ➜ If a word is very important, include it within quotation marks when searching for an exact word or phrase. You can also type + in front of a key word. For example, searching for good +and bad will yield results that include the word and.

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➜ Search engines generally don’t distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters, even when put inside quotation marks. ➜ Enter only a base word to expand your results. For example, if you want writing tips, search for writ tips. That opens your search to include sites that deal with writing tips, write tips, written tips, and so on. Norton acknowledges that sometimes you cannot find what you’re looking for. He suggests that you use a different search engine when you hit a wall. Or, you can ask a friend, call for support from a website, or ask a question in an appropriate forum. A website called Information Fluency (21cif.com) offers easy-to-use "wizard tools" to help students search for specific topics. It provides a detailed advanced search tool that should help any researcher (no matter their age) find what they're looking for.

Using Google’s Searching Power If you have a very specific search you’re completing, you can fill in the information you want on Google’s Advanced Search form (www.google.com/advanced_search).

Source: Screenshot from www.google.com/advanced_search

You can search for images on Google Images (images.google.com), or you can search for images using Google’s Advanced Image Search form (www.google.com/advanced_image_search). If you go to the advanced search, you can also sort through images via usage rights and can choose whatever license you want. This will come in handy if you need to find an image to use commercially. (There is more on this concept in Chapter 7: Citing Online Sources.) You can also use images to search for related websites. At Google Images, you can upload an image or copy and paste a URL to search. One of the easiest ways to do this is to right-click on an image and copy its image address or URL. On Google Images, paste the image URL and click search by image. The search shows the best guess for the image’s title, other sites that contain this image, and visually similar images. This type of search will come in handy when it comes to thinking critically about online sources. (There is more information about the importance of doing this in Chapter 6: Civic Online Reasoning.) © Shell Education

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Image Searching

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Alternatives to Google With young students, you may not want to use Google. Common Sense Media® (2017), an independent, nonprofit organization, is dedicated to helping children thrive in a world of media and technology. The company has reviewed a number of kid-safe browsers and recommends them by age. Below is a sampling of some recommended browsers from their list.

Recommended Browsers for Students Suggested Ages

Website Name

Website Address

Ages 3+

Zoodles

www.zoodles.com

Ages 6+

Kid Info

www.kidinfo.com

Ages 8+

Kids Click

www.kidsclick.org

Ages 10+

Finding Dulcinea

www.findingdulcinea.com

Ages 13+

Sweet Search

www.sweetsearch.com

Ages 15+

Google Scholar

scholar.google.com

Specialized Search Engines and Databases There are many, many search engines and websites out there besides Google. The list below is a selective subset of these resources, chosen because they might help you find materials for your classroom.

Popular Search Topics If you’re looking for …

FINDING INFORMATION

Biographies

34

Books in print

Country profiles

Then check here:

Website Address

Biography.com

www.biography.com

Amazon

www.amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

www.barnesandnoble.com

The CIA World Fact Book

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/ resources/the-world-factbook/index.html

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Current news and news aggregation sites

Encyclopedia entries Federal (U.S.) legislation

Images

Literature in the public domain

Live images from everywhere

Maps

Patents

© Shell Education

Then check here:

Website Address

Google News

news.google.com

Reddit

www.reddit.com

Yahoo News

www.yahoo.com/news/

Britannica

www.britannica.com

Encyclopedia.com

www.encyclopedia.com

Congress

www.congress.gov

Google Image Search

images.google.com

Flickr

www.flickr.com

Pexels

www.pexels.com

The Bartleby Library

www.bartleby.com

Google Book Search

books.google.com

The Online Books Page

digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

Project Gutenberg

www.gutenberg.org

The Best Children's Books: Public Domain Children’s Books

www.best-childrens-books.com/publicdomain-childrens-books.html

EarthCam

www.earthcam.com

Google Maps

maps.google.com

Perry-Castañeda Library

www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/

The National Map

nationalmap.gov

U.S. Geological Society Maps

www.usgs.gov/products/maps/overview

National Geographic Society Mapmaker

mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org

United States Patent and Trademark Office

www.uspto.gov

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

FINDING INFORMATION

If you’re looking for …

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Popular Search Topics If you’re looking for …

Primary Sources

Radio Stations Shareware and Freeware Sounds

(cont.)

Then check here:

Website Address

The British Museum Collection Online

www.britishmuseum.org/research/ collection_online/search.aspx

Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog

www.loc.gov/pictures/

National Archives

www.archives.gov

The New York Public Library Digital Collections

digitalcollections.nypl.org

Our Documents

www.ourdocuments.gov

Radio-locator

radio-locator.com

CNET Download

download.cnet.com

Tucows

www.tucows.com

FindSounds.com

www.findsounds.com

Regardless of what search engine is used, using critical thinking and important search tips and strategies will make time spent on the Internet more productive. But as the next chapters will show, finding the information you seek is just the start. Once you’ve found a site, you need to analyze the information. The resources shared on Finding Reliable Sources (pages 195–196) may also be beneficial to share with students. These sources are excellent places to begin Internet research because they offer strong, trustworthy information as well as suggestions for other reliable sites.

FINDING INFORMATION

On the following pages are activities teachers can use to practice search techniques with their students.

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➜ Activity 4: Practicing Searching Techniques ➜ Activity 5: Word Study

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Activity 4

Practicing Searching Techniques Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students begin using the search techniques introduced in this chapter to better find specific and accurate information online.

1. Ask students if they have ever tried searching for something online and grew frustrated because they couldn’t find what they were looking for. Have some students share their searching experiences.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will search using different strategies and techniques. ➜ Students will evaluate searching suggestions and determine the best ones for their purposes. ➜ Students will develop lists of the top three most-effective search techniques.

Materials ➜ copies of Evaluating Search Techniques (pages 38–39; page38.pdf) ➜ copies of My Top Five Search Strategies (page 40; page40.pdf)

2. Explain that there are some search tips that help people locate the exact information they want. Distribute Evaluating Search Techniques (pages 38–39) to the students. Demonstrate how to use each of the different search suggestions listed for students. After each example on page 38, allow students to try a few searches on their own. Address any questions students have. 3. Working in pairs, have students try searching for the information in the first column of the Evaluating Search Techniques chart on page 39. Have them record what they type into a search engine and then evaluate their results. 4. As a class, go over Evaluating Search Techniques. Engage students in a discussion about which search suggestions were easy to use and which were not. 5. Ask students which techniques they may start to use in their own searching and why. Once students have tried all the search techniques, have each student write the top five most effective search techniques on My Top Five Search Strategies (page 40). Allow time for students to share their thoughts with the class.

➜ Students learn by doing. When they actually perform the search suggestions, they gain an understanding about how the specific search tips work and when they will run into trouble. Ask students to talk with each other as they work and discuss what is frustrating about the various searches they’ve been asked to complete.

Extension ➜ Challenge students to find other search tips and techniques not mentioned in the list.

© Shell Education

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Finding Information

Talk About It!

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Activity 4

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Evaluating Search Techniques Directions: Review these search techniques. Then, apply them and evaluate how effective they are as you complete the chart on page 39. Suggestion

Put And or + to search for two or more words

Finding Information

Put OR or | between each search query to combine searches.

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Example car AND truck car+truck car OR truck car|truck

Put $ in front of a number to search for money.

bicycle $100

Put # in front of a word to search for hashtags.

#bestsongever

Put - in front of a word you want to exclude from your search.

jaguar speed -car

Put a word or phrase inside quotation marks to search for an exact match.

“fastest animal”

Put a * in your word or phrase where you want to leave a placeholder and to search for wildcards or unknown words.

“smallest * in the United States”

Put .. between two numbers to search within a range of numbers.

shirt $5..$15

Put site: in front of a site or domain to search for a specific site.

popcorn site:youtube.com popcorn site:.org

Put related: in front of an Internet address you already know to search for related sites.

related:newsweek.com

Put info: in front of the site address to get details about a site.

info:usps.com

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Activity 4

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Evaluating Search Techniques (cont.) What you want to find

What you type in the search box

How strong were the results to your search?

Information about the results of the 2016 presidential election Information on Ray Ban sunglasses OR Oakley sunglasses Education laws established between 1950–1975 Information about the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowls Information about Memphis, Egypt, but NOT about Memphis, Tennessee Results for a phone that costs about $200 The words to “America, the Beautiful”

Finding Information

Websites similar to or related to YouTube The fastest car made in America Write your topic here:

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Activity 4

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

My Top Five Search Strategies Directions: Summarize the five strategies that you plan to start using when you complete online searches.

Finding Information

What are the five most effective search strategies that you will start using?

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Activity 5

Word Study Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students select a number of words to research and then share their discoveries with the class. The study of the origin of words is fascinating, but few students are exposed to where words come from.

1. You will probably want to review the MerriamWebster Online (www.merriam-webster.com), Free Dictionary (www.thefreedictionary.com), and/or Dictionary.com (www.dictionary.com) websites before starting this activity. (Be aware that some of these sites include advertisements.)

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will become etymologists. ➜ Students will become familiar with tools for word study, including online and print dictionaries. ➜ Students will begin collecting interesting words and their etymologies and use them in sentences.

Materials ➜ copies of Word Card Template (page 43; page43.pdf) ➜ printed dictionaries ➜ list of spelling words or challenging words

3. Choose a word and discuss its etymology. For example, according to Merriam-Webster, the word family comes from “the Middle English familie, from Latin familia household (including servants as well as kin of the householder), from famulus servant.” 4. Distribute the Word Card Template (page 43). Have each student pick four words from the word list you created or choose words on their own. Tell them to look up the definitions and etymologies of the words. They can use print dictionaries or online dictionaries. Tell them to record what they find on the activity sheet. An example is shared on the Word Card Template Example (page 44) if you want to display it as a reference. 5. Have each student share his or her most interesting word with the class. Have students cut apart their word cards and save them in a central location in the classroom. Students can use these words to improve their writing throughout the year.

Finding Information

➜ optional: Word Card Template Example (page 44; page44.pdf)

2. Ask students what they know about the origin of words. Let them know that words come to English from many sources. Tell them they will become etymologists— people who find out about where words come from, how their uses have changed over time, and the historical impact the words have had on cultures and societies.

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Activity 5

Word Study (cont.) Procedure (cont.) 6. After finishing the word cards, spend a little time "playing with words" by sharing these online resources:

➜ Show students Spell It! (www.myspellit.com), which is the Scripps National Spelling Bee website created in cooperation with Merriam-Webster. Encourage students to find and define interesting words from different languages.



➜ Show students the Word of the Day feature on Merriam-Webster Online. Click on the Word of the Day and then on the audio symbol to hear the pronunciation of the word. Have one student read the word in a sentence and another read the information about its origin. Start a short discussion about what you have learned (e.g., Did students know the word already? How about its origin? Were they surprised? What was interesting? What else would they like to know?).

Talk About It! ➜ Have students talk about how this activity will help them speak, write, and think more critically. Helping students become more aware of words—the words they use, where the words come from, and multiple meanings of words—will increase their linguistic intelligence as well as their vocabularies. Being able to apply the exact word to communicate what you mean benefits both speaker and listener or reader.

Finding Information

Extension

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➜ Have students challenge their peers to learn their words by creating vocabulary quizzes on a site such as Quizlet (quizlet.com) or Kahoot (kahoot.com).

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Activity 5

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Word Card Template

Word

Word

Definition

Definition

Use in a Sentence

Use in a Sentence

Etymology

Etymology

Source

Source

Word

Word

Definition

Definition

Use in a Sentence

Use in a Sentence

Etymology

Etymology

Source

Source

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Finding Information

Directions: Pick four words to define and use in sentences. Then, look up and summarize the etymology of each word. Cite your source for each word.

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Activity 5

Student Reproducibles

Word Card Template Example mercurial

Definition

quick and changeable in temperament; volatile

Use in a Sentence

Her mercurial behavior confused us.

Etymology

Latin; Roman god and a planet, first used in the 14th century

Source

Merriam-Webster Online

Finding Information

Word

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Analyzing Information

Chapter 3

Asking and Answering Good Questions Questions—and the search for their answers—lie at the heart of meaningful learning. Due to increased access to the overwhelming amount of information available today, everyone needs tools to help manage information. Helping students formulate good questions—those that are thoughtful, require research and critical thinking, and deepen the understanding of a topic— may be the most important thing educators do. One of the most powerful ways of helping students is by modeling the asking of good questions. It is exciting to delve deeply into a topic. Formulating the questions that encourage further exploration is both an art and a skill— for teachers as well as students. Since information is so readily available—especially on the Internet, which some have called the biggest vanity press in the world—it is particularly important that students question what they find. The Internet is open, available, and unmanaged for the most part. Just about anyone can start a blog, post on social media, create a website, and more. Developing critical questioning strategies has never been more important. Strong questions can help sift through the proliferation of information in this digital age, where a Google search can bring up thousands of different sources instantly. Asking the right questions allows students to sort through the abundance of fluff, misinformation, and fake news to find correct information. This chapter looks at how to help students ask and answer good questions and explores educational strategies that utilize strong questioning techniques. Later, Chapter 6 delves more deeply into evaluating websites and developing civic online reasoning skills.

Analyzing Information

Essential Questions

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Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins, educational researchers and authors, describe the best questions as “essential questions.” They are not simple, with seek-and-find answers. Rather, they make learning meaningful and engaging for students. In their book, Essential Questions, McTighe and Wiggins (2013) state that an essential question should meet the following criteria: ➜ be open ended ➜ be thought provoking and engaging ➜ require higher-order thinking ➜ focus on important ideas ➜ encourage additional questions ➜ necessitate support and evidence ➜ able to be revisited 51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Here are a couple example nonessential questions rewritten as essential questions: ➜ Nonessential—Who is in the painting? ➜ Essential—How does this painting compare to others by the same artist? ➜ Nonessential—When was this letter written? ➜ Essential—How did current events influence the author of this document? Questions lay the foundation for learning, and when students are embedded in thoughtful projects, they engage in highly meaningful work. The increasing interest in project based learning over the years demonstrates that well-designed projects provide a good challenge. Planning a good project takes time. Teachers who have conducted successful projects are convinced that what students learn in projects goes far beyond what they learn in traditional classes because they are challenged to make connections across disciplines, as well as to consider real-world concerns. And the start of a good project is found in the questions students and teachers pose for study. Strong, open-ended questions that require searching and reflection are at the heart of critical thinking. Jamie McKenzie, Ed.D., editor of From Now On and The Question Mark, has been arguing for increased student exploration and reasoning for decades. In the April 2017 edition of The Question Mark, McKenzie shares the Questioning Toolkit Revised, in which he highlights three main purposes for questions: digging, planning, and inventing. He also describes different types of questions and how each accomplishes different tasks. For more information on this topic, see The Question Mark (questioning.org). Like McTighe and Wiggins, McKenzie views questioning as an inquiry tool. He posits that “Essential questions are at the heart of the search for truth.” In the following excerpts from The Question Mark, McKenzie discusses how questions can help young people navigate through a complex, disorganized information landscape to make up their own minds about important issues in their lives and times. To be successful [in helping students learn literacy skills to deal with today’s “information abundance”], we must emphasize the development of questioning skills, and we must replace topical research with projects requiring original thought.

Unless we are connecting with the Internet for mere edutainment, student questioning must be intense before, during and after visiting cyberspace. We must teach students to start their explorations with essential questions in mind. They then develop a rich web of related questions that organize and direct the search for insight. Essential questions spawn inquiries that often extend over a month or a lifetime—questions worth asking, that touch upon basic human issues— investigations that might make a difference in the quality of life—studies that might cast light in dark corners, illuminating basic truths.

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ANALYZING INFORMATION

Questioning may be the most powerful technology we have ever invented and can give to our students. Questions are the tools required for us to “make up our minds” and develop meaning.

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Once they have listed pertinent questions, we must teach students how to conduct a thorough research study. Questioning persists throughout all stages of such an inquiry as students seek pertinent information—data that will cast light upon (or illuminate) the essential question. (McKenzie 2012, 21–22) Further, McKenzie offers suggestions on sample research questions that go beyond topical information gathering. For example, he suggests the following research scenario for secondary students: Imagine that you and your partners have been hired as consultants by the states of Washington and Oregon to recommend new policies to stem the decline of the salmon runs during the past decade. Use the Internet, as well as books, newspapers, interviews, and all other appropriate resources, to identify useful practices already tested around the globe, and then determine the applicability of these practices to the particular conditions and needs of the Northwest. How might these strategies be improved? Create a multimedia report for the two governors, sharing specific action recommendations as well as the evidence sustaining your proposals. (McKenzie 2012, 22) This type of assignment requires students to sift through information and consider it to solve a problem. Other quality assignments could ask students to gain insight or to make decisions. For elementary students, he suggests the following research scenario: Imagine that your parents have been given job offers in each of the three following cities: New Orleans, Seattle, and Chicago. Knowing of your access to the Internet, they have asked you to help them decide which city will be the best for the family. Before gathering your information, discuss and identify with them the criteria for selecting a home city. Create a persuasive multimedia presentation showing the strengths and weaknesses of each city on the criteria your family considers important. (McKenzie 2012, 22–23) These types of assignments require students to think and develop their own answers. They help avoid copying and pasting by students and the ever-growing ease of plagiarizing. As McKenzie (2012) states, “If we insist that research focus upon essential questions, we may have an antidote to the New Plagiarism and the Age of Glib. We pose questions that require fresh thought. Our students must make answers, not simply gather them.”

ANALYZING INFORMATION

The direct quotations from McKenzie’s work are reprinted with permission from Jamie McKenzie (questioning.org/dec2012/chpt3.pdf).

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Educational Strategies for Questioning Project Based Learning One proven method of engaging students in the process of asking and answering good questions is Project Based Learning. Most teachers already provide project opportunities for their students, but key researchers have taken the next step to formalize this process. The Buck Institute for Education (BIE—www.bie.org) is a non-profit group that shows teachers how to use Project Based Learning to help them prepare students for success. BIE (2017) defines Project Based Learning as a teaching method "in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge." To be effective, Project Based Learning must have clear learning goals so students learn how to apply knowledge to the real world and use it to solve problems, answer complex questions, and create high-quality products by thinking critically. BIE (2015) outlines eight essential design elements involved in creating projects that leads to engaged learning and meaningful connections.

BIE Essential Project Design Elements Key Knowledge, Understanding, & Success Skills—The project is focused on student learning goals, including standards-based content and skills such as critical thinking/problem solving, communication, collaboration, and self-management. Challenging Problem or Question—The project is framed by a meaningful problem to solve or a question to answer, at the appropriate level of challenge.

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ANALYZING INFORMATION

Source: Graphic used with permission from BIE.

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BIE Essential Project Design Elements (cont.) Sustained Inquiry—Students engage in a rigorous, extended process of asking questions, finding resources, and applying information. Authenticity—The project features real-world context, tasks and tools, quality standards, or impact or speaks to students’ personal concerns, interests, and issues in their lives. Student Voice & Choice—Students make some decisions about the project, including how they work and what they create. Reflection—Students and teachers reflect on learning, the effectiveness of their inquiry and project activities, the quality of student work, and the obstacles and how to overcome them. Critique & Revision—Students give, receive, and use feedback to improve their processes and products. Public Product—Students make their project work public by explaining, displaying, and/or presenting it to people beyond the classroom. To learn more about these essential elements of Project Based Learning, visit the BIE website (www.bie.org/object/document/gold_standard_pbl_essential_project_design_elements#).

Bloom’s Taxonomy

ANALYZING INFORMATION

Bloom’s Taxonomy is familiar to most teachers, and it is considered a tried-and-true way to look at different kinds of learning experiences and determine how much thinking is required from students. Since its inception in 1956, it has been associated with different levels of questioning. In 2001, Lorin Anderson and David Kraftwohl revised the system to rename and reorder the classifications. Students need to engage in all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy with as much emphasis on the higher-order thinking skills as possible. Asking students to formulate good questions moves them to higher-order thinking and allows them to engage in creative, thoughtful work.

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On the next few pages, each Bloom’s Taxonomy level has a chart, which includes the following five components: ➜ a definition of the level ➜ verbs to guide teachers in writing learning outcomes ➜ question stems to guide discussions (based on Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis 2002) ➜ product options ➜ technology options (based on Churches 2017)

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R emembering Definition

retrieving previously learned material by recall

Verbs for Learning Outcomes

arrange, define, describe, duplicate, identify, label, list, locate, match, memorize, name, order, recall, recite, recognize, remember, repeat, reproduce, state, tell

Question Stems

How much? How? What? When? Where? Which one? Who?

Product Options

activity sheets, lists, quizzes, reproductions

Technology Options

bookmarking, searching

Definition

constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, or explaining

Verbs for Learning Outcomes

classify, describe, discuss, distinguish, edit, estimate, explain, express, generalize, give examples, identify, illustrate, indicate, locate, predict, recognize, report, restate, review, select, show symbols, summarize, translate

Question Stems

Explain. Give an example of ... State in your own words. What does this mean? What would happen if? Which statement supports ...? Why?

Product Options

analogies, diagrams, flowcharts, maps, metaphors, outlines, paraphrasing, reports, stories, summaries, visuals

Technology Options

advanced searches, blog journaling, commenting, tagging, tweeting

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ANALYZING INFORMATION

U nderstanding

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A pplying Definition

implementing a procedure

Verbs for Learning Outcomes

apply, build, chart, choose, compute, cook, demonstrate, discover, dramatize, employ, illustrate, operate, plan, practice, prepare, produce, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write

Question Stems

Choose the best ... Identify. Predict. What would result?

Product Options

advertisement, experiment, illustration, interview, journal, map, recipe, scrapbook

Technology Options

editing, loading, playing, sharing, uploading

.

A nalyzing determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall purpose

Verbs for Learning Outcomes

categorize, classify, compare, conclude, contrast, diagram, differentiate, discover, dissect, distinguish, examine, illustrate, infer, interpret, investigate, outline, separate, solve

Question Stems

What is the function of ...? What motive is there? What’s the main idea? What’s the relationship between ...?

Product Options

charts, debates, investigations, journals, questionnaires, simulations, surveys

Technology Options

linking, spreadsheets, validating

ANALYZING INFORMATION

Definition

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Evaluating Definition

making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing

Verbs for Learning Outcomes

appraise, argue, assess, conclude, criticize, critique, defend, estimate, evaluate, explain, influence, judge, justify, measure, predict, prioritize, rate, recommend, support, value

Question Stems

Find the errors. What consistencies/inconsistencies appear? Which is more important/moral/better/ logical/valid/appropriate?

Product Options

debates, editorials, journals, recommendations, reviews, videos

Technology Options

blogging, moderating discussions, reviewing

C reating reorganizing elements into new patterns

Verbs for Learning Outcomes

adapt, arrange, combine, compile, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, hypothesize, imagine, invent, propose, rearrange parts, reconstruct

Question Stems

How else ...? How would you ...? Propose. Solve.

Product Options

collages, inventions, journals, models, newspapers, plays, songs, stories

Technology Options

animating, blogging, podcasting, programming, publishing

ANALYZING INFORMATION

Definition

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Asking Good Questions What makes a good question? This is a question that has been studied by many researchers and educators through the years. Asking good questions is at the heart of every effective inquirybased lesson. In his essay, “Inquiry: The Art of Helping Students Ask Good Questions,” David Thornburg (2004) suggests that there are specific criteria for determining whether a question is good. Summarized here are four of Thornburg’s key criteria: ➜ Unknown answer—Strong questions have multiple answers. They don’t need the word “why” tacked on the end to make them open ended. ➜ Defensible answer—Today’s teachers know the importance of teaching students how to use evidence to support their answers. Gone are the days of asking students opinionbased questions and of accepting any answers. ➜ Leads to deep research—Students need to search for the answers to strong questions. They should not be able to quickly respond and move on. ➜ Leads to other questions—Strong questions are inherently complex and contain depth that drives students to ask further questions. Thornburg explains, “… questions that fall under the definition of inquiry are different in scope. Rather than asking for simple responses, inquiry addresses deeper issues. Taken literally, inquiry means not just questioning, but questioning into something. This type of questioning is rich because of the depth of the exploration it encourages, and because each good question typically leads to more questions.” As teachers help students become good questioners, it may be useful to share the idea of a “Question Scale.” Questions that are more concrete and fall in lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy would “weigh” less than those that are more abstract, encompassing, interesting, and found at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. These heavier questions are considered “essential questions” by McTighe, Wiggins, and McKenzie, or they match the criteria for inquiry that Thornburg has set out. It is important to note, however, that all types of questions should be used to address the desired learning outcomes. Students need to have strong recall and comprehension before moving to the high-level skills (Tofade et al. 2013). To prepare students for developing good questions and thinking critically, the following activities provide some practice:

ANALYZING INFORMATION

➜ Activity 6: Writing Critical Questions

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➜ Activity 7: What Is the Question? ➜ Activity 8: What Do They Really Mean?

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Activity 6

Writing Critical Questions Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students focus on identifying and writing strong, open questions that allow for critical thinking.

1. Display an interesting image for the students. The image can be of anything you want that you think will engage your students and encourage them to think of strong questions. This is called the question focus for this activity. (This lesson is based on work by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana. Further information about their strategy, Question Formulation Technique, can be found at rightquestion.org.)

➜ Students will evaluate and improve questions focusing on developing open questions.

Materials ➜ large copy or digital version of an interesting image to use as the question focus ➜ copies of Types of Questions (page 57; page57.pdf) ➜ copies of Rewriting Questions (pages 58–59; page58.pdf)

2. Have student pairs spend 3–5 minutes brainstorming questions based on the question focus. As they work, they should keep four things in mind about brainstorming:

➜ Students should ask as many questions as they can.



➜ There should be no discussion about the questions during the brainstorming.



➜ The scribe should write every question exactly as it was shared.



➜ The group should work together to rewrite any statements into questions.

3. Define that a closed question only allows for one answer or a very simple answer. Often, closed questions can be answered in one or two words. An open question, on the other hand, allows for multiple interpretations of the topic and varied answers. More critical thinking is required to fully respond to open questions. The language in the question can determine whether it is open or closed. 4. Distribute copies of Types of Questions (page 57) to students. Discuss the chart, which includes stems that often correlate with open and closed questions. There are some examples of open and closed questions on the Types of Questions activity sheet for reference. 5. Have students work with their partners to evaluate the questions they brainstormed. Tell them to change any closed questions to open questions using the examples as references. 6. Have each pair of students pick their top two open questions to share with the class. Write all students' questions on the board, and analyze them together to make sure they are open questions.

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Analyzing Information

Learning Outcomes

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Activity 6

Writing Critical Questions (cont.) Procedure (cont.) 7. Distribute copies of Rewriting Questions (pages 58–59) to students. Have them read and discuss the questions with their partners. Then, have students rewrite any closed questions to be open. (This can be done in class or as a homework assignment.) 8. Once students finish Rewriting Questions, use the answer key below to review student responses as a class. Discuss how students rewrote the closed questions. Have students explain how their rewritten questions are now open questions.

Talk About It! ➜ As students work, have them discuss why it’s important to allow for multiple answers when writing questions. Discuss times when having only one answer might be preferable.

Extension ➜ Have students take well-written open questions and rewrite them as closed questions. Then, have students answer both sets of questions. That way, they have the opportunity to see how the way a question is written can affect the types of answers that are given.

Analyzing Information

Answers to Rewriting Questions (pages 58–59)

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1. closed 2. open 3. open 4. closed 5. open 6. closed 7. open 8. closed 9. open 10. closed 11. open 12. open ➜ Revisions to closed questions will vary but should allow for multiple correct answers.

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Activity 6

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Types of Questions Directions: These stems are good predictors of whether a question is open or closed. However, remember to read the question and determine for yourself if there are multiple answers. Some of these words can be used in both types of questions!

Typical Open Question Stems

Typical Closed Question Stems

Decide if

Can

Describe

Do

Determine

Is

Discuss

What

For what reasons

What Is

How

When

In what ways

Where

What if

Who

Why

Whose

Examples

➜ Closed—Who is in the photograph? ➜ Open—Determine the most important person in the photograph. Why? ➜ Closed—When was this document written? ➜ Open—How did current events influence the author of this document? ➜ Closed—What is this a picture of? ➜ Open—How is each element in the picture important?

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Analyzing Information

➜ Closed—What colors are on the poster? ➜ Open—How do the colors change the effectiveness of the poster?

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Activity 6

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Rewriting Questions Directions: Here are further examples of open and closed questions. Evaluate each question, and label it open or closed. Then, rewrite any questions that are closed to be open.

_____ 1. What country is this?

________________________________________________________

_____ 2. For what reasons was the political cartoon created?

________________________________________________________

_____ 3. Who could have taken the photograph?

________________________________________________________

_____ 4. Do you like the cartoon?

Analyzing Information



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________________________________________________________

_____ 5. Describe if the photograph is real or fake.

________________________________________________________

_____ 6. Is the poster persuasive?

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Activity 6

Student Reproducibles

Rewriting Questions (cont.)

_____ 7. How can you tell if the letter is really from a king?

________________________________________________________

_____ 8. What is the title of the document?

________________________________________________________

_____ 9. Where could this photograph have been taken?

________________________________________________________

_____ 10. Who drew the sketch?

________________________________________________________



________________________________________________________

_____ 12. What if this painting had never been created?

________________________________________________________

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Analyzing Information

_____ 11. How does knowing the creator of the document affect its use?

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Activity 7

What Is the Question? Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students determine what they know, what they want to know, how they can learn new things, and what they learned. Good questions are at the heart of good projects and increased learning.

1. Engage the class in a brainstorming session in which students identify topics they would like to explore. Record their ideas on chart paper. These topics can be focused on a theme (e.g., life cycles) or a content-area skill (e.g., poetry).

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will develop meaningful questions for projects. ➜ Students will write questions that demonstrate understanding of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Materials ➜ chart paper and pens ➜ copies of K-W-H-L Chart (page 61; page61.pdf) ➜ copies of Question Scale Questions (page 62; page62.pdf) ➜ optional: Question Scale Questions Example (page 63; page63.pdf)

2. As a class, select a topic and have each student complete an individual K-W-H-L Chart (page 61). (The K-W-L technique is credited to Donna Ogle, who created this model in 1986 to help students focus their thinking while they are reading.) Have students develop strong initial questions to complete the What Do I Want to Learn? column. 3. Distribute Question Scale Questions (page 62) to the students. The idea behind this scale is to examine the kinds of questions students are interested in answering. The questions include factual questions, which require little thinking, as well as other questions that go deeper into understanding a topic. For example, the question scale questions for a project on pets might look something like the Question Scale Questions Example (page 63). (In this case, the chart was completed for guinea pigs.) 4. Have students work in pairs to make sure they have questions on the chosen topic that satisfy every level of the chart on Question Scale Questions. 5. If you have students complete research, have them complete the final column on the chart, What Did I Learn?

Analyzing Information

Talk About It!

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➜ As part of the learning process for this activity, ask students to reflect on what kinds of questions they find most interesting and why, along with how they might apply the K-W-H-L technique and using question scales to other topics, such as new topics.

Extension ➜ Have students add other types of questions to the question scale and create a new chart. Then, allow time for students to continue their research to find answers to their new questions and discuss which questions were the most useful in finding information about the topic. 51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Activity 7

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

K-W-H-L Chart Directions: Answer the questions to complete the chart with everything you can think of on the topic you have chosen.

Topic: ____________________________________________________________

What Do I Want to Learn?

How Can I Find Out More?

What Did I Learn?

Analyzing Information

What Do I Know?

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Activity 7

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Question Scale Questions Directions: Think of leveled questions based on your K-W-H-L chart, and write them in this chart.

Topic: Type of Question with Question Stems

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Remember Who? Where? How many? Understand Why? How? Apply If …, what ...? Analyze

Analyzing Information

How does it compare?

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Evaluate What if ...? Create What else can I think of?

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Activity 7

Student Reproducibles

Question Scale Questions Example Directions: Think of leveled questions based on your K-W-H-L chart, and write them in this chart.

Topic: Guinea Pigs Type of Question with Question Stems

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Remember

Understand Why? How? Apply If …, what ...? Analyze How does it compare? Evaluate What if ... Create What else can I think of?

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Do guinea pigs live here?

Who has them for sale?

Why do guinea pigs make good pets?

How would a guinea pig fit into my life?

If my guinea pig got sick, what would I have to do?

If I did not like taking care of my guinea pig, what would happen?

How does caring for a guinea pig compare to caring for other pets?

What other pets are similar to guinea pigs?

How much do they cost?

What if I were a guinea pig? What would my life be like? What, if any, kind of work can guinea pigs be used for?

What interesting inventions exist for guinea pigs?

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Analyzing Information

Who? Where? How many?

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Activity 8

What Do They Really Mean? Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students go beneath the surface and examine the assumptions behind a selection of advertisements. Advertisements in magazines, on TV, and on the Internet contain assumptions—about the buyer/user and about the product being sold.

1. Collect an array of advertisements from print or TV, and bookmark Internet sources or YouTube videos.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will question and analyze advertising material for hidden assumptions.

2. Discuss the meaning of the word assumption (i.e., unstated ideas or beliefs about someone or something). 3. Distribute multiple advertisements to groups of two to four students. 4. Tell students that each company, as it tries to sell its product, makes assumptions about buyers and what will motivate them to buy a product. Students should ask themselves questions about these assumptions as they look at advertisements.

➜ Provide an example of this, such as, “An advertisement for shoes says, ‘Get fit this year with an exercise program that works for you. The first step in your new exercise program? Picking a fitness shoe that can keep up with you!’”



➜ Have each group discuss the assumptions this advertisement makes about the buyer. Remember to include any graphics found in the advertisement (e.g., the shoe advertisement features a happy woman jumping high, knees bent, with the “fitness shoes” on her feet). Ask students what the picture implies.



➜ Assumptions for this advertisement might include: People want to exercise. They need special shoes to succeed in an exercise program. Shoes can make you jump high. Shoes can make you happy. Without special shoes, you will not be happy, successful, or able to jump high, and so on.

➜ Students will identify motives for particular types of advertisements.

Materials ➜ variety of advertisements from print, TV, and the Internet

Analyzing Information

➜ copies of Making Assumptions (page 66; page66.pdf)

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5. Have each group analyze other advertisements as they complete the charts on Making Assumptions (page 66). 6. After groups have finished their work, allow time for students to share what they discovered.

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Activity 8

What Do They Really Mean? (cont.) Talk About It! ➜ After students work, have them discuss what assumptions they think are made about them in the advertisements they see. Are any of the assumptions correct? In what ways does making assumptions help sell products?

Extension

Analyzing Information

➜ Have students take additional copies of Making Assumptions home so they can analyze the advertisements they see in their daily lives. After students bring the completed charts back to class, discuss what they learned about the assumptions companies are making about them. Also discuss how asking questions about these assumptions helped them recognize the patterns.

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Activity 8

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Making Assumptions Directions: Study three advertisements from various types of media (e.g., print, TV, Internet). Think about what the advertisement is saying and what assumptions are being made. Then, complete the charts with your thoughts. Company name Advertisement statement Assumption(s)

Company name Advertisement statement Assumption(s)

Company name Advertisement statement

Analyzing Information

Assumption(s)

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1. Did any of the advertisements convince you—through words or pictures or the

assumptions behind them—that you should buy the product? Why or why not?

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Chapter 4

Thinking Visually

People interpret information using the five senses: sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch. These senses define human interactions with the world, inspire thinking, and make experiences meaningful. Currently, digital information affects sight and hearing the most. Television, YouTube videos, apps, websites, and social media all require an awareness, understanding, and evaluation of messages, and similar types of evaluation are required for every medium. At school, teachers introduce and discuss how information is presented through images, through written words, and through verbal instructions or conversations. In this way, teachers can help sensitize students to the idea that they should question everything they see and hear, particularly if the intent of the information is to motivate or convince. This chapter focuses on visual information. Since images are so integral to learning (research states that 80 percent of what we take in and remember is in the form of images), the importance of developing visual literacy is critical, especially within a digital context. But what exactly is visual literacy?

Parallel Processes

Olshansky has been working on art-and-literature-based approaches to teaching writing since 1990. She places visual representation at the core of thinking, broadening the definition of literacy to include visual as well as verbal means of making meaning. To offset the hidden verbal bias that exists within schools, she has students analyze picture books to recognize the parallel and complementary languages of pictures and words. Her research suggests that at‑risk learners tend to be very visual, and giving these students opportunities to think in pictures is critical to their literacy learning. She believes that when well-meaning teachers distance students from visual thinking tools and instead focus solely on traditional literacy skills, this ends up increasing the population of at-risk learners because the needs of these visual learners aren’t being met. In 1993, the U.S. Department of Education validated Olshansky’s image-making within the writing process as an innovative and effective literacy program, and the program was awarded federal funds for national dissemination. Independent studies conducted since then on her image-making and picture writing programs have documented that students, particularly at-risk students, who participated in her visual/verbal approaches to literacy learning made © Shell Education

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Analyzing Information

According to Beth Olshansky (personal communication), the director of the Center for the Advancement of Art-Based Literacy, visual literacy is the ability to read and convey meaning through images. It involves reading meaning and making meaning using visual elements. She believes that these processes parallel the reading/writing process, but specifically involve “visual text.” People read images to understand the meanings of individual pictures, and people infuse images with meaning as they create them.

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statistically significant gains in writing as compared to demographically matched comparison groups. At-risk students have consistently made impressive gains in their standardized test scores in writing. They consistently outperformed their comparison counterparts who did not participate in the process, demonstrating that when teachers give structured visual tools and focus them on the combined power of pictures and words, a much wider range of students perform well. Some of the visual elements Olshansky introduces in conjunction with text are how to make meaning using color, texture, shape, detail, composition, and sequence. Clearly, embracing the study of visual as well as written information helps students to more effectively understand and communicate (Olshansky 2014; Olshansky 2006). For more information about Olshansky’s methods and to see student samples and scoring instruments, visit her website (www.picturingwriting.org).

Images on the Brain Dr. Lynell Burmark (2002) has also helped teachers and students understand the impact of images in their work, including specialized aspects such as the influence of color. In the following excerpt from her handout at the Thornberg Center, Burmark lays the foundation for thoughtful examination of images in a variety of media, and she encourages teachers to deepen their understandings, so they can make powerful choices of images when they create their own information sources.

Brain Bandwidth As human beings, our brains are wired for images. According to research from 3M Corporation, we process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. This is because we take in all the data from an image simultaneously, while we process text in a sequential fashion.

ANALYZING INFORMATION

I could tell you about my wonderful former boss and the love he feels for his first granddaughter. Or I could show you the photo.

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Which is faster? Which is more memorable?

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From Images to Words There is a natural progression in the way we process information: first the image, then the words. We run into trouble in school when we try to reverse that order, when teachers use words and assume every student sees the same image. For example, what if I, as the teacher, say the word tree? If you live in Olean, New York, you would probably see a sugar maple tree. From West Palm Beach, Florida? A row of palm trees. Or if you grew up in Tacoma, Washington, the way I did, you might see a cedar, fir, or some other evergreen tree. Is one of these trees any more “correct” than the others? (Is there always just one right answer?)

“Dear God, I didn’t think purple and orange went together until I saw the sunset you created on Tuesday. That was cool.”—Eugene “I didn’t think…until I saw.” The image always precedes the thought. [Albert] Einstein imagined riding on a beam of light and then did the math to back up his theory of relativity. First the image, then the thought. Source: Lynell Burmark’s Handouts, tcpd.org/burmark/Handouts/WhyVisualLit.html

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ANALYZING INFORMATION

A letter [once circulated] the Internet describing a young boy’s reaction to a beautiful sunset:

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Burmark argues that images are what ties words, concepts, and ideas together. Since words are processed by short-term memory, people can only retain about seven bits of information at a time. Images, on the other hand, go directly into long-term memory—they will be with students forever. Burmark says that parents and educators “have the responsibility and the opportunity to expand students’ data banks of images, to select images of beauty and truth, of love and devotion, of inspiration and hope for the future” (2002).

Sources of Visual Images Another mission of visual literacy is to empower students as they evaluate images. Students need to ask questions about images to help them separate fact from fiction. The questions might include the following: ➜ Why do you think that was included in the picture? ➜ What does that picture tell us? ➜ What is the purpose of this image? ➜ How can you tell if this image been manipulated in some way? ➜ In what ways is this image trying to get me to do or buy something? Viewing images in this way becomes a skill that allows students to critically read pictures, diagrams, charts, and other graphics. In addition to getting more of the true story, critically evaluating images also allows students to be aware of the creator’s intent. In this manner, students can understand the purposes and effects of visual elements in advertisements, propaganda, and social media to avoid being manipulated. People today see still and moving pictures in many places. One of the most influential sources of images is videos—probably because they’re so widespread and many young people spend a considerable amount of time watching them on a daily basis. To help students become more thoughtful consumers (and future producers) of information, they must be given the tools with which to analyze the messages they are receiving from the most ubiquitous sources of information. Today’s students interact with visual images most often through the following three sources: television, social media, and the Internet.

ANALYZING INFORMATION

Television

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One of the most prominent sources of visual information is still television. Adults and young people today often have televisions as the background noise to their lives. Today’s channels allow for 24-hour news cycles, never-ending sporting events, television show marathons, and nonstop game shows. The massive popularity of reality television shows has confused people about what is real and what is fake. Long ago, it was clear that the news at 6:00 p.m. each night was real life, and the 30-minute comedy show at 8:00 p.m. was not real. Today, there is no longer a clean separation of different types of broadcasts. Students must figure this out on their own.

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Social Media Many students today interact through social media on a daily basis. They connect with friends and family to share images and texts. They follow famous people to discover what’s going on in the worlds of music, movies, sports, and video gaming. They spend hours taking crazy selfies and making sure their long streaks are extended with friends. Much of social media is driven through images rather than text, and there are no filters or controls that regulate the sharing of information. (Lately, celebrities have taken to social media outlets to increase their advertising audiences.) Students must critically think to filter their own understanding of the information.

Internet Social media isn’t the only way that students interact with visual information on the Internet. Students also watch countless online videos, visit educational websites for school, look up answers to their questions, play video games, and stream entertainment (including movies and music). The Internet plays more and more of a role in people’s lives with each passing year. Children used to be able to pop a video game into a console and play games in their homes. Now, even the most basic video-game consoles allow gamers to interact online with other gamers through games, chats, and audio connections. Students today need strong criticalthinking skills to safely interact with others, as well as gather information, from the Internet. Newspapers, magazines, and books also contain content that can be questionable or untrue, but people do not seem to complain about these media sources in the same way as they criticize television, social media, and the Internet. Students need to learn how to separate fact from fiction in every source of information they use, even ones used for entertainment. To prepare students for critically evaluating the many visual images that surround them on any given day, the following activities provide some practice: ➜ Activity 9: Advertising—Pictures and Words ➜ Activity 10: Article Images ➜ Activity 11: Video Humor ➜ Activity 12: What Do You Do?

ANALYZING INFORMATION

➜ Activity 13: Advertisements

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Activity 9

Advertising—Pictures and Words Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students work in pairs to collect 10 examples of company logos and mottos (e.g., the Nike swoosh and “Just Do It.”). Students then rate the images and matching words for how well the visual and verbal representations of ideas go together and how well they work as marketing tools.

1. Lead a discussion with students about company logos and identity statements, or mottos. Have students suggest a few examples that they’ve seen on television, online, or at stores.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will become aware of marketing techniques that may target them. ➜ Students will reflect on marketing tools and how successful they are.

Materials ➜ sources to locate company logos and identity statements (safe websites, current magazines)

Analyzing Information

➜ copies of Logos and Mottos (page 74; page74.pdf)

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2. Have students work in pairs to find examples of 10 company logos and the accompanying words in their mottos. They can use magazines, from which they can cut out the logos and words, or they can go online and print or draw the logos and words. They can also collect examples outside school—from billboards, television, and so on. 3. Have the student pairs rank their chosen logos and mottos using Logos and Mottos (page 74). Tell them to discuss their rankings as they determine the order. They will need to defend their choices. 4. Have groups of students exchange their rankings and work together to determine the top five best logos and mottos from both their sheets. 5. After they finish the activity, ask students to write paragraphs that explain how logos and mottos persuade people to buy certain products. Each student should focus on the top five logos and mottos from the group work to give specific examples of how those particular companies were successful with their marketing techniques. 6. Conclude with a class discussion about logos and mottos as marketing tools. You can discuss how the visual images and text work together to create brands for the companies. Students’ abilities to express thoughtful viewpoints during the discussion will confirm their understanding of the role of logos and mottos as marketing tools.

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Activity 9

Advertising—Pictures and Words (cont.) Talk About It! ➜ Have students hold a discussion about the power of advertising where they reflect on the use of images and words in combination to convince customers of the worth of products.

Extension

Analyzing Information

➜ Have students develop logos and identity statements for companies they would start, with written rationales for their choices.

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Activity 9

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Logos and Mottos Directions: Rank your chosen logos and mottos from 1 to 10. Place the least interesting, least persuasive logo/motto on the line next to 1. Place the best, most engaging logo/motto on the line next to 10. Take notes for why you made each ranking. Be prepared to defend your choices. Rank

Logo/Motto

Reason for Rank

1 2 3 4 5 6

Analyzing Information

7

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8 9 10

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Activity 10

Article Images Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students analyze articles and determine how the images enhance the meanings and impacts of the texts. Effective blogs and articles often include images to augment their stories. They can provide perspective and/or add depth to a piece that readers cannot get from words alone.

1. Lead a discussion with students about the role of images and visual components in blogs and news articles. This includes photographs, political cartoons, graphs, charts, infographics, colored fonts, and so on. Ask guiding questions, such as: What are some ways to read a picture? How does it frame your understanding of the article? and How can a picture convey mood and meaning?

➜ Analyze images for mood and meaning. ➜ Determine how the images and visual aspects in articles support comprehension of the text.

Materials ➜ access to student-friendly blogs and/or news websites or apps with images and text ➜ copies of Pictures and Words (page 76; page76.pdf) ➜ optional: Pictures and Words Example (page 77; page77.pdf)



➜ Cool or Hot Colors—Cool colors are soothing, while hot colors are irritating.



➜ Bright or Muted Colors—Bright colors are fiery, and muted colors are mild.



➜ Texture or No Texture—Texture can often create a sense of movement or agitation. Less texture brings the reader a calm feeling.



➜ Close or Faraway Images—Detailed images can add importance to what is shown, while faraway images feel more generic and less important.

3. Distribute Pictures and Words (page 76) to each student. Have students work in pairs to analyze two articles from blogs or news websites, using the categories on the activity page. If necessary, share the Pictures and Words Example (page 77) with students. 4. Once they finish, have them share their findings with the class. 5. Conclude with a class discussion about what influences how compelling an image is and how images affect the comprehension and engagement of the text.

Talk About It! ➜ Have students talk about how the placement and sizes of images in an article layout affect the readability of the text.

Extension ➜ Have students write articles and find photographs or create their own images that capture the moods of their pieces.

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Analyzing Information

Objective

2. Write the following categories on the board, and discuss the meaning of each:

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Activity 10

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Pictures and Words Directions: Describe the image from the text in the box. Then for each category, describe what you see in the image and how it affects the mood and meaning of the image.

Title of Text:

Cool or Hot Colors:

Bright or Muted Colors:

Texture or No Texture:

Analyzing Information

Close or Faraway Images:

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1. How does this image work with the text to convey mood and meaning?

2. How does this image affect your understanding of the text?

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Activity 10

Student Reproducibles

Pictures and Words Example Directions: Describe the image from the text in the box. Then for each category, describe what you see in the image and how it affects the mood and meaning of the image.

Title of Text: Gettysburg National Park History and Culture www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/index.htm There are five images across the top that rotate. There are also three images down the side of the text.

Cool or Hot Colors: Most of the photographs are black and white. To me, they feel calm and historic. Bright or Muted Colors: The photographs that are in color are very muted. They look old and interesting. Texture or No Texture: The photographs have textures that make them look old. They look like they have been damaged. Close or Faraway Images: There are some of both types of images.

1. How does this image work with the text to convey mood and meaning? The images make me feel like I«m looking back in time. It helps me know about the time period of the battle.

2. How does this image affect your understanding of the text? I am better able to picture the changes that happened at the battlefield shortly after the battle in 1863. © Shell Education

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Analyzing Information

The faraway ones make me want to see more.

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Activity 11

Video Humor Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students conduct short surveys of how comedic online videos or television comedies use humor, and then students reflect on why and how humor works. Humor is an interesting topic mainly because different people find such different things amusing.

1. Lead a discussion with students on different kinds of humor or the many ways people use humor (e.g., making fun of a person’s actions, sarcasm, telling a joke, acting silly). Brainstorm ideas on the board or a piece of chart paper that can be displayed during the activity.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will explore different kinds of humor presented on comedic online videos or television comedies. ➜ Students will categorize the kinds of humor they encounter. ➜ Students will discuss their findings.

➜ You can search for humorous online videos to pre‑select vloggers you feel are appropriate for your students, or you can read profile reviews from Common Sense Media of 10 of the most popular YouTube stars for kids and teens (www. commonsensemedia.org/blog/10-youtube-starsyour-kids-love).

3. Allow time for students to share what they discovered about humor in online videos and television shows.

➜ chart paper ➜ copies of How Humor Is Used (page 79; page79.pdf)

Talk About It!

➜ optional: How Humor Is Used Example (page 80; page80.pdf)

Analyzing Information



4. Discuss the questions from the activity page with students. Also talk to them about how laugh tracks and sound effects affect their enjoyment of videos.

Materials

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2. Explain that students will each pick a comedic online video or television comedy to view. Tell them that they will then complete How Humor Is Used (page 79) based on what they see. If necessary, share the How Humor Is Used Example (page 80) with students.

➜ Humor can entertain, amuse, insult people, and attempt to influence others. Have students talk about the different ways humor is used in media and reflect on the effectiveness of its use as well as the possibility for embarrassment, humiliation, or offense if the situations are real.

Extension ➜ Have students draw images or cartoons of themselves showing how they feel when adult humor falls flat.

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Activity 11

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

How Humor Is Used Directions: Choose a funny online video or television episode to watch. As you watch, complete the first three questions below. After watching the video or television show, respond to the last three questions.

1. What was the title and date you watched the video/episode?

2. On what kind of device did you watch the video/episode?

3. Describe one specific moment of humor in the video/episode, or give an overview of the type of humor the video/episode used.

4. In what ways was humor used effectively or ineffectively during the video/ episode?

6. What are other emotions used by the creators of the video/episode to try to influence viewers (e.g., fear, embarrassment)?

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5. Describe how humor affects your decisions about what to watch.

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Activity 11

Student Reproducibles

How Humor Is Used Example Directions: Choose a funny video or television show to watch. You can watch a television episode or a video posted on the Internet. As you watch, complete the first three questions below. Then, respond to the last three questions.

1. What was the title and date you watched the video/episode? Impractical Jokers, June 1

2. On what kind of device did you watch the video/episode? television through DVR

3. Describe one specific moment of humor in the video, or give an overview of the type of humor the video/episode used.

One time, the stars used a giant fishing hook to steal luggage from shoppers a floor below them. The crazy spontaneity made my whole family chuckle.

4. In what ways was humor used effectively or ineffectively during the video/ episode?

The humor is spontaneous and wacky, and it is funny because it«s so unexpected.

Analyzing Information

5. Describe how humor affects your decisions about what to watch.

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Humor in a show makes my family laugh, which makes me want to keep watching so I can see them smile.

6. What are other emotions used by the creators of the video/episode to try to influence viewers (e.g., fear, embarrassment)?

The creators embarrass each other to make viewers laugh or cringe.

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Activity 12

What Do You Do? Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students track the amounts of time they spend on the three main sources of visual information. After evaluating how they spend their time, students will summarize how they think these sources of visual images affect their daily lives.

1. Lead a class discussion on what information sources students think provide the most visual information for them. As students mention television, social media, and the Internet, list those responses in a separate column or in a different color to draw attention to them.

➜ Students will track their time over a one-week period. ➜ Students will think objectively about the sources of visual information with which they interact.



➜ television—This includes live television as well as shows that were DVRed. As a class, decide if you want to count time watching television shows on DVDs.



➜ social media—This includes any time checking posts, making posts, taking selfies to post, direct messaging, liking and commenting on posts, and following people. As a class, decide if you want to count time texting here.



➜ Internet—This includes watching videos, online gaming, searching websites, using Siri, or other times when devices connect through the Internet.

Materials ➜ copies of Tracking My Time (page 83; page83.pdf) ➜ copies of Summary of How I Spend My Time (page 84; page84.pdf)

3. Allow a week for students to track their time on each of the three information sources. 4. When students return to class after tracking their time, have them get into small groups to talk about what they discovered. Were they surprised by anything? Were there any factors that influenced their choices for how they spent their time during the week (weather, Internet issues, being grounded)? 5. Have each student then spend time responding to the questions on Summary of How I Spend My Time (page 84). Discuss students’ responses to the final question as a summation of the activity.

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Analyzing Information

Learning Outcomes

2. Distribute Tracking My Time (page 83), and discuss how you’d like students to track their time for the week. Tell students to round to the nearest 15-minute time block for each activity. Make sure students know the definitions of each of the following information sources:

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Activity 12

What Do You Do? (cont.) Talk About It! ➜ Have students talk with younger peers about how they spend their time. Encourage thoughtful discussions of what technology they use and help students realize they always have a choice about how they spend their time.

Extension

Analyzing Information

➜ Have students decide on one change to make in their technology use and implement it for a week. Have them track their time again and compare what they discover between the new week and the previously tracked week.

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Activity 12

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Tracking My Time Directions: For one week, track how long you spend with each of the following sources of information. Put a tally mark for every 15 minutes you spend on each activity.

Day

Television

Social Media

Internet

Example

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Analyzing Information

Friday

Saturday

Total Time

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Activity 12

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Summary of How I Spend My Time Directions: After tracking your time, think about how you spend your time and respond to the following questions.

1. On which of these three information sources do you spend the most time? For what reasons do you think that is true?

____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2. Was there any data that surprised you?

If so, describe what was surprising. If not, describe how your data reflects your typical week.

____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 3. What strategies do you already use to critically think about the images you see daily?

____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Analyzing Information

____________________________________________________________

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4. Based on this information, what might you change about your technology habits?

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Activity 13

Advertisements Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students identify different kinds of advertisements on television and online, rank their effectiveness, graph the types of advertisements, and reflect on why they think certain advertisements work in different media.

1. Point out that often just less than one-third of a television show’s time slot is spent in advertisements. For the most part, online advertisements work the same way. Sometimes, however, subscribers can pay to avoid seeing advertisements. Explain that the class will be doing research into the number and kinds of advertisements on television and online shows. They will compare why advertisements are effective across these two types of media.

➜ Students will become aware of the number and kinds of advertisements on television and online. ➜ Students will form opinions on the effectiveness of advertisements across different media types.

Materials ➜ copies of Evaluating Television Advertisements (page 87; page87.pdf) ➜ copies of Evaluating Online Advertisements (page 88–89; page 88.pdf) ➜ optional: Evaluating Advertisements Example (pages 90–91; page 90.pdf)

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2. Brainstorm a list of all the types of advertisements that students see in their lives (pop-ups, banners on websites, billboards, commercials, movie trailers, print advertisements, mail flyers, and so on). 3. Review Evaluating Television Advertisements (page 87) and Evaluating Online Advertisements (pages 88–89) with students, and have students complete the forms while watching a television show and an online video of some kind. Students can watch vlogs, other YouTube videos, or stream television shows from sites such as Hulu and Netflix. 4. Review how to make bar graphs and pie charts, which students will use to convey what they learned about the kinds of commercials they saw. Remind students how to convert fractions into percentages, if appropriate. If necessary, share the Evaluating Advertisements Example (pages 90–91) with students. 5. After students have had a chance to complete the activity sheet, lead a discussion about what was learned.

➜ What percentage of time during a television show is typically spent on commercials?



➜ What information is shared through commercials?



➜ How were the advertisements online different from or the same as commercials on television?

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Analyzing Information

Learning Outcomes

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Activity 13

Advertisements (cont.) Talk About It! ➜ Advertisements are pervasive across all media sources. Have students review how companies use advertising to sell particular types of products. Do the companies use the same strategies on all media types? If not, what changes online versus print versus television?

Extension

Analyzing Information

➜ Ask students to pick particular categories of products— cars, breakfast cereal, or cosmetics—and watch television for advertisements specifically from those categories over time, making notes about the effectiveness and popularity of the topics.

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Activity 13

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Evaluating Television Advertisements Directions: Watch a television show. Complete this activity sheet about the advertisements you see.

1. Title and date you watched the television show: __________________________ 2. Device you used: __________________________________________________ 3. Tally of total number of advertisements: ________________________________ 4. List up to ten companies from the advertisements. ➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

5. Put the advertisements into four categories (e.g., financial, previews, cars, food). ➜

➜

➜

➜

each category. ➜

➜

➜

➜

7. On a separate sheet of paper, make a pie chart or bar graph of your findings. 8. Then, below your graph, answer this question: Which advertisement was most effective, and why?

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Analyzing Information

6. Determine the percentage of the total number of advertisements for

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Activity 13

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Evaluating Online Advertisements Directions: Watch an online video. You can watch vlogs, other YouTube videos, or stream television shows from sites such as Hulu. Complete this activity sheet about the advertisements you see.

1.

Title and date you watched the video:

2.

Device you used:

3.

Tally of total number of advertisements:

Analyzing Information

4. List up to 20 companies from the advertisements.

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➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

➜

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➜

➜

➜

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➜

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Activity 13

Student Reproducibles

Evaluating Online Advertisements (cont.)

5. List the four or five most popular categories for these advertisements (e.g., financial, previews, cars, food). ➜ ➜ ➜ ➜ ➜

6. Determine the percentage of the total number of advertisements for each of the four or five categories. ➜ ➜ ➜ ➜ ➜

7. On a separate sheet of paper, make a pie chart or bar graph of your findings. 8. Then, below your graph, answer this question: Which advertisement was most Analyzing Information

effective, and why?

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Activity 13

Student Reproducibles

Evaluating Advertisements Example Directions: Watch a television show or watch an online video. Complete this activity sheet about the advertisements you see.

1.

Title and date you watched the video: NCAA College Softball World Series, Game 1, June 5

2.

Device you used: live television

3.

Tally of total number of advertisements:

Analyzing Information

4. List up to 20 companies from the advertisements.

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➜ eBay

➜ Dodge

➜ Ford trucks

➜ Papa John«s

➜ Bank of America

➜ Dick«s Sporting Goods

➜ Verizon Wireless

➜ PNC Bank

➜ Old Spice

➜ McDonald«s

➜ Domino«s

➜ Toyota

➜ NCAA

➜ TV show: Sportscenter

➜ TV show: Game 2 of softball

➜ Wendy«s

➜ Direct TV

➜ TV show: Baseball Tonight

➜ Disney World Vacations

➜ Chevy

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Activity 13

Student Reproducibles

Evaluating Advertisements Example (cont.)

5. List the four or five most popular categories for these advertisements (e.g., financial, previews, cars, food). ➜ Vehicles ➜ Food ➜ TV Shows ➜ Financial/Shopping

6. Determine the percentage of the total number of advertisements for each of the four or five categories. ➜ Vehicles: 4/20 = 20% ➜ Food: 4/20 = 20% ➜ TV Shows: 3/20 = 15% ➜ Financial/Shopping: 6/20 = 30%

7. On a separate sheet of paper, make a pie chart or bar graph of your findings. Advertisements on ESPN TV Shows Food Vehicles

8. Then, below your graph, answer this question: Which advertisement was most effective, and why?

The McDonald«s advertisement was most effective because it was funny and because I«m hungry.

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Analyzing Information

Financial/Shopping

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Chapter 5

Organizing Information

Images are powerful. Indeed, people take in most information through their eyes, and even text is a specialized form of visual information. So managing that information in pictorial or graphic form makes a lot of sense. Many students—those with strong spatial intelligence, for example—do a much better job of understanding and producing content when they can do so with images. For the purposes of this section, everything that is not straight text is referred to as an image. The term encompasses drawings, pictures, graphs, charts, storyboards, and other patterns and shapes through which information can be organized.

Graphic Organizers A form of the graphic organizer has been around since at least the 1960s. It has been argued that the oldest graphic organizer is the calendar. Graphic organizers often go by other names: concept maps, semantic maps, semantic organizers, webs, Venn diagrams, Thinking Maps, bubble maps, story maps, and more. According to James Flood, Shirley Brice Heath, and Diane Lapp, authors of Teaching Literacy Through the Communicative and Visual Arts, Volume II, organizers “make visually explicit the organizational patterns of text” (2015, 423). They are meaning-making devices and can be used at any time during the reading process—they can show students’ background knowledge prior to reading, and they can be used to organize and reflect on information as students read. When working collaboratively, teachers and students can learn from one another to extend their learning. The authors point out that because graphic organizers utilize both words and images, they benefit students with a variety of learning styles and ranges of ability.

Analyzing Information

Types of Graphic Organizers

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There are many different kinds of graphic organizers. Each type has countless variations. The important thing to keep in mind is that the visual look of the organizer itself isn't as important as the type of thinking required to organize the information. Among the most common graphic organizers are the seven examples on the following pages.

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Web—connected circles that define topics, concepts, or ideas

spatial

bodily-kinesthetic

naturalistic

interpersonal

Multiple Intelligences

musical

intrapersonal

logicalmathematical

linguistic

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Student-Centered Learning

Teacher-Centered Learning

desks in a circle or other flexible arrangement

desks lined up and/or unmovable

content generated in part by students

content generated solely by textbooks or the teacher

students become experts on topics

teacher is the only expert in the room

flexible time periods

district-mandated time periods

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ANALYZING INFORMATION

Attribute Chart—two-column chart that lists attributes for comparison; also known as a T-chart

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Venn Diagram—connected circles that provide a clear way to compare and contrast ideas or events

Dog

Cat belongs to the feline family

belongs to the canine family

have claws

purr when content can sprint, jump, and climb

are pets

bark when excited

have fur

can run long distances

walk on four legs social animal that generally prefers to be in crowds

tend to be solitary animals

Tree Chart—interconnected chart that allows for classifying or categorizing of information Me

Mom

ANALYZING INFORMATION

Grammy

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Sierra

Dad

Poppa

Grams

Grandpa

Sequence Chart—connected ideas that show a sequence of events

1. A seed is planted.

2. A small plant starts to grow.

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3. A tree reaches to the sky.

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Cause-and-Effect Diagram—three-part graphic with causes, the main event, and effects; shows connections among events

There was ice and snow on the roads for days.

It was very cold. It snowed 12 inches in four hours. There was 100% precipitation.

I made a huge snowman!

Main Ideas and Details Chart—two-part graphic with main idea and details; illustrates hierarchical relationship between concepts

Hamilton reached thousands of people who had never wanted to see plays on Broadway before.

His innovative use of rhythm, rhyme, and humor made the songs from the play incredibly popular.

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ANALYZING INFORMATION

He cast people in roles without focusing on gender or race and had a very diverse cast.

Lin-Manuel Miranda changed Broadway forever with Hamilton .

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Create Your Own Graphic Organizers One of the pioneering software programs to help students and teachers create graphic organizers is called Inspiration® (www.inspiration.com). For younger students, the company also makes Kidspiration®. In these programs, users are given many collections of shapes and pictures with which they can generate a wide range of pictorial layouts of information. The program also translates these layouts into outline form, if desired. And the layouts can be inserted into word-processing programs, such as Microsoft Word®. Another option for teachers and students who want to create their own graphic organizers is Creately (creately.com/Free-K12-Education-Templates). This site has over 40 types of diagrams and 1,000 templates to choose from—including traditional ones, such as Venn diagrams and K-W-L charts, as well as modern organizers, such as website mockups. You can also draw free form to create your own organizers. The site includes different shapes and text features, so you can create designs to fit your various purposes. There are others sites that are free or partially free, as well. The following sites allow you to experiment and create your own graphic organizers:

C reating G r aphic O rganizers Website Name

Website Address

Graphic Organizer Maker

graphicorganizer.net

Mind42

mind42.com

Mindmup

www.mindmup.com

Mindomo

www.mindomo.com

Popplet

popplet.com

StoryboardThat

www.storyboardthat.com

teAchnology

www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/graphic_org/

ANALYZING INFORMATION

Teaching with Graphic Organizers

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In traditional schools, students most often encounter letters and numbers. While it is important that all students read, write, and learn mathematics, it’s important to remember that people actually have at least eight different intelligences according to Howard Gardner (2017). (See the chart on pages 18–19 for more information). Adding visual or graphical ways for students to learn material supports the possibility for intelligences other than linguistic and logicalmathematical to come into play and increases opportunities for learning. In addition to reaching different types of learners, graphic organizers have tremendous potential as a teaching tool. In “Implications of Graphic Organizers in an Age of Social Media,” Michael Record (2015) recounts the benefits of using graphic organizers. They have helped math students read and understand word problems, they have helped students transfer knowledge from working memory into long-term memory, and they have helped improve the academic performance of students with learning disabilities. He reminds teachers that the most 51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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pronounced benefit of graphic organizers is that they allow students to work out relationships between concepts by situating the new knowledge into their existing background knowledge, thus scaffolding their learning. If educators are mindful of this strength, then they can shy away from using organizers as tools that simply organize facts and encourage rote memorization. Rather, teachers can capitalize on the graphic organizer as a constructivist approach to instruction. Record says, “Constructivism makes sense because students are human beings and what human beings naturally do is try to make meaning out of the world around them” (2015). As opposed to filling in a graphic organizer with “right or wrong” answers, students can make sense of information they read and view online or elsewhere for deeper learning. Beyond individual use, Record points out that graphic organizers can be used in groups to record thoughts and make sense of information. They can also show how students learn information. In this sense, graphic organizers allow students to grapple with information and make meaning, and the organizers become learner-centered tools. To prepare students for organizing information in meaningful ways, the following activities provide some practice: ➜ Activity 14: Graphic Organizers

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➜ Activity 15: Storyboards

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Activity 14

Graphic Organizers Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students use three different graphic organizers to plan a project, conduct research, and present their findings. Before beginning this lesson, you may want to visit one or more of the websites listed in this chapter to acquaint yourself and students with the myriad of organizers they can use.

1. Work with the class to determine a topic for them to focus on for a brief research project. Students can choose individual topics, or you can determine one class topic.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will learn about a variety of graphic organizers. ➜ Students will use graphic organizers to plan their research for projects.

Analyzing Information

➜ Students will increase their understandings of developing good questions through using graphic organizers.

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2. Suggest that students create K-W-H-L charts to begin. There, they can write strong questions to focus on for the project. For each graphic organizer, students can draw the graphic or use a website or app to create it. 3. After the initial questions are written, have students begin researching their topics. They should determine at least one graphic organizer to use for taking notes on the topic. For example, students might use a web to define key components or terms related to the topic. Other students might complete attribute charts with compare/contrast information about their topic. Further, other students might create tree charts to establish relationships connected to their topic. The research and graphic organizer creation should take no more than one class period or homework assignment. This is not meant to be an intensive research project.

Materials

4. Tell each student they need to determine a different graphic organizer through which to present what they learned. They can create their own or use one of the organizers described in this chapter.

➜ connection to graphic organizer website, software, or app or materials for students to create their own paper versions of graphic organizers

5. Have students share their planned organizers with partners, who will provide feedback on how well the information is being presented. Then, allow time for students to make changes and create final versions of their presentation organizers. 6. After everyone has had a chance to develop their graphic organizers and share their projects, talk about the benefits and drawbacks of using graphic organizers rather than simply writing notes and presentations for a project.

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Activity 14

Graphic Organizers (cont.) Talk About It! ➜ As students become more familiar with graphic organizers both on and off the computer, continue discussions about when to use them and for what purposes. Helping students realize which techniques and tools they find successful for learning is a continual process.

Extension ➜ Challenge students to present the same information in three different graphic organizers. Then, have them answer this question: How does the type of graphic organizer affect someone’s understanding of information?

Hamilton reached thousands of people.

Lin-Manuel Miranda changed Broadway forever with Hamilton .

His songs from the play are incredibly popular.

1. A seed is planted.

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2. A small plant starts to grow.

3. A tree reaches to the sky.

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Analyzing Information

He cast people in roles without focusing on gender or race.

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Activity 15

Storyboards Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students will create illustrated storyboards as a prewriting exercise. Filmmakers preparing to shoot a movie use storyboards. Using a storyboard helps students organize their thinking, plan out writing or projects, and see how the parts of a multimedia project fit together.

1. Introduce the idea of storyboards to students and discuss what they’re used for. If possible, share storyboards from recent movies students might know. (Typically, these can be found through Internet searches.) Brainstorm with students who might use this graphic organizer (e.g., filmmakers, cartoonists, authors, and illustrators).

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will create illustrated storyboards for a writing assignment.

Materials

Analyzing Information

➜ connection to storyboard-creating website, software, or app or materials for students to create their own paper versions of storyboards

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2. Tell students they have to write fictional stories on any topics they want. The stories will need to be illustrated. The story topics can be of their own choosing or directly related to a language arts or social studies topic that the class is studying. 3. If you’d like, have students use one of the graphic organizer websites to create their storyboards electronically. StoryboardThat has an easy-to-use template (www.storyboardthat.com/storyboardcreator). MindMup also has one that students can use (www.mindmup.com/tutorials/storyboard.html). There is also an app called StoryKit that may work for students. Alternatively, you can have students create their storyboards by hand using index cards.

➜ colored markers

4. Whether you use a website or notecards, you can follow these basic steps:

➜ construction paper



➜ Instruct students to outline their stories on cards, putting different parts of the story on each card. This can serve as the prewriting exercise, and students have the benefit of being able to move the cards around to see if different sequences of the story flow better than others.



➜ Students should sketch the illustrations they want to include in their stories and intersperse those with their written plans.



➜ When they have a final plan for how the text will flow in relation to the illustrations, they can glue their text cards and sketches in order on construction paper. Have them number the components so the plan and order are clear. This is a rough draft of their final storyboard.



➜ Have students use their outline cards to write their stories. Tell them to write about two pages of text. Have students work with partners to edit and revise their stories. Then, allow time for students to type their final drafts.

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Activity 15

Storyboards (cont.) Procedure (cont.)

➜ When the stories are ready, have students use their sketches to draw final illustrations on unlined note cards.



➜ Have students cut apart their text so that paragraphs or sections of the story are separate from each other. Then, tell them to put their story and illustrations in order as a plan for how they would film a video of their story.



➜ Have students work with partners to check the layout and flow of their stories and illustrations.



➜ Allow time for students to mount their storyboards on construction paper.



➜ After the students share their stories with the class, you may want to display them in the hallway. You can have students share their stories with younger students, or make a book of the storyboards for the classroom.

Talk About It! ➜ After working through this process, have students talk about how this process helped them write more creative stories. While they worked, did they envision their stories on the big screen?

Extension

Analyzing Information

➜ Have students work in small groups to choose, prepare, and create videos of one of their storyboards. Share the videos with the class.

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Chapter 6

Civic Online Reasoning

Analyzing Student Reasoning In 2016, Sam Wineburg and the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) released a report entitled, “Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning.” Between January 2015 and June 2016, SHEG prototyped, field tested, and validated a bank of assessments directed to learning about young people’s civic online reasoning—the ability to judge the credibility of information coming through computer screens, smartphones, and tablets. Their findings were dismal. While the researchers found that young people can multitask easily among various social media applications and websites, they were “easily duped” when it came to evaluating the information that came through their social media feeds. In every case and at every level, the authors were surprised by students’ lack of preparation. For the study, the researchers designed, piloted, and validated 15 assessments to measure a level of performance they hoped was reasonable for middle school, high school, and college students. They developed five assessments at each level. Some of the exercises include the following activities: Middle School ➜ determining which tweets are most trustworthy ➜ explaining why a sponsored post might not be reliable ➜ identifying advertisements on a news website

Analyzing Information

High School

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➜ considering the strength of evidence that two users present in a social media exchange ➜ deciding whether to trust a photograph posted on a photo-sharing website ➜ determining whether a news story or a sponsored post is more reliable College ➜ verifying a claim about a controversial topic ➜ identifying strengths and weaknesses of an online video ➜ explaining why a tweet might or might not be a useful source of information

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The authors include actual exercises and sample evaluations in their Executive Summary of the study (sheg.stanford.edu/upload/V3LessonPlans/Executive%20Summary%2011.21.16.pdf). These can be shared with your students to see how they compare to other students around the country. If you want more information, Wineburg often uses Twitter (@samwineburg) to share research and information on how to better prepare students to be effective digital citizens through improved media literacy. The SHEG researchers describe how only nine percent of high school students in an Advanced Placement history course could see through a lobbyist’s language, and only seven percent of college students recognized the bias. While a simple Google search would have exposed the lobby group for what it was, the authors stated, “most students never moved beyond the site itself” (Wineburg et al. 2016, 5). Wineburg and his team worry that democracy is threatened by how easily misinformation about civic issues is allowed to spread. Clearly, students need guidance in navigating today’s digital information highway. Coincidentally, also in 2016, Melissa Zimdars, a professor at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, compiled a list of “False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical ‘News’ Sources.” This list grew out of an exercise for her students, who were having trouble determining the credibility of sources coming through their social media sites. She categorized websites with labels such as: Fake News, Satire, Extreme Bias, Junk Science, and Hate News. The fact that professors in college are creating documents like this supports SHEG’s findings about young people today and their inabilities to think critically while online. Johns Hopkins University is also working to “improving civic discourse and engagement.” Experts there are working to change how people interact and make decisions. They are looking to help people be more open to different perspectives in the world around them (Larimer 2017).

Evaluating News Information

Sometimes that isn’t easy for students. Luckily, there are reputable sources that exist to help students evaluate online information and guide students in how to critically analyze what they’re reading. These sites have become very important for people today who are trying to figure out what is real and what is fake. A good three-minute video to introduce fake news to students is available from FactCheck.org and available through YouTube (youtu.be/AkwWcHekMdo). The resources listed in the chart on page 104 are available to help you and your students determine the reliability of online information as well as strengthen your own online reasoning skills. Keep in mind, though, that sometimes students still can’t get an answer somewhere else. At that point, they need to think critically and use what they know to be information literate.

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To be information literate, students need to be able to differentiate between news, entertainment, opinions, and advertising. They must be able to separate fact from fiction! They need to find information efficiently and effectively, evaluate information critically and competently, and use information accurately and creatively. They should always think, question, and pay attention—particularly to who is telling the story. Now, more than ever, “schools must teach students to become critical consumers of the information they find online” (Pierce 2017).

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Website Fact C heckers Website Name

Description

Website Address

B.S. Detector

This browser extension is powered by OpenSources. It searches all links on a given website for references to unreliable sources using OpenSources’s database.

bsdetector.tech

FactCheck.org

The mission of this website is to “reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.”

www.factcheck.org

OpenSources

The mission of this website is to “empower people to find reliable information online.”

www.opensources.co

Politifact

This website “rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics.”

www.politifact.com

Snopes

This website is “the oldest and largest fact-checking site on the Internet.”

www.snopes.com

ANALYZING INFORMATION

Traditionally, students have gone to libraries for help in finding information, and libraries remain valuable today. Libraries have always been the repository of information within a school or community where students, teachers, and community members can find what they need on every imaginable topic. All the resources in a library have been carefully selected for their value to the school or community. Librarians are trained to evaluate information and make selections based on tried-and-true criteria. They are the go-to source in this arena.

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By working closely with school, public, and online librarians and libraries, teachers can further all areas of literacy, help students develop important critical-thinking skills, and encourage lifelong learning and curiosity. One valuable piece of information to note is that the same criteria that librarians use to evaluate books for inclusion in a library apply across all media. While the terms used vary, the five criteria—currency, relevance, authorship, accuracy, and purpose—cover the field. To provide further insight, two educational librarians, Kathy Schrock and Mary Broussard, share their advice and knowledge on information literacy.

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Determining Validity and Practicing Ethical Behavior Kathy Schrock is well known in the education world for her educational technology expertise and innovative and useful websites, including Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything (www.schrockguide.net). She has been a district director of technology, an instructional technology specialist, and a public, university, and school librarian. She is currently an educational technologist and an adjunct university instructor.

Question:

As a former media specialist, what do you consider the most important skills teachers and students can develop to deal with the overwhelming amount of information available today?

Schrock:

First, teachers and students must be able to define their information needs by preplanning and identifying what they are actually searching for. Next, they need to be able to search effectively, eliminating unnecessary information as they hone in on their stated goals. Examining how others view the information discovered is another skill. Backward searching and citations to good information from trusted experts in the field can go a long way in determining the authority of the creator and the validity of the information. The users then need to be able to critically evaluate the information they find and either utilize it, search yet again, or perhaps even redefine their information need. Finally, teachers and students alike need to recognize [that] intellectual property is not in the public domain and learn to cite all information from any source they use, including interviews, websites, books, images, music, blogs, Twitter, Facebook posts, and any other online or off-line sources. Think, plan, search, evaluate, use, and credit.

Question:

What hints and tips do you have for students to help them evaluate information from different media?

Schrock:

Students need to apply a critical eye to all information they find. For example, learning about the techniques of video production can help them understand the editing and cutting that goes on during television interview shows to “sway” the audience with sound bites and cutaways. Studying the aspects considered in the advertising field (audience, market, etc.) can allow students to understand marketing ploys in print and in the media. Taking a look at websites and news articles that provide two different sides to a topic can prompt students into learning more about a topic in order to dispel the biases that may be inherent in these sites. Looking at “before and after” photographs and practicing with image-editing software can bring home the point to students that even photos can’t be trusted in the digital age.

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ANALYZING INFORMATION

Here, Schrock shares her thoughts on how individuals can both determine validity of information and practice ethical behavior when dealing with the intellectual property of others (personal communication).

105

ANALYZING INFORMATION 106

Question:

What would help students think more critically about the sites they come across on the Internet?

Schrock:

There are two ways to have students understand that information on the Internet needs to be looked at with a critical eye. The first is to show them various bogus sites, such as Feline Reactions to Bearded Men or Dihydrogen Monoxide FAQ and have them use an evaluation form to look at the various aspects of the site. Although the sites might meet all the criteria for an “acceptable” site, once students are told the information is totally untrue, they begin to speculate on the merits of validating all information they find on the Internet.



The second method to have students think more critically about sites they come across on the Internet is to teach critical evaluation of websites as a process skill. With repeated practice evaluating all sites they are using for a project by completing a formal critical evaluation form, students will, after a time, internalize the questions they need to ask themselves when examining information. This internalized skill will be helpful in all areas of their life— from e-purchasing to e-zines to e-research.

Question:

What are the most important aspects of information/media literacy?

Schrock:

I think the most important aspect of digital literacy is the intellectual property issue. With the huge amount of information available, it is possible to “borrow” work from others without ever getting found out. The understanding that free information is at risk if credit to the originator is not given is important for both teachers and students to internalize. Attention to the U.S. Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines drives home the point to the school community that all information is not able to be used for all purposes. Studying the economic ramifications of illegal distribution of copyrighted materials should become a part of every business and technology class in middle and high school, and the ethics of such actions should be considered as well. The Creative Commons project has also been a great help to students, since permissions for use are specifically outlined based on the licenses the originators have chosen to apply to their work. Each of the major search engines now allow students to search for items that are Creative Commons licensed. If items are not Creative Commons licensed, or students want to use a resource in a different way, it is easy to contact the creator and ask permission. Usually people say yes and are very pleased to have been asked!

Question:

What are some specific things teachers and students can do to promote information/media literacy?

Schrock:

A key question to ask all the time is, “What did they leave out?” When I was in library school, I was amazed to learn about how much editing can take place for a television show production company to get the exact sound bite, for example. A lot of teachers and students don’t realize something has been left out. One way to make sure you are getting good information is to look at other sites, other videos, and other materials on the same subject, and compare what you find from multiple sources. Then, you can ask yourself why something in particular didn’t show up in one source but can be found in others.

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Why didn’t it show up on each site? This gets to the idea of authority: who produced the information, why did they choose to include the material they did, and what are they trying to do?

Image editing is another obvious example. We’ve all seen pictures online where heads have been placed on other people’s bodies. It’s easy to edit images— and it’s important to question whether or not you can trust the images you’re seeing. The more you look and compare and question, the better you can trust that you know enough about a topic to make a wise decision about the sources you are using.



Finally, it all comes down to modeling. Teachers need to understand the importance of all these processes and model them for students. If not, the students will never get it. Think, plan, search, evaluate, use, credit—that might seem like a lot of steps, but each one is critical. They fit together to complete an important process, and taken together, they make up the skills we all need in order to be fully functioning, responsible users and creators of information.

Kathy Schrock can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter at @kathyschrock. The following information is referenced in Schrock’s interview: ➜ Feline Reactions to Bearded Men www.improbable.com/airchives/classical/cat/cat.html ➜ Dihydrogen Monoxide FAQ www.dhmo.org/facts.html ➜ Schrock provides evaluations for teacher use at her website. www.schrockguide.net/critical-evaluation.html ➜ U.S. Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines www.copyright.gov ➜ Creative Commons creativecommons.org As noted in Chapter 2, you can complete a reverse-image search to help you determine if the image on a site was around before or is used elsewhere. Sometimes a fake news site will repurpose an older photograph to change its meaning or to try to lend credence to its story.

Mary Broussard is a librarian at Lycoming College in Pennsylvania. She works with college professors and students to understand information literacy and has received several awards and honors for her work with digital games. Here, she shares her thoughts on some of the informational issues facing individuals today (personal communication). Question:

What ideas do you have to help students think critically about what they are reading?

Broussard:

I’ve been spending a lot of time researching reading comprehension, but it is a slow process to incorporate what I have learned into my teaching practice. Educators teach reading in elementary school, and we need to give students support as they get older with texts they have never seen before.

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ANALYZING INFORMATION

Information Literacy Issues Today

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Librarians tend to spend a lot of their time with students on finding information but much less on other parts of the research process. I’ve been trying to get beyond that. I’ve worked with a psychology class where we spend a lot of time reading an article, getting them to mark it all up, and trying to get them to synthesize that with what they know and with future articles. We have to teach reading in order to teach evaluation. Question:

What are some different types of information students can be presented with online?

Broussard:

People still come to the library for library resources, such as books and journal articles. But there are many good information resources freely available online: ➜ News is a really important one. If you want the most up-to-date information, that is online. On social media, there are usually little bits of information and rumors that you can follow to see what is happening as the story is happening. 24/7 news channels also sometimes create time lines of events as they're happening, but they are fragmented and unconfirmed. Then there’s the more legitimate news once the journalists have time to write stories with confirmed information from reliable sources. ➜ Reviews—crowd-sourced information provides multiple perspectives for a larger understanding ➜ Government documents ➜ Archival information, such as what is housed at the Library of Congress and the National Archives

ANALYZING INFORMATION

➜ Museums for looking at images and artifacts

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Question:

How should students evaluate websites for accuracy?

Broussard:

I try to explain how I do this, and I model it. I’ll go over a website and talk out loud over how I would do this. I generally give them a few websites or I give them a chart. Generally, there are five criteria: currency, relevance, accuracy, authorship, and purpose. I have them write in the boxes for how well the website meets each criteria.

Question:

Do you agree that one of the valuable pieces of information to note is that the same criteria that librarians use to evaluate books for inclusion in a library apply across all media?

Broussard:

Kind of. I think how librarians collect for the collection is different from how a user selects information for themselves. I’ve been really conscious about what I select for my own research. Librarians select resources knowing that we’ll never end up needing that book ourselves. This is very different from a user looking up on a catalog and knowing, “this is going to help me write my paper.” In some ways it’s the same, and in some ways it’s different. It’s still generally the same method [currency, relevance, accuracy, authorship, and purpose], but the librarians are doing that superficially and a good researcher will be doing that a lot more in depth. Those five things need to be added to what is the researcher’s own purpose for reading a source, which is missing from what librarians are doing when collecting.

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Question:

Can you describe your website evaluation method?

Broussard:

The [evaluation method] is a necessary evil. They are really useful criteria, but I don’t want students to think evaluation is about a checklist. It’s a useful framework for asking reflective questions. The questions usually don’t have clear-cut answers. For example, the reading of Mein Kampf may have a purpose even if the information isn’t considered accurate. The researcher’s information need could still have a place for it, such as who Hitler was, and include it in a report on the Holocaust. No matter what the assignment criteria, students need to ask themselves reflective questions, such as, “Who was this meant for, and how does that fit with what I’m doing?” For a psychology class, I have students look at many different government websites. The documents from the Library of Congress, the Department of State, the CDC, and the FDA are very different. Their agendas are each different, so these reflective questions are a more gradual, reflective exercise than a checklist method would allow.



I created an interactive tutorial that provides an overview of the method [known as the CRAAP method], and here is a brief explanation of the criteria: ➜ Currency—Check the site for clues as to whether or not it’s timely and updated. How important is currency to your topic? ➜ Relevance—Does the source answer your research question? Who is the intended audience of the website? ➜ Accuracy—Compare the information to what you know and what else is available at other information sources. ➜ Authorship—Who is the author or sponsor? What do they stand for, and what is their agenda?

Question:

Do you know of any resources teachers or students can use to help them determine if a site is biased or presents fake news?

Broussard:

Snopes.com is not 100%, but it can be a good resource. Personally I’m trying to stick to the more trusted news sites, but even they have gotten some things wrong. I recommend triangulation—if you find the information somewhere, is it published elsewhere? Even something such as HuffPost is generally reliable, but if something seems off, go find it in other resources, particularly ones that have solid reputations. Politifact also has a good reputation.

Question:

What sites do you trust most? Least?

Broussard:

For news, I trust—the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, and The Wall Street Journal. Least? Most of the Internet! There are some satire sites like Andy Borowitz’s The Borowitz Report and The Onion. They make it clear that “This is not real news.” I often use The Onion as an example of fake news for entertainment. This is not the same as someone sharing fake news to intentionally mislead; if someone is interviewing God, a red flag should go up. So many of the fake news sites stay small, so you can’t warn students about them.

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51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

ANALYZING INFORMATION

➜ Purpose—Is the author’s agenda compatible with what you want to do with the information?

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Question:

Where do you think this issue is going in the future?

Broussard:

It’s tied up in technology that encourages us to live in our bubbles. Social media and Google push what we already believe in rather than challenge us. It’s tied to technology, and American politics is in chaos, which fuels fake news. Since I’ve become a librarian, students flocked to Google because it seems easy. Educators ask students to read sources that are above their heads; students have often never seen a scholarly article before and such texts were not written with students as the intended audience, so overwhelmed students may fall back on source types that are more familiar. Students often read these sites without evaluating them.



There’s always going to be a need for evaluation. Fake news seems more of a problem than it was two years ago. Fake news is having a really big influence on the real world right now—how people are voting and making life decisions. It’s bigger than it has been. I don’t see it going away. Fake news is affecting our lives in real ways.

Question:

Is there anything else that you want K–12 teachers to know?

Broussard:

When I was doing research on evaluation from a rhetorical perspective, I found two ideal models. The first was analyzing how purpose, audience, and genre fit for one’s purpose for reading. The other was investigating the ethos, logos, and pathos of a text. The ethos is the author’s credibility. The logos is the logical argument a text makes. The pathos is the emotion—what kind of emotional argument is the author making. In ancient Greece, this was how one evaluated a speaker and it translates well in our society that values written communication. These can serve as alternative frameworks to the checklist methods for teaching students to reflect on resource evaluation.

Mary Broussard can be reached at [email protected]. The following information is referenced in Broussard’s interview: ➜ This is Broussard’s evaluation for websites. The online chart may be adapted and printed for educational purposes (drive.google.com/open?id=0BwJThIIKWefkSDRncEhRVzJzZzQ). ➜ Broussard created a tutorial for how to evaluate websites using the CRAAP method (www.lycoming.edu/library/instruction/tutorials/webevaluation/).

ANALYZING INFORMATION

➜ These websites are referenced in Broussard’s interview:

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The Borowitz Report

www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitzreport

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

www.cdc.gov

CNN

www.cnn.com

Library of Congress

www.loc.gov

National Public Radio

www.npr.org/

The New York Times

www.nytimes.com

The Onion

www.theonion.com/

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Politifact

www.politifact.com.

Snopes

www.snopes.com

U.S. Department of State

www.state.gov

U.S. Food & Drug Administration

www.fda.gov

The Wall Street Journal

www.wsj.com

The Washington Post

www.washingtonpost.com

Fighting Fake News Librarians aren’t the only people fighting fake news. The News Literacy Project (NLP) is one of several groups that have developed lessons and resources to help educators and students learn about the different types of information and how to evaluate sources (2017). As a nonpartisan national education nonprofit group, NLP works with educators and journalists to teach middle school and high school students how to sort fact from fiction in the digital age. NLP develops lesson plans and thematic modules that emphasize social media and digital platforms. In partnership with TIME For Kids, they developed a great handout for students to evaluate sources. It is similar to Mary Broussard’s website evaluation, but is more appropriate for young students. You can find it at www.timeforkids.com. Further, NLP has a great list for detecting fake news, “Ten Questions for Fake News Detection” (www.thenewsliteracyproject.org/sites/default/files/GO-TenQuestionsForFakeNewsFINAL.pdf). To learn more about NLP’s programs and platform, visit www.thenewsliteracyproject.org. When students are looking critically at websites to determine their reliability and validity, after identifying the purpose and the reason for citing a website, one or more of the website evaluation criteria (introduced by Broussard) may become more important than weighing all five equally. For example, if a student were looking at a personal blog, they will probably not expect much objectivity, deep coverage, or even accuracy. However, with a page that is being used to support a research thesis, students should be concerned with all five criteria. Students should be able to defend their decisions to use sites after having judged the importance of each criterion in a given context. To prepare students to think critically, evaluate online news sources, and fight fake news, the following activities provide some practice:

ANALYZING INFORMATION

➜ Activity 16: Snap Decisions ➜ Activity 17: If It’s On the Web, It Must Be True ➜ Activity 18: Evaluating News

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51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Activity 16

Snap Decisions Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students will review three news articles and make snap decisions about whether or not they are real or fake. With the number of news sites burgeoning online, it helps students to think about their reactions to articles. Once aware of their initial snap decisions, they can better pay attention to their own biases for or against articles and then evaluate sources for validity.

1. Introduce the idea of fake news—how some sites try to pass themselves off as news, but they really spread lies and misinformation—and how often these fake news stories play to people’s already-established beliefs. That is why people are more likely to believe them.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will read news articles. ➜ Students will make snap decisions about the articles’ validities.

Materials ➜ copies of Is it a Valid Source? (pages 113–114; page113.pdf) ➜ copies of News Article 1 (page 115; page115.pdf) ➜ copies of News Article 2 (page 116; page116.pdf)

Analyzing Information

➜ copies of News Article 3 (page 117; page117.pdf)

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2. Ask students if they have ever fallen for a fake news story. Have they ever thought a story was absolutely true when it wasn’t? If anyone has, have them share their experiences, and have them explain why they fell for the story and how they realized it was a false story. 3. Distribute copies of Is it a Valid Source? (pages 113–114). Also place copies of the three News Articles (pages 115–116) around the room for student reference. (To save paper, make as many copies as one-third of your class and have them work in groups of three, sharing the stories.) Tell students to read the three news articles and make quick decisions about the articles, recording their opinions on the activity sheet. 4. Have the students share their reactions with the class. Display each article and talk about what feels “real” and what feels “fake” to them. Model how to annotate the articles for them showing how to make notes about the details that support your assumptions about the articles. After carefully discussing and modeling critical thinking for the students, tell students that News Article 1 was partially fake news (some extra, exaggerated details were added to a real article), News Article 2 was real news, and News Article 3 was fake news.

Talk About It! ➜ Have students explore the idea of how fake and “clickbait” news appeals to people’s natural biases.

Extension ➜ Have students find copies of news articles that they believe are true. Then, in pairs, have them write their own fake news articles and format them to look like the real articles they found. Have each student take both articles home to test how well their parents can recognize the fake news.

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Activity 16

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Is it a Valid Source? Directions: Write the titles of the articles. After spending less than a minute reviewing each article, write your reactions to the article and its validity. Then, make a snap decision: Is this real news?

Article Title: _____________________________________________________ What do you notice as you review it for one minute?

Is this real news? (circle one) Yes

No

Unsure

Article Title: _____________________________________________________

Is this real news? (circle one) Yes

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No

Unsure

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Analyzing Information

What do you notice as you review it for one minute?

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Activity 16

Student Reproducibles

Is it a Valid Source? (cont.)

Article Title: _____________________________________________________ What do you notice as you review it for one minute?

Is this real news? (circle one) Yes

No

Unsure

Analyzing Information

Based on an idea from www.AuthorsandEducators.com.

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Activity 16

Student Reproducibles

News Article 1

The Writing on the Wall Vandalism. Graffiti. Street art. Whatever name you give it, writing and drawing on walls has a long tradition. Yet most people in cities fight against it rather than embrace it. Before there were words, there were pictures. Prehistoric cave paintings date back 40,000 years in Europe. The first cave painting is displayed at the British Museum in London (www.britishmuseum.org). Whether graffiti or art, that painting and others like it are the earliest proof of humans’ need to make their mark.

This image was painted on the Berlin subway in 2017.

The dawn of civilization didn’t stop the need to scrawl on a wall. Archaeological digs in Egypt, Rome, China, Japan, India, and Greece all revealed ancient graffiti. There, historians find drawings, cartoons, and words. And although thousands of years old, much of the writing seems modern. It doesn’t matter if it was carved with a stylus in ancient Rome or spray-painted on a wall in Los Angeles. With the images, you’ll find names and initials, tags, a variety of insults, and bawdy humor.

Back then, there was poetry among the vulgarity. Today, the same is true. Every piece of graffiti has meaning to everyone who sees it. Creative skill and imagination set some graffiti apart. Many people even call it art. However, this art is being created on someone else’s property without permission. It’s legitimate art made in an illegitimate manner. In 2016, 52% of graffiti images were on buildings. About 25% of the images are painted on billboards or other signs. Regardless of legality or risk, street art has gone mainstream. Many “successful” street artists show their work in galleries. They attract celebrity collectors. They even have movies made about them. Their art may be unlawful, but it’s very popular. Moreover, much of it carries a political message. So as the artists gain popularity, so do their social platforms. Because of the increased interest, street artists have multiplied in number. There are 524,000 graffiti artists in the United States alone. And so has their graffiti. Although art in public spaces is usually considered a good thing, there’s also a downside. The artists don’t own their canvases. The city must pay someone to buff or paint over “defaced” property. So everyone pays for the removal of the graffiti. In New York City, it cost $1.2 million last year for graffiti removal. And some artists and fans become upset when work is erased without a trace. Graffiti is a fleeting art. However, against all odds, some pieces has survived many thousands of years. Perhaps some of today’s street art will survive as well.

www.artnewsstoriestoday.com

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51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Analyzing Information

By Brendan and Malia Smith

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Activity 16

Student Reproducibles

News Article 2

Mar y land Students Speak to N ASA Astronaut on Space Station

By Katherine Brown and William Jeffs

Analyzing Information

Students at Leeds Elementary School in Elkton, Maryland, spoke with a NASA astronaut living and working aboard the International Space Station at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, June 9. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call aired live on NASA Television and the agency’s website. Fischer launched to the International Space Station in April.

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Expedition 52 Flight Engineer Jack Fischer answered questions about space and his current mission written by pre-K to fifth-grade students assembled at the school. The downlink was available for simulcast in county schools so that other students were able to experience the event. Orbital ATK Missile Defense and Controls in Elkton and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Delaware were cosponsors of the event with Cecil County Maryland Public

Schools. The AIAA Delaware Section and Orbital ATK have continuously been involved with Cecil County Public Schools to expose students to NASA’s human spaceflight exploration program. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance, and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of NASA Education’s STEM on Station activity, which provides a variety of space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators. For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit: www.nasa.gov/nasatv For more information, videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station, visit: www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

www.nasa.gov

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Activity 16

Student Reproducibles

News Article 3

Can Soda Be Good for You?

You shouldn’t drink soda. It has too much sugar. It’s dehydrating. It has too many calories. You’ve probably heard these statements more than once. Studies have claimed that soda and soft drinks contain too much sugar and, when consumed in excess, can result in weight gain and health complications. But what if soda isn’t as bad as we’ve been led to believe? Is it really that harmful? Let’s take a look at some of the ways sipping on soda might be beneficial. 1. Nutritionally speaking, carbohydrates are our bodies’ main sources of energy. It’s no secret that non-diet sodas are comprised of a fair amount of sugar. And what is sugar? That’s right—it’s a carbohydrate. More specifically, sugar is a simple carbohydrate. Simple carbs are more quickly digested into the blood system, giving off short, quick bursts of energy. And let’s face it; we’ve all had days where we need a pick me up— and FAST. What’s a better way to do so than with a quick cola? Learn more about carbohydrates at healthy-kids.com.au/foodnutrition/nutrients-in-food/carbohydrates/. 2. We know that soda is made of syrups, sugars, and other ingredients. But the primary ingredient in soda is actually water.

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In fact, soda and most soft drinks are made up of between 89–99 percent water. So, even if you drink nothing but soda in a day’s time, you’re still getting between 57 and 63 percent of your recommended daily water intake! 3. Most soda is high in calories. This might initially read as a bad thing, but let’s examine this. Calories keep us full. They’re what we need to sustain ourselves. Without a full day’s worth of calories, your body will start to beg for energy. Have you ever realized how lethargic and foggy-minded you are when you haven’t eaten? Most people need somewhere between 1,500–2,000 calories each day. Drinking your calories is an easy way to make sure you hit your daily caloric needs. The average cola has about 185 calories for a 16-ounce serving. What a quick and tasty way to replenish calories! 4. Have you ever had an upset stomach and were told to drink a clear soda? That’s because the fizzy carbonation in these beverages help ease nausea. The tiny bubbles work to break down uncomfortable gases, indigestion, and bloating. It’s also been said that drinking flat soda can help alleviate sickness. The next time you’re feeling a little queasy, remember to sip on a cold soda! From being a good source of water, to helping you stick to a healthy balance of calories, soda is much more beneficial than we’ve been led to believe. So, the next time you feel like enjoying an ice-cold soda, go ahead and grab a can of your favorite fizzy drink, and enjoy it guilt free!

www.sodaisgood.com

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Analyzing Information

By Stephanie Bernard

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Activity 17

If It’s On the Web, It Must Be True Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students will find websites of interest to them and then confirm the information on the sites with two other sources. Students often think that everything on the Internet must be true. Websites usually look very professional, and the idea that they are not all created equal is not obvious.

1. Ask students to identify who can develop and post websites (everyone). Ask them to discuss ways to determine whether to trust what they see on the web.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will use a data sheet to confirm the veracity of the information. ➜ Students will identify three sources of information. ➜ Students will question the wisdom of relying on a single website for information.

Materials ➜ copies of Website Data Sheet (pages 119–120; page119.pdf) ➜ optional: Website Data Sheet Example (pages 121–122; page121.pdf)

2. Distribute and introduce the Website Data Sheet (pages 119–120) Tell students they will work in pairs to identify topics and develop questions to research on the Internet. In the example, the topic is Skateboards: Who developed them? 3. Have students record their topics and questions on their copies of the Website Data Sheet. Tell each pair of students to run their topic and question by you before proceeding online. 4. Instruct each pair of students to go online and find a good website on their topic (i.e., one they feel has strong, accurate information). Direct students to identify two other sources (e.g., book, article, person) to confirm the information they found on the website. They can use the Internet for one of the other sources but not both. 5. Have students discuss the experience of searching for details to support their chosen websites. Have students share whether their websites provided inaccurate or accurate information. 6. Ask students questions, such as the following: How difficult was it to find three different sources for the same information? How do you know who to believe? and What other questions arose after doing this research?

Analyzing Information

Talk About It!

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➜ Hold a discussion as to why some articles seem more truthful than others and how our initial reactions influence our belief in an article. Also discuss how the images affect the article—do they shape the tone, mood, or reader’s perspective?

Extension ➜ This activity can be repeated with the initial source as something other than a website (newspaper article, section of a textbook, etc.). Suggest that students find websites on the topic to see if they contain the same information as the initial source. 51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Activity 17

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Website Data Sheet Directions: Find a good website on your chosen topic. Then, identify two other sources (e.g., book, article, person) to confirm the information you found on the website. You can use the Internet for one of the other sources but not both. Original Source Topic: Question: Title and URL of website:

Information to be verified:

What about the website makes you believe the information it provides is true?

Alternate Source 1 Alternate source of information: Did Not Confirm Original Source

Support Information:

What about this source makes you believe the information it provides is true?

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51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Analyzing Information

Confirmed Original Source

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Activity 17

Student Reproducibles

Website Data Sheet (cont.) Alternate Source 2 Alternate source of information: Confirmed Original Source

Did Not Confirm Original Source

Support Information:

What about this source makes you believe the information it provides is true?

Analyzing Information

1. What questions do you have after doing this research?

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2. How do the images affect the articles?

Describe how they shape the tone, mood, or

reader’s perspective.

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Activity 17

Student Reproducibles

Website Data Sheet Example Directions: Find a good website on your chosen topic. Then, identify two other sources (e.g., book, article, person) to confirm the information you found on the website. You can use the Internet for one of the other sources but not both. Original Source Topic: Skateboards Question: Who first developed skateboards? Title and URL of website: A Brief History of Skateboarding www.thoughtco.com/brief-history-of-skateboarding-3002042 Information to be verified: This site says it can be traced to no one specific individual, but in the 1950s a number of surfers came up with the idea of surfing sidewalks at the same time. What about the website makes you believe the information it provides is true? The author, Steve Cave, is a longtime skateboarder. He writes about skateboarding for magazines. ThoughtCo. has an ÒAbout UsÓ page and a contact email. The article was updated in April 2017.

Alternate Source 1 Alternate source of information: www.britannica.com Confirmed Original Source

Did Not Confirm Original Source

Support Information: It says, Òfirst commercial skateboards appeared in 1959, but crude homemade versions of skateboards, often consisting of nothing more than old roller-skate wheels attached to a board, were first built after the turn of the 20th century.Ó What about this source makes you believe the information it provides is true? The Encyclopedia Britannica has a good reputation for accuracy.

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51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Analyzing Information

XX

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Activity 17

Student Reproducibles

Website Data Sheet Example (cont.) Alternate Source 2 Alternate source of information: my dictionary XX

Confirmed Original Source

Did Not Confirm Original Source

Support Information: This book says skateboards started around 1963 in Southern California. The word came into the dictionary in 1964. What about this source makes you believe the information it provides is true? It is another reference tool that has been put together by people with no bias or agenda.

1. What questions do you have after doing this research? I wonder if I should still believe the first source that says skateboarding started in the 1950s. I want to believe it because the author is a real person who has been a skateboarder, but I wonder if the skateboard was actually developed in the early 1900s, and then it started to grow in popularity in the 1950s, and then formally acknowledged as

Analyzing Information

a sport and therefore sports equipment in the early 1960s.

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2. How do the images affect the articles?

Describe how they shape the tone, mood, or

reader’s perspective.

There were lots of cool images of skateboards and skateboarders, such as Tony Hawk. It made me want to look at more sources.

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Activity 18

Evaluating News Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students will look at the criteria for evaluating newspapers or books and apply them to news on a website. The purpose of this activity is to help students become aware of how they can judge the usefulness of websites.

1. Introduce the students to the five criteria they will be using in this lesson to evaluate news information (as mentioned in the interview with Mary Broussard). To prevent unnecessary distractions, present the criteria in alphabetical order instead of through the acronym CRAAP:

➜ Accuracy—Compare the information to what you know and what else is out there.

Learning Outcomes



➜ Authorship—What does the author stand for? Who wrote it?

➜ Students will become familiar with the criteria for news evaluation.



➜ Currency—What are you looking for? Check the site for a clue as to whether it’s timely and updated. Are the links functional?



➜ Purpose—Is the website’s agenda or purpose compatible with what you want to do with the information?



➜ Relevance—Does the source answer the research question? Who is the intended audience? Who is the author, and what agenda do they have?

➜ Students will reflect on how these criteria might be met in their own writing.

Materials ➜ chart paper ➜ colored markers or crayons (assign one color to each criteria) ➜ copies of Five Criteria for News Evaluation (page 125; page125.pdf) ➜ optional: Five Criteria for News Evaluation Example (page 126; page126.pdf) ➜ optional: copies of Evaluating Multiple Sources (page 127; page127.pdf) ➜ optional: Make a poster of How Should You Evaluate News and Websites? (page 197; page197.pdf) to display in your classroom.

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2. Tell students that there are basically four categories of information that they encounter—news, opinion, advertising, and entertainment. Write these titles as four columns on chart paper to be displayed during the lesson. Then, brainstorm together websites that have each of these types of information. 3. Have students think about which criteria from above are most important for each kind of information (news, opinion, advertising, and entertainment). Then, allow time for students to approach the chart and make colored marks by each category. The colored marks create a visual that illustrates the most important criteria for each type of information source. For example, students would mark authorship for Opinion, but they may not feel the need to mark currency for Entertainment. 4. Distribute Five Criteria for News Evaluation (page 125). Allow time for students to visit websites to evaluate, or assign them previewed sites if you prefer. While on the websites, have students complete the activity sheet to share what they discover. If necessary, share the Five Criteria for News Evaluation Example (page 126) with students.

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Analyzing Information

➜ Students will apply the criteria to online news articles.

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Activity 18

Evaluating News (cont.) Procedure (cont.) 5. Lead a discussion on what students discovered through this activity. Students’ awareness of the five criteria will influence their reviews of other information, including their own creation of material. Being aware of the criteria and how a news article can be evaluated by using the criteria helps students understand how to judge the credibility of information they encounter, especially on the Internet.

Talk About It! ➜ Have students talk with partners about how these criteria might be met in their own writing and creation of information to share with others (either through print or online media, including social media).

Extension

Analyzing Information

➜ Have students evaluate multiple sites on a topic using Evaluating Multiple Sources (page 127). Or have them visit the Information Fluency website (21.cif.com) to use the site’s Evaluation Wizard, which helps students evaluate authors, publishers, dates, backlinks, or fact checking on websites.

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Activity 18

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Five Criteria for News Evaluation Directions: Describe how the website measures up against each of the five criteria. Title and URL of website:

Accuracy

Authorship

Currency

Purpose

Relevance

Analyzing Information

For this website, which are the two most important criteria, and why?

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51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Activity 18

Student Reproducibles

Five Criteria for News Evaluation Example Title and URL of website: Climate Change: How do we know? climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ Accuracy The information on the site is supported by the University of California at Berkeley (news. berkeley.edu/2017/01/04/global-warming-hiatus-disproved-again/) and the City of Chicago (www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/sites/climatechange/home/why/basic-information.html). Authorship Though no author is listed, it seems like NASA staff wrote it. The senior science editor is Laura Tenenbaum. There is an online form to contact her to ask questions. NASA«s mission is to explore space and aeronautics, or flight research. There are other related articles about global warming and climate change on the site. Currency I am looking for information about what is global warming and what causes it. The site was updated in May of this year, so it is current. The links are functional. Purpose The website«s purpose is to teach the general public about global warming and climate change. That«s exactly what I was looking to learn.

Analyzing Information

Relevance The source answers my question. It says that global warming is a warming of Earth«s climate that is Òextremely likely to be the result of human activity.Ó Carbon dioxide and other gases increased the levels of greenhouse gases, causing Earth to warm. The site has another page devoted to causes. I think the intended audience is educated adults.

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For this website, which are the two most important criteria, and why? For this website, currency and accuracy are the most important criteria because the information needs to be up-to-date with research and verified by other trustworthy sources.

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Activity 18

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Evaluating Multiple Sources Directions: Visit a different website for each criteria. Write the title and URL of each website you visit. Make notes on each row to respond to the questions. Topic: _________________________________________________________

Accuracy What are the original sources of the information on the site? Are you able to verify the facts on other websites?

Authorship Who is the author or sponsor of the site? What is their reputation? What’s their agenda?

Website Information: Responses:

Website Information: Responses:

Website Information:

Purpose Does the article (including the title) use biased language? Does the point of view seem to be objective?

Relevance Who is the target audience? Is it you? If you are outside the target audience, does that change how you read it?

Responses:

Website Information: Responses:

Website Information: Responses:

Source: This chart is based on work by Mary Broussard (drive.google.com/file/d/0BwJThIIKWefkSDRncEhRVzJzZzQ/view). Her online version may be adapted for educational purposes, provided credit is given to Mary Broussard. For any other use, please email [email protected]. © Shell Education

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Currency Is the website current? When was the information created? Are the links active?

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Chapter 7

Citing Online Sources

Wherever information comes from, someone created it. It’s true that ideas are free and cannot be copyrighted, but any manifestation of an idea—a book, a website, a piece of artwork—can be protected because it belongs to someone. Students will agree that if they were to find out that someone else was using their hard work regardless of whether credit was given, they might feel that they had been treated unfairly. Modeling good habits early in terms of teaching students about copyright and fair use, as well as how to properly cite where they find information, will help them tremendously on their path toward becoming critical thinkers and users and creators of information. In this chapter, some of the issues related to copyright, fair use, and citing sources are addressed with an eye toward helping students think about where information comes from, how they might use it, and the ethical considerations involved in doing so.

Key Things to Know about Copyright Copyright is a form of protection that exists from the time a work is created in fixed form. The copyright immediately becomes the property of the author. According to the United States Copyright Office, “Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of ‘original works of authorship,’ including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works.” Copyright protection is provided for both published and unpublished works, including information posted online. The “Copyright Basics” circular published by the U.S. Copyright Office (www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf) states that the owners of copyright have the right to do and to authorize any of the following: ➜ reproduce the work ➜ prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work

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➜ distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership

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➜ perform the work publicly (in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic works, motion pictures, and other audiovisual works) ➜ display the work publicly (in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic works, pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works) ➜ perform the work publicly (in the case of sound recordings) by means of digital audio transmissions Stanford University Libraries (fairuse.stanford.edu) have created an extensive website that addresses many topics relating to copyright and fair use through a number of links and online materials. The U.S. Copyright Office (www.copyright.gov) also provides information, including how to search for copyrights and how to register a copyright on your original work.

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As educators work with students, it seems safest to assume that someone owns any material students come across from any medium, and if students want to use it, they must at least cite their sources. (See later in this chapter for a fuller discussion of this topic, as well as citation guidelines.) However, there is some leeway in two areas: public domain materials and fair use in education.

Public Domain According to the U.S. Copyright Office circular, “Copyright Basics,” there are a number of things that cannot be protected by copyright. Therefore, no permission is needed for their use. The following are the examples of these public domain materials listed in the circular: ➜ works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (e.g., choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded) ➜ titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents ➜ ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, an explanation, or an illustration ➜ works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (e.g., standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources) Further, works by the U.S. government are not eligible for U.S. copyright protection. That means they are in the public domain and can be used without permission. However, students should be taught to give full citations for anything they quote or reference. Title 17, Section 105 of the U.S. Code provides that:

Public Domain Guidelines Copyright is meant to protect the creator, but at some point all copyrights expire. At that point, the work enters the public domain, and anyone can use the work without obtaining permission. A number of factors determine when a work enters the public domain. Copyright rules have changed throughout the twentieth century. With few exceptions, works created before January 1, 1923, are in the public domain because any copyright protection that the work may have had has expired. Works created from January 1, 1923–December 31, 1977, have their own set of legal rules. Works created after January 1, 1978 have an entirely different set of laws. Do you want to check if a source is in the public domain and free to use? The chart on page 130 was adapted from Cornell University’s (2017) information on copyright and addresses some of the most common time frames for work entering the public domain. © Shell Education

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Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government, … The intent of the section is to place in the public domain all work of the United States Government, which is defined in 17 U.S.C. § 101 as work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of the person’s official duties. By virtue of the foregoing, public documents can generally be reprinted without legal restriction.

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For the complete list of what is in the public domain given different publication dates and registrations, see Cornell University’s chart at their website (copyright.cornell.edu/resources/ publicdomain.cfm). Copyright rules change, so be sure to check for up-to-date information.

R ule

for

P ublic D omain Work

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Type of Work

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When Material Enters the Public Domain

Unpublished

Life of author plus 70 years

Unpublished by anonymous/ pseuodynm, works made for hire, or when the death of the author is unknown

120 years from date of creation

Published before 1923

in the public domain (copyright is expired)

Published 1923–77 without a copyright notice

in the public domain (failure to comply with formalities)

Published 1923–77 with a copyright notice

95 years after publication date

Published 1978–March 1, 1989 without notice

in the public domain (failure to comply with formalities)

Created after 1977 and published 1978–March 1, 2002 with notice or published after 2002

70 years after the death of the author; corporate authorship—95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first

Created by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person’s official duties

in the public domain

Fair Use Fair use is a legal doctrine from the nineteenth century that was codified in the 1976 Copyright Act. It allows for quoting of brief excerpts of copyrighted material under certain circumstances without the need for permission or payment to the copyright holder. It is a vague test of four factors, but there aren’t any correct answers until there is litigation. What we glean from litigation and our own sense of fairness guides us as we work through the test. The U.S. Copyright Office website includes more information about current views on fair use of copyrighted material (www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html). The copyright law contains four factors that should be seriously considered when evaluating whether something falls under fair use. The chart on page 131 includes the factors and brief descriptions of what they mean (excerpted from the U.S. Copyright Office website).

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Fair U se Factors 1. Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes—Courts look at how the party that is claiming fair use is using the copyrighted work. Nonprofit educational and noncommercial uses are more likely to be considered fair use. Therefore, students including short quotations from copyrighted sources in research papers is likely to fall under fair use. 2. Nature of the copyrighted work—This factor analyzes the degree to which the work that was used relates to copyright’s purpose of encouraging creative expression. The more creative a source is, the harder it is to claim fair use. 3. Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole—Courts look at both the quantity and quality of the copyrighted material that was used. If the use includes a large portion of the copyrighted work, fair use is less likely to be found; if the use employs only a small amount of copyrighted material, fair use is more likely. Therefore, quoting 20–25 words from a poem is much harder to claim as fair use than pulling the same length of text from a long novel.

The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Although quoting small amounts is usually more acceptable than quoting long sections of text, acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission. However, the source of any material should always be cited. It would be far worse for your students to try to avoid problems by not citing sources and hoping that you don’t notice they pulled the text from somewhere. That crosses from infringement of copyright into plagiarism. In an educational setting, it is important to introduce these four factors and make sure students understand them. The U.S. Copyright Office “Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law” (1961) cites a few examples that courts have regarded as fair use: ➜ quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment ➜ quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations ➜ use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied ➜ summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report ➜ reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy © Shell Education

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4. Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work—Courts review whether the unlicensed use harms the existing or future market for the copyright owner’s original work. In other words, will the use mean that sales of the copyrighted work may be adversely affected?

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➜ reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson ➜ reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports ➜ incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported. The U.S. Copyright office also has a searchable database called the Fair Use Index (www. copyright.gov/fair-use/fair-index.html). The goal of this page is to make the principles and application of fair use more accessible and understandable to the public. It presents court opinions on different categories, such as music, Internet/digitization, textual work, and more. Updated by the Copyright Office periodically, the Fair Use Index provides a brief summary of the facts, the relevant questions presented, and the court’s determination as to whether the contested use was fair. Copyright protects the particular way an author has expressed himself or herself; it does not extend to ideas, systems, or factual information conveyed in the work. The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. When it is impracticable to obtain permission, use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of fair use would clearly apply to the situation. The Copyright Office does not determine if a certain use may be considered “fair” nor do the employees advise on possible copyright violations.

Creative Commons A recent development in the history of copyright is Creative Commons (creativecommons.org). This nonprofit group strives to find a middle ground between those who want total control over their work and those who are totally open about their work. The middle ground can be sharing your work with some range of restrictions attached. Creative Commons (2017) lists six possible licenses. These are summarized below from the most restrictive to the least restrictive: 1. Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivatives—This means the work may be downloaded and shared with others for noncommercial purposes. However, it cannot be changed, and there must be a link and credit given to the creator.

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2. Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike—This means the work may be added to, changed, or combined with new work for noncommercial purposes. However, the new work must be credited back to the original creator, and the new license must be shared under the same terms.

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3. Attribution-Noncommercial—This means the work may be added to, changed, or combined with new work for noncommercial purposes. However, the new work must be credited back to the original creator. They do not have to license their work in the same way. 4. Attribution-No Derivatives—This means others may use your work but may not change it, and they must attribute it to you. 5. Attribution-Share Alike—This means others may take your work and change it, add to it, and so on, but they must license the new work under the same terms as you did. This is for both commercial and noncommercial use. 6. Attribution (by)—This means others may take your work and do anything they want with it as long as you are credited. 51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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By making one’s work available under a Creative Commons license, it becomes more widely accessible and remains a living thing, as the majority of the Creative Commons licenses allow others to build upon the original work. The vitality inherent in these licenses acknowledges the original intent of the Internet as a place where sharing and learning take place. Everyone wins when people share their work and build on the work of others. The National Council of Teachers of English adopted a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. To see the guideline that pertains especially to educators, go to www.ncte.org/positions/statements/fairusemedialiteracy. Educators can also ask librarians questions about copyright at the American Library Association’s Copyright Advisory Network (www.librarycopyright.net).

Copyright and Fair Use for Educators Two other helpful resources are the Educator’s Guide to Copyright and Fair Use and its accompanying quiz. These were originally created by Hall Davidson, the director of Global Learning Initiatives at Discovery Education (www.discoveryeducation.com), and they are updated here with permission.

The Educator’s Guide to Copyright and Fair Use By Hall Davidson This is the way it happens: You’re a teacher. You find the perfect resource for a lesson you’re building for your class. It’s a picture from the Internet, or a piece of a song, or a page or two from a book in the library. There’s no time to ask for permission from who owns it. There isn’t even time to figure who or what exactly does own it. You use the resource anyway, and then you worry. Have you violated copyright law? What kind of example are you setting for students? Another way it happens: You’re the principal. You visit a classroom and see an outstanding lesson that involves video, an audio file from the web, or photocopies from a book you know your school doesn’t own. Do you make a comment?

Were the framers of the Constitution or the barons of old English law able to look over your shoulder, they would be puzzled by your doubts because all of the above uses are legal. Intellectual property was created to promote the public good. In old England, if you wanted to copyright a book, you gave copies to the universities. According to retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, “The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors ... but encourage others to build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by a work.” In other words, copyright was created to benefit society at large, not to protect commercial interests. Nowhere is this statement truer than in the educational arena. In fact, educators fall under a special category under the law known as “fair use.” The concept, which first formally appeared in the 1976 Copyright Act, allows certain groups to use intellectual property

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The Original Intent

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deemed to benefit society as a whole (e.g., in schools for instructional use). However, it deliberately did not spell out the details. Over the years, fair use guidelines have been created by a number of groups—usually a combination of educators, intellectual-property holders, and other interested parties. These are not actual laws but widely accepted “deals” the educational community and companies have struck and expect each other to follow. What followed was a new version of “The Educators’ Lean and Mean No FAT Guide to Fair Use,” first published in Technology & Learning magazine. No matter the technology—photocopying, downloading, file sharing, or video duplication and embedding—there are times when copying is not only acceptable, it is encouraged for the purposes of teaching and learning. The rights are strongest and longest at the place where educators need them most: in the classroom. However, schools need to monitor and enforce fair use. If they don’t, as many districts have found, they may find themselves on the losing end of a copyright question. Know Your Limitations—and Rights It has never been a more important time to know the rules. In addition to helping schools steer clear of legal trouble, understanding the principles of fair use will allow educators to aggressively pursue new areas where technology and learning are ahead of the law, and to speak out when they feel their rights to copyright material have been violated. Now, take The Copyright Quiz (pages 135–138) to assess your knowledge of what is allowable—and what isn’t—under fair use copyright principles and guidelines. Good luck! See Davidson’s website (www.halldavidson.org) for more materials and information.

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Note: The Copyright Quiz (pages 135–138) does not substitute for legal council. Remember that fair use is a vague test of four factors, but there aren’t any correct answers until there is litigation. What you glean from past litigation and your own sense of fairness guides you as you work through the quiz. The scenarios provided are for informational purposes only, and the answers are opinions based on reading about the law and researching past cases. The quiz was checked by and discussed with Glen Warren, Encinitas Union School District, Director of Literacies, Outreach, and Libraries.

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Teacher Activity 1

The Copyright Quiz Part I: Classroom Use for Teachers Directions: Answer true or false to each of the following scenarios.

True False 1. A teacher’s friend makes a funny comment on Twitter. Since it is

posted publicly, the teacher can share that comment in a lesson on humor without permission, provided he cites the source.

True False 2. A middle school science class studying ocean ecosystems must

gather material for multimedia projects. The teacher downloads pictures and information on marine life from various commercial and noncommercial sites to store in a digital folder for students to access. This is fair use.

True False 3. A teacher makes a compilation of movie clips from various sites to use in his classroom as lesson starters. This is covered under fair use.

True False 4. A social studies teacher has single license for a daily news app. He

uses a projector, so each student can view the news. This is fair use.

True False 5. A teacher finds a free article on the New York Times website that she would like to use in her debate class. It is permissible under fair use for her to print 30 copies of the article for all her students.

True False 6. A teacher wants to use several songs in a lesson, all of which he owns on CDs. To save precious classroom time, he uploads them onto his computer and creates a playlist. This is permissible.

True False 7. A teacher gets clip art and music from popular file-sharing sites,

creates a lesson plan, and posts it on the school website to share with other teachers. This is permissible. editing service, but the school does not. It would be perfect for one student’s project on narwhales. The teacher shares his iPad with the student, so she can create her file. It is permissible for the teacher to do this.

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True False 8. A teacher has a personal subscription to a graphic design and video

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Teacher Activity 1

The Copyright Quiz (cont.) Part II: Classroom Use for Students Directions: Answer true or false to each of the following scenarios.

True False 1. A student film buff downloads a new release from a Taiwanese website to use for a humanities project. As long as the student gives credit to the site from which he downloaded material, this is covered under fair use.

True False 2. A teacher downloads an episode of Frontier House, a PBS reality show

that profiled three modern families living as homesteaders from the 1880s. In class, students use a green screen to edit themselves “into” the frontier and make fun of the spoiled family from California. This is fair use.

True False 3. A student finds the shower scene from Psycho on YouTube. She embeds it into a “History of Horror” report. This is fair use.

True False 4. A number of students take digital pictures of local streets and

businesses for their Internet-based projects. These are permissible to post online.

True False 5. A student wants to play a clip of music to represent her family’s country of origin. She finds an audio file online. It is fair use for the student to copy and use the music in her project.

True False 6. A student wants to create an image for Earth Day, but she is not good at

traditional drawing and painting. It is permissible for her to download a photo from National Geographic and create a meme with it.

True False 7. A student finds images on Instagram that she’d like to use to illustrate her story. It is fair use for her to take screen shots and edit them to include in her story that she turns in for a grade.

True False 8. A high school video class produces an online yearbook that includes the

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year’s top 10 music hits as background music. This is fair use.

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Teacher Activity 1

The Copyright Quiz (cont.) Part III. School Use Directions: Answer true or false to each of the following scenarios.

True False 1. The state mandates technology proficiency for all high school students but adds no money to schools’ software budgets. To ensure equity, public schools are allowed to buy what software they can afford and copy the rest.

True False 2. An elementary school designs a password-protected website for families and faculty only. It’s okay for teachers to post student work on the site.

True False 3. A history class videotapes a Holocaust survivor who lives in the

community. The students digitally compress the interview and, with the interviewee’s permission, post it on the Internet. Another school discovers the interview online and uses it in a classroom project. This is fair use.

True False 4. On back-to-school night, an elementary school offers childcare for

students’ younger siblings. They put the kids in the library and show them a Disney movie through a streaming service. This is permissible.

True False 5. A technology coordinator downloads audio clips from a subscription

website, Audioblocks, to integrate into a curriculum project to show the faculty during a professional development. This is fair use.

True False 6. A high school football coach creates a compilation of the team’s

achievements from the season and embeds “The Eye of the Tiger” in the background for effect. She uploads the video to YouTube and sets the view to “private,” so only the people who have the link can view it. This is acceptable.

True False 7. Last year, a school’s science fair multimedia presentation was so popular

True False 8. The school PTA wants to engage all the parents in the fundraiser this

year. So the PTA president finds an animated clip from a commercial site, edits it by adding a witty comment at the bottom, and posts it on the PTA’s social media pages to draw attention. This is acceptable.

True False 9. A principal wants to compile lesson plans and resources from her

teachers and share them with the school. One teacher refuses, saying he owns the copyright on his work and does not need to share them. Unless the school has a copyright policy clearly stating otherwise, the teacher is correct.

True False 10. A school posts a student paper on its website that includes several plagiarized passages. The school is protected under fair use.

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that everyone wanted to see it. Everything in it was copied under fair use guidelines. It’s permissible for the school to post the presentation on the school website and have people view it online.

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Teacher Activity 1

The Copyright Quiz (cont.) Part IV: Use Outside of School Directions: Answer true or false to each of the following scenarios.

True False 1. A teacher creates a literature guide for Christopher Paul Curtis’s Bud, Not

Buddy. She includes short excerpts for students to interpret and includes the cover image on her guide. In addition to sharing it with her students, she decides to sell it on Teachers Pay Teachers. This is fair use.

True False 2. A teacher creates a blog that describes his successes with various

teaching strategies. One of his students writes a stunning essay. After obtaining the student’s and parents’ permission, he posts the essay on his blog. This is acceptable.

True False 3. A teacher is writing a book for an educational publisher on information

literacy. She finds a chart that would be absolutely perfect. She asks permission, but she is told she cannot use it in her book. So she links to it instead. This is acceptable.

True False 4. A teacher finds a map of India that he wants to use for his article in

Educational Leadership. It is not perfect for his needs, and he cannot find the copyright information. He decides to highlight the sections of the map that showcase his point and annotate it, transforming it so that it is no longer a concern whether he has permission to use it.

True False 5. A group of teachers start a blog on Writer’s Workshop. They know

readers gravitate towards sites that include images, so they copy and paste some of their favorite images to add to their “About Us” page. This is acceptable.

True False 6. A teacher decides to create a website for reviewing favorite class books. It is considered fair use for him to post cover images and short excerpts in the reviews.

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True False 7. A teacher maintains a website that includes images she found online that

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have noncommercial licenses. The teacher allows advertisers on her site, so she gets some money from it. This is acceptable.

True False 8. A guidance counselor is writing a personal essay about motivating

students and wants to include a quotation from the current U.S. president’s speech that he saw online. Since the speech was public, he doesn’t need to ask permission. He just needs to say who said the speech and when.

True False 9. A teacher is being paid by a school district to deliver professional

development to other teachers. The teacher includes photos and audio files that she found online to illustrate her ideas and to make her presentation more engaging. This is fair use.

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Teacher Activity 1

The Copyright Quiz Answers 1. True—Twitter comments that are freely available can be pulled into lessons. It is good form to model citing sources for students. 2. True—The Internet may be mined for resources. Download away (of course, don’t hack into subscription sites)! But remember: You can’t put these projects back up on the Internet without permission from the copyright holders. 3. False—The current guidelines exclude the creation of video compilations unless you get permission or you can find an exception under the fair use test. However, royalty-free film clips are available online. 4. True—A single license is meant only for one person, but it is acceptable to show via a projector. If students want to read through the news articles on their own devices, a class license is required. 5. True—Making multiple copies of an online article for student use falls under fair use. Linking to the article is another way to access the content, and students can read online or choose to print the article themselves. 6. True—The teacher already purchased the rights to use the songs. He is simply reorganizing them on the computer for educational use. Under fair use, this is permissible. 7. Generally False—Legitimately acquired material can be used in classrooms. However, under the current law, no teacher can redistribute such material over the Internet or any other medium. You can use it, but you can’t share it around. The exception is when the creators of files post a Creative Commons license on their work, specifying the ways users can utilize the file.

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8. Generally True—While you need to read the terms of the service, a single license can allow for one user at a time. That said, vendors want you to pay for licenses, so they can also be restricted to one person (unless you buy a site license).

Part II: Classroom Use for Students 1. False—Educators may use “legitimately acquired” material without asking permission, but many file-sharing sites are suspect in this area. Use common sense to determine whether those peer-to-peer resources are legitimate or pirated. (You can also check copyright ownership at www.copyright.gov or www.mpa.org/ content/copyright-resource-center.) 2. True—Videos can be pulled into multimedia projects. 3. True—Again, videos can be used for school projects, but the student should cite where she found the video, and the student must use the smallest amount needed to complete the assignment. 4. True—You may use the personal photographs in projects and post such images on the Web. Some sites, like Disneyland and architectural landmarks, may be considered copyright material, however, and they might ask you to remove the image. People (not selectively chosen) in public places are as a rule okay in photographs. 5. Generally True—There are limitations on length. The limitation on length is stricter with music even in the educational setting. To be completely safe, find music that is royalty-free or in the public domain. 6. True—Even though the image is likely copyrighted by National Geographic, as long as nobody is making money off of the meme, it should be fine. The image could even be posted online, and if there is commentary on the meme, it could be considered parody, which would make it allowable. 51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Part I: Classroom Use for Teachers

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Teacher Activity 1

The Copyright Quiz Answers (cont.) 7. True—This is educational use and the student is not redistributing the images. She should cite the sources. 8. False—This is not fair use. Yearbooks are not generally intended to be instructional. Plus, it’s not permissible to use entire songs. If you’re using pieces of songs and analyzing them as a reflection of the times students live in, that’s different and possibly falls under fair use.

Part III. School Use 1. False—Software that is licensed must be purchased. If the school cannot afford to buy licensed software, it must explore software alternatives within its budget. 2. Generally True—As long as the portal is password-protected and the students (and possibly the parents) give permission for this use, this is true. 3. True—That’s the other side of fair use. Just as you can use other people’s intellectual property for educational purposes without permission, your own can be used, too.

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4. False—Videos (like everything else) are not covered under fair use for entertainment or reward. The use described is entertainment, pure and simple. However, Disney will sell you a one-time license that makes this legal use. The cost depends on the audience size and title.

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5. True—Audioblocks (www.audioblocks. com) pays for its audio, so the material is legitimately acquired. Be wary of some of the other peer-to-peer sites, however. See the answer for Student Use question #1.

7. Generally False—While fair use allows for the educational use of copyright material, it does so only if there is no anticipation of wider distribution. However, if all the materials used in the presentation had Creative Commons licenses or the school received permission from the original file holders, then sharing the presentation is acceptable. Another way it could be acceptable is if students transformed the original files so much so that they changed the original purposes of the information. 8. Generally False—If the PTA president chose a royalty-free animated image or one with a Creative Commons license that allows for remixing, it would be acceptable. But this example says she got the clip from a commercial site, which generally would not allow an individual to take and remix a file without paying for it. 9. It depends—In the absence of a school or district policy, look to the context. Did the employee create the lesson plans on the job, during regular work hours, and on an employer-owned computer? If so, then it is a work for hire and the school or district is considered the “author” who holds copyright. If the employee created the lesson plans outside of regular work hours and on a computer purchased by the employee, then there is a strong case for the employee holding copyright of the material. 10. False—If the school posts the work on their site, they are liable for copyright infringement and can be sued.

6. False—“The Eye of the Tiger” is copyrighted music. The coach would be better served finding royalty-free music for the background.

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Teacher Activity 1

The Copyright Quiz Answers (cont.) Part IV: Use Outside of School 1. Generally False—While the guide would fall under fair use if only used in the classroom, by putting it on Teachers Pay Teachers, the teacher is trying to profit from the guide. This poses a gray area since she includes small excerpts and the cover image, and the publishing company owns those rights. The best course of action is to seek permission from the publishing company before posting the guide. 2. Generally True—As long as the student did not plagiarize, this is acceptable. However, if the student copied any part of the essay from a copyrighted work, then the teacher is liable for copyright infringement. 3. True—Legally, the teacher can link to the site, but she would likely be better off finding another site to link to that suits her needs. 4. True—This falls under fair use guidelines because it is for educational purposes, the teacher has transformed the use for a new purpose, and it shouldn’t affect the market for the original map.

6. True—This is an acceptable practice of using copyrighted material online for educational use. 7. This is a gray area—The teacher is not profiting directly off the images but from the website as a whole, and the use of the images leads to that profit indirectly. 8. True—Because it was a government speech, it is in the public domain. If the teacher read the speech in a source, however, he should add where he was quoting from with a phrase such as, “As _________ reported, the president said, …” 9. False—Because the teacher is getting paid for the presentation, this doesn’t fall under fair use. If she uses royalty-free images or includes files from a service she pays for that allows for this use, that would be okay. Likewise, if she wants to provide handouts with images to the teachers that they could use with their students, that would be acceptable.

Analyzing Information

5. False—Unless the teachers find images that are royalty-free or that use Creative Commons licenses and follow the guidelines accordingly, they cannot copy and paste images they find online.

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Importance of Citing Sources Information abounds and is available to teachers and students. Often, as in the case of public domain information, people do not even need to ask permission to use it. However, an important practice to follow at all times is to require students to cite their sources. Rather than appear to diminish us as thinkers, writers, and speakers, citing sources reveals the breadth of exploration and the range of ideas that were considered while formulating our understanding of a topic. There are two common styles in which to cite sources: Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA). The former style is often used in educational and literary works, while the latter is used more often in writing for the social sciences. ➜ On the MLA website (www.mla.org), review the Frequently Asked Questions about MLA Style section for answers to specific questions about citations. ➜ On the APA website (www.apa.org), the Basics of APA Style Guide tutorial provides details on using this style (www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx). You may also want to take a look at the Frequently Asked Questions section of this site. The citations themselves contain the same information, but they may be arranged or emphasized differently. For example, see how the citation for a book, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, would appear in the two formats: MLA Style Barnhill, Kelly Regan. The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Young Readers, 2016. APA Style Barnhill, K. R. (2016). The girl who drank the moon. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Young Readers.

ANALYZING INFORMATION

The most important point is to identify the details of the source of information, pick a style, be consistent, and provide enough information so that the reader can find out more about the source that was used.

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Due to increasing access to a variety of sources on the Internet, guidelines for citing sources have become even more important than they were before. Educator David Warlick created the Citation Machine. This fine tool is freely available for students to use to cite sources using MLA, APA, Turabian, or Chicago styles (www.citationmachine.net). If your students need to cite books by single or multiple authors, websites, articles, interviews, or email postings, all they have to do is fill in the online form, and the Citation Machine will provide the citation in the style they have chosen. The result can be entered into any word-processing program and can be easily repeated for all sources used in a project. The Information Fluency website includes Online Citation Wizards (21cif.com/tools/cite). These tools provide templates for citing sources in five different styles, including both APA and MLA.

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There are other sites that make it easy for students to cite sources, such as the following: ➜ Bibme (www.bibme.org) ➜ Easybib (www.easybib.com) Teachers should make sure students give credit for any information they use. After all, they will be pleased to be cited when others quote their hard work on the Web, in articles, and in presentations. To prepare students to think about copyright, fair use, and including strong citations, the following activities provide some practice: ➜ Activity 19: Student Copyright Scenarios ➜ Activity 20: Who You Gonna Call?

ANALYZING INFORMATION

➜ Activity 21: Citing Sources

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Activity 19

Student Copyright Scenarios Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students will consider and discuss what is right—legally and ethically. Students may not always consider copyright and fair use practices when they download music, movies, and other information. These scenarios will help remind them of the importance of considering copyright.

1. Lead the class in a discussion of copyright dos and don’ts using what you learned from taking The Copyright Quiz. 2. Tell students they will be working in groups to consider some cases that have to do with copyright practices using Copyright Scenarios (pages 145–146). They will work as a group to come to agreement about how to handle each scenario. Student teams will need to consult the following websites:

➜ U.S. Copyright (www.copyright.gov)

Learning Outcomes



➜ a source citation site (e.g., citationmachine.net)



➜ Creative Commons (www.creativecommons.org)

➜ Students will encounter challenging copyright dilemmas.

3. After students have discussed the scenarios and come to agreement, lead a class discussion on their decisions and the reasoning behind them. (Suggested answers: false, true, true, false, yes, use same license noncommercially, noncommercial license, yes)

➜ Students will review copyright information. ➜ Students will share their thoughts and findings.

Materials ➜ copies of Copyright Scenarios (pages 145–146; page145.pdf) ➜ online and print resources about copyright

Talk About It! ➜ Engage students in conversations about their own real‑world situations in which they have found themselves wondering about copyright. This will help them better understand copyright practices and question their own actions when their use of copyrighted work may be an issue.

Analyzing Information

Extension

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➜ Have students use strong search strategies (Chapter 2) to find trustworthy news articles (Chapter 6) about situations when adults have broken copyright laws. Have them summarize what they discover and discuss what people could have done differently.

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Activity 19

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Copyright Scenarios Directions: Read the scenarios. Circle whether each scenario is true or false. Then, provide evidence to support your answer.

Scenario 1 You bought five songs for your birthday and love what you hear. Since it was a gift (someone gave you a gift card), it is legal to copy the songs and transfer them to your friends’ devices. True

False

Scenario 2 You download a playlist on multiple devices. Since you will only be listening to the playlist on one device at a time, this is legal. True

False

Evidence: Evidence:

True

False

Scenario 4 You and your friends think that adding Disney video clips to a slideshow and emailing it to all your classmates is a great idea. In fact, everyone loves what you have done so much that they want to send it to their families. They are willing to pay for you to upload it online. This is legal. True

False

Evidence: Evidence:

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51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Analyzing Information

Scenario 3 Your teacher gives you a password for an online program your school district purchased for all students. There is great content here, such as editable graphic organizers, an art program, and more. She says you can use the password at home and load it onto as many machines as you want. This is legal.

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Activity 19

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Copyright Scenarios (cont.) Directions: Read the scenarios. Respond to each question, providing evidence to support your answer. Scenario 5 You have a presentation due on the causes of the Civil War. There is tons of information online, and you read a lot and copy sections from websites. But you put everything into your own words for your presentation. Everything goes well until the teacher marks you down because you did not cite all your sources of information. Is your teacher’s grade fair? Yes

Scenario 6 You find a piece of music that you really like, which you download. You think you can make it better by overlaying your own drum accompaniment. You upload the new version of the song to share with anyone who wants it. You notice the original piece carries a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike license. What do you have to do to make sure what you have done is legal?

No

Evidence:

Response: Evidence:

Analyzing Information

Scenario 7 You take a photo of a blue jay in a tree. You think others might like it, so you upload it to Flickr to share. If you want others to be able to use the photo in whatever way they want but not make money off it, what license should you put on your photo?

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Response: Evidence:

51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

Scenario 8 You like to search for clips from new superhero movies and edit them using video editing software. Then, you post them on YouTube, where you generate lots of views. Does this break copyright rules?

Response: Evidence:

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Activity 20

Who You Gonna Call? Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students will visit a variety of websites and determine whether they need permission and, if so, who should be contacted for permission. Each sudent will also draft a letter to send to one of the sources asking for permission. While it is not necessary to ask permission to use information from a website in many educational situations, it is important that students know how to obtain permission if they need it— and know when they need to ask.

1. Talk with students about the importance of citing sources and having permission to use material from a website in their reports or projects. Solicit ideas from students about requesting permission, including how they would go about it (e.g., letter, phone call, email), what they would ask, and so on. Record their ideas on chart paper.

➜ Students will review websites for contact information. ➜ Students will develop permission request letters for website information.

Materials ➜ chart paper for recording student ideas ➜ copies of Permission Request (page 149; page149.pdf)



➜ Generally, there will be information at the bottom of a page or in the “Contact Us” section about where to go for permission.



➜ Sometimes, individual authors or artists will be listed as copyright holders with their contact information.



➜ You can also find authors via social media accounts included on websites.

3. When students have completed this part of the assignment, hold a discussion in which students talk about their experiences:

➜ Was it hard to find the contact information on the sites?



➜ Was the contact information complete?



➜ What do students conclude about websites that do not provide clear contact information?

4. Ask students to choose one of the sites they visited (and for which they found contact information). Tell students they will be drafting letters (or emails) to send to the contacts from their chosen websites asking permission to use some information. Brainstorm with students about what information should be included in letters/emails that are asking permission. Write student ideas on the chart paper.

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Analyzing Information

Learning Outcomes

2. Place students into groups. Each group will visit up to six sites on the Internet. For each, they will record information on Permission Request (page 149). Suggested sites are listed on the activity page. Make sure to discuss the following with students before having them begin working on this activity:

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Activity 20

Who You Gonna Call? (cont.) Procedure (cont.) 5. Decide together on the items that need to be included in the letters/emails the students will write. Be sure to include at least the following: name and contact information of the website owner, the URL of the site, a specific statement of what is being asked for (text and/or images), the purpose of the use, the time frame in which the permission is needed, an assurance that the material will be properly cited, and a thank you. Additional information and sample permission letters can be found on Columbia University Libraries website (copyright.columbia.edu/basics/permissionsand-licensing.html). However, there is value in helping students think through the request process on their own.

Talk About It! ➜ Discuss with students about the need to ask for permission to use materials from other media as well. For example, information in books and magazines can be thought about, synthesized, and incorporated into student reports and projects without asking permission (but students must still give credit). Using images and text from websites or reusing photographs requires permission.

Analyzing Information

Extension

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➜ Have students keep track of the websites they use for research in spreadsheets. Students can track names of the sites, URLs, what they might be used for, and whether permission is needed for use. Contact information for whoever grants permission could be included as well. These forms could be compiled electronically in a class document or printed in a notebook. Then, students would have their own sources of online references they might use for their future work.

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Activity 20

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Permission Request Directions: Visit these websites. For each, respond to the following questions: ➜ Would you need to ask permission for the information? ➜ If so, who would you contact for permission?

Website Address

Information

National Geographic Kids

kids. nationalgeographic. com

a picture from an article

TIME For Kids

www.timeforkids.com

a video

www.louvre.fr

a picture of the famous painting, “Mona Lisa”

Journey North

www.learner.org/jnorth/

pictures of monarch butterflies

Scholastic Books

harrypotter.scholastic. com

a picture of J.K. Rowling

NASA

www.nasa.gov/topics/ earth/index.html

a picture from the Space Station

Louvre

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Ask Permission? From Whom?

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Analyzing Information

Website Name

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Activity 21

Citing Sources Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students will work with a variety of sources and learn to cite them using either MLA or APA style. Helping students understand why and how to acknowledge information they find from a variety of sources is critical.

1. Begin a discussion on the importance of citing sources. Ask students why they think they should include citations in their work.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will learn about MLA and APA styles. ➜ Students will learn to cite a variety of sources. ➜ Students will contribute to a class book made up of examples of citations for different types of information sources.

Materials ➜ a range of materials to be cited (e.g., books, online articles, magazines, newspapers, interviews, emails, websites, encyclopedias)

Analyzing Information

➜ copies of Examples of MLA and APA Style Citations (page 151; page151.pdf)

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➜ copies of Citing Sources—MLA Style (pages 152–154; page152.pdf) or Citing Sources— APA Style (pages 155–157; page155.pdf) ➜ copies of Citation Cards (page 158; page158.pdf) ➜ optional: set of printed templates for information sources in APA or MLA style; These can be made by entering citation information in the Citation Machine (www. citationmachine.net).

2. Introduce students to the two different styles of citation. Distribute Examples of MLA and APA Style Citations (page 151), which includes examples of citations for books, magazine articles, websites, and emails in both formats. Ask students why they think there are differences between the two styles, particularly with regard to the email citations. Tell students which style you will be using in your class. (You will find two versions of the Citing Sources activity sheet for your use Use whichever one is appropriate for your needs.) 3. Have students work in pairs or small groups to complete Citing Sources (pages 152–154 or pages 155–157) and Citation Cards (page 158). For each of the 14 types of sources, your end goal is to have strong example cards. The examples can be combined to create a class book (or multiple class books). Within the book, you should include at least one or two examples for each type of source. To simplify the assigning of the types of sources, predetermine which groups will complete which sources. That way, no one has to complete all the citations, but you end up with a complete collection. Assigning three to five citations to each group works well. 4. When the groups have completed their work, have them create one or more class books that can be referenced throughout the year. They may even decide to create a digital class book by typing their work and posting it online.

Talk About It! ➜ Ask students to discuss the differences in the various types of source citations and talk about why the specific information is included in each.

Extension ➜ Assign a short research paper that requires three different types of citations. Tell them that you’re only evaluating the references cited, so they need to get that page right!

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Activity 21

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Examples of MLA and APA Style Citations Book (with a single author) MLA Wenzel, Brendan. They All Saw a Cat. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2016. APA Wenzel, B. (2016). They all saw a cat. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Magazine article MLA Brunskill, Pamela. “Flopping Frogs.” Highlights for Children 1 Sept. 2013: 16–17. APA Brunskill, P. (2013, September 1). Flopping frogs. Highlights for children, 16–17.

Website MLA Shao, Jeffrey. “Wizard Hat Amoeba Named After Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings.” DOGOnews, DOGO Media, Inc., 20 Apr, 2017, www.dogonews. com/2017/3/3/wizard-hat-amoeba-named-after-gandalf-from-the-lord-of-therings. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017. APA

Email MLA Smith, Emily. “Re: Information Literacy Book.” Message to Pamela Brunskill. 20 April 2017. Email. APA Do not include in reference list; cite in text only.

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Analyzing Information

Shao, J. (2017, April 20). Wizard hat amoeba named after Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings. Retrieved 2017, April 22, from https://www.dogonews.com/2017/3/3/ wizard-hat-amoeba-named-after-gandalf-from-the-lord-of-the-rings.

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Activity 21

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Citing Sources—MLA Style Directions: Create citation cards for your assigned sources using MLA style. Types of Sources Book (with a single author) Information Needed:

Book (with multiple authors) Information Needed:

Book (with an editor) Information Needed:

Article or chapter in an anthology

Analyzing Information

Information Needed:

152

Journal article Information Needed:

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Activity 21

Student Reproducibles

Citing Sources—MLA Style (cont.) Online journal article Information Needed:

Newspaper article Information Needed:

Online newspaper article Information Needed:

Interview Information Needed:

Email

Analyzing Information

Information Needed:

Website Information Needed:

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Activity 21

Student Reproducibles

Citing Sources—MLA Style (cont.) Encyclopedia article (book) Information Needed:

Encyclopedia article (online) Information Needed:

Podcast Information Needed:

Video Information Needed:

Analyzing Information

Tweet

154

Information Needed:

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Activity 21

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Citing Sources—APA Style Directions: Create citation cards for your assigned sources using APA style. Types of Sources Book (with a single author) Information Needed:

Book (with multiple authors) Information Needed:

Book (with an editor) Information Needed:

Article or chapter in an anthology

Analyzing Information

Information Needed:

Journal article Information Needed:

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Activity 21

Student Reproducibles

Citing Sources—APA Style (cont.) Online journal article Information Needed:

Newspaper article Information Needed:

Online newspaper article Information Needed:

Interview Information Needed:

Analyzing Information

Email

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Information Needed:

Website Information Needed:

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Activity 21

Student Reproducibles

Citing Sources—APA Style (cont.) Encyclopedia article (book) Information Needed:

Encyclopedia article (online) Information Needed:

Podcast Information Needed:

Video Information Needed:

Tweet

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Analyzing Information

Information Needed:

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Activity 21

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Citation Cards Type of source: __________________________________________________ Information needed from source: ____________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Example citation: ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

Type of source: __________________________________________________ Information needed from source: ____________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Example citation: ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

Analyzing Information

Type of source: __________________________________________________

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Information needed from source: ____________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Example citation: ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

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Using Information

Chapter 8

Using Primary Sources

While many online sites and informational texts analyze and interpret events, sometimes you want to find an original item—you want a primary source. Primary sources include the raw materials of history, such as letters, diaries, memoirs, photographs, government documents, interviews, audio recordings, and newspaper articles. Studying original sources allows students time to critically analyze history through the eyes of the discipline.

Library of Congress One fantastic resource for educators who wish to acquire and use primary sources is the Library of Congress (www.loc.gov). This is the national library of the United States, located in Washington, D.C. Teachers who can’t go to the physical library can find documents, manuscripts, maps, motion pictures, photos and prints, and sound recordings online. It is not the best place to find information about current events or the recent past because of copyright issues, but search through the site, and you’ll find virtually every type of resource about the nation’s history. And because it is a government agency, generally the resources available are in the public domain and can be used by teachers and students. Of course, citing is still important!

Using Information

In addition to primary sources, the Library of Congress also offers classroom materials, such as themed resources and sets, professional development modules, and much more. There are a number of lessons and activities that help students to study primary sources more deeply. For example, “Zoom Into Maps” helps students to think critically about maps and provides a number of different kinds of maps—environmental, local, military, pictorial—to scaffold the learning. (www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/ maps). You can also search for lessons on specific topics, such as “Civil War photographs.”

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Primary sources, as with all sources, require critical thinking to analyze. Teachers play a crucial role in helping students to develop higher-level thinking skills by choosing sources carefully, scaffolding questions, and modeling how to draw upon prior knowledge to analyze and reflect on sources. Additional resources for teachers and students from the Library of Congress, including presentations, online activities, and photographs, can be found at the websites listed on page 161.

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L ibr ary

of

C ongress Websites

Website Name

Website Address

Flickr

www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress

Teachers Page

www.loc.gov/teachers

Teaching with the LOC Blog

blogs.loc.gov/teachers

Teaching with the LOC on Twitter

@TeachingLC

Teacher Resources Playlist on YouTube

www.youtube.com/user/LibraryOfCongress

Primary Sources in the Classroom

Examples of Primary Sources

Objects

artifacts, tools, weapons, inventions, uniforms, fashion

Curriculum Suggestions

➜ Make a hypothesis about the uses of an unknown object pictured in an old photograph. Use online and library research to support or refute the hypothesis. Make a presentation to the class to “show and tell” the object, hypothesis, search methods, and results. ➜ Use old photographs to study fashion trends. How has fashion changed over time? How did clothing styles reflect people’s work and their roles in society? What clothing styles have carried over into present times? ➜ Study old photographs to trace the development of an invention over time (e.g., automobiles, tractors, trains, airplanes, weapons). What do the photographs tell you about the technology, tools, and materials available throughout time? Who used the invention in the past? How is the invention used today?

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USING INFORMATION

Category

The following suggestions from the Library of Congress (2008) include activities for integrating primary sources in your classroom. These suggestions were originally compiled from the National Digital Library’s Educator’s Forum held in July 1995 and from the library staff. They were updated in 2017 to reflect current technology. Educators at the forum, like many throughout the country, know that history comes alive for students who are plugged into primary sources.

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Category

Examples of Primary Sources

Objects

tombstones

Curriculum Suggestions

➜ Write an obituary for a person from an old tombstone. Use information from the epitaph, and research about the era in which the person lived. Research the meaning of the stone carvings that appear on the tombstone. Study epidemic illnesses or other circumstances that might explain common causes of death at the time. ➜ Write questions as you read and examine a tombstone.

photographs, film, video

➜ Use a historic photograph or film of a street scene. Give an oral description of the sights, sounds, and smells that surround the scene, presenting evidence from the photograph itself and other sources about the time period. Examine the image to find clues about the economics and commerce of the time. ➜ Select a historical photograph or film frame. Predict what happened one minute and one hour after the photograph or film was taken. Explain the reasoning behind your predictions.

Images

➜ To encourage a focus on detail, show a photograph or film frame to the classroom for three minutes and then remove it. Have students draw the contents of the image on a piece of paper divided into a grid of nine sections. Repeat this exercise with new images and watch students’ abilities to recall detail improve.

USING INFORMATION

fine art

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➜ Select a piece of fine art that appeals to your senses. Research the artist, the date of the piece, and the medium. What does information about the artist, the medium, the subject, and the composition tell you about the prevailing attitudes and conditions of the time period? For example, what symbolism is used? How is perspective used? In what roles are people portrayed? What is left out of the composition?

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Category

Examples of Primary Sources oral histories, interviews

Curriculum Suggestions

➜ Research your family history by interviewing relatives. Use letters, audio recordings, and video to compile a report on an important time for your family. Make note of differing recollections about the same event. ➜ Work in teams to record interviews of older citizens in the community. Focus on and compile interviews about one aspect of community life, such as work, family, or schools. Combine class reports with historical images and documents to produce a documentary on the history of your community.

music

➜ Research and study lyrics of popular songs from the periods of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. What do the lyrics tell you about public attitudes toward the war? Interview veterans of these wars about their perceptions of the accuracy of the information in the lyrics.

audio recordings

➜ Find an audio recording of a famous political speech. Think about and write impressions while you listen to the speech. What is the speaker’s key message? What is the speaker’s point of view? How does the speaker’s oratorical style affect the impact of the message? If the text of the speech is available, compare your impressions from hearing the speech to your impressions from reading the speech. ➜ Listen to audio recordings from old radio broadcasts. Compare the language, style of speaking, and content to radio and television programs today. How does the content of the older radio broadcast exemplify the events and prevailing attitudes of the time? How does modern radio and television programming exemplify events and attitudes of the present time?

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51756—Information Literacy: Separating Fact from Fiction

USING INFORMATION

Audio

➜ Search for events that have inspired lyrics in current popular music. Compare present-day events and music to lyrics from the past inspired by historical events. What are the similarities and differences between present-day and historical songs and the events that inspired them?

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Category Statistics

Examples of Primary Sources

Curriculum Suggestions

census data, land surveys, maps, ordinances, blueprints, architectural drawings

➜ Study historical maps of a city, state, or region to find evidence of changes in population, industry, and settlement over time. Use other resources to find and report on causes for the changes you find. Use maps to illustrate your descriptions of these changes.

cookbooks

➜ Research the recipe for a common food (e.g., bread, cake) in cookbooks of different times. Report on differences in the vocabulary of the cookbooks over time. How have terms for measurement, ingredients, portion size, and accompaniments changed? Prepare the food using recipes from two time periods. Hold a taste test of the end results.

➜ Choose a famous or historical public building in your area. Research blueprints or architectural drawings of the building. With help from an architect or librarian, compare the plans to the building as it exists today. What changes do you see? Why do you think the changes were made?

USING INFORMATION

Text

➜ Select a cookbook from another era. Look at the ingredient lists from a large number of recipes. What do the ingredient lists tell you about the types of foods available and the lifestyle of the time?

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➜ Use old catalog pages to research fashion trends, household articles, cost of living, and lifestyles of a particular period. Use other sources of information to reconstruct a picture of family life at the time. Who did the household purchasing? What were considered necessities? What were considered luxuries? How do the catalog pages highlight attitudes of the time? ➜ Use newspapers over time to analyze advertising. Research advertisements for a particular type of product (e.g., clothing, tools, household appliances, automobiles) through history. What information do the advertisements contain? What claims do they make? Who is the targeted buyer? How has advertising for this product changed over time? What social changes are reflected by changes in advertising for this product?

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Category

Examples of Primary Sources journals, letters, diaries

Curriculum Suggestions

➜ Find firsthand accounts of historical events written by children or young people (e.g., The Diary of Anne Frank). Analyze how firsthand accounts give context to historical events. Begin keeping a journals, with an emphasis on including current event topics in your entries. ➜ Select a time period or era. Research and read personal letters that comment on events of the time. Analyze the point of view of the letter writer. Compose a return letter that tells the author how those historical events have affected modern society.

Text

➜ Read a personal diary from a historical period. Analyze the individual’s character, motivations, and opinions. Explain how the individual changed over the course of the diary. How might that person react if he or she were dropped into the present time? documents in the original handwriting or language

➜ Decipher the original text of a famous document (e.g., the Constitution, the Bill of Rights) by decoding historical lettering, spelling, grammar, and usage. Compare the original writing with printed versions of the document today. What has changed?

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➜ To help illustrate the writing process, study draft copies of famous documents. Look at how side notes, additions, and crossed-out words were used to edit the document. Discuss how the changes affected the meaning of the finished work. Practice editing your own writing using similar tools.

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Category

Examples of Primary Sources

The Community

family photographs (e.g., of ancestors and their homes), memorabilia, souvenirs, recipes, ancestors’ clothes and papers, oral histories, local historical societies, genealogical information

Curriculum Suggestions

➜ Make a record of family treasures (e.g., books, tools, musical instruments, tickets, letters, photographs) using photographs, photocopies, drawings, recordings, or videotapes. Put the treasures into the larger historical context of local, state, country, or world events. What was happening in the world when your ancestors were using the family treasures? How did those events affect your family? ➜ Find original letters written by an ancestor. Read the letters and then research the time and events surrounding the letters in other sources. Analyze the opinions and views of the letter writer based on the time and events of the period. ➜ Trace your ancestry to a country or countries of origin. Research the customs, language, dress, food, and cultural traditions of your ancestral country or countries. Prepare a class presentation on your cultural background. Include exhibits and recipes or prepared food from your ancestral country. Describe how your family came to live in your community today.

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➜ Prepare a community time capsule with the class. What primary sources will you include to describe your present-day community to future generations? What important information do you wish to convey? Which primary sources will get your message across? When should your time capsule be opened?

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Category

Examples of Primary Sources

The Community

physical surroundings

Curriculum Suggestions

➜ Research the history of famous buildings and popular sites in your community at the local library or historical society. Take photos of these sites in the community as they appear today. Compare your photographs to historical descriptions and older pictures of sites. What changes have occurred? Why? ➜ Trace the ages of buildings in your community. Which is the oldest structure? Which is the newest structure? Research styles of architecture, commonly used building materials, and the roles of buildings through time. How do your community’s buildings reflect the evolution of architectural styles and community institutions? ➜ With the help of a local historical society, organize a tour of older homes in your community. Research the ages and historical period of interesting houses you find. Who lived in these homes when they were first built? How do the styles and locations of the homes reflect the roles of the original owners in the community? Research and describe furnishings and decorating styles from the times the homes were built. Do the homes look different today?

To prepare students to analyze different types of primary sources, the following activity provides some practice:

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➜ Activity 22: Analyzing Primary Sources

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Activity 22

Analyzing Primary Sources Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students browse the Library of Congress’s website to view and listen to what the site has to offer. The library offers images, manuscripts, maps, sound files, and more. Students can search for specific primary sources or browse by topic.

1. Introduce primary sources to the students. This includes the definition—primary sources are the raw material of history—as well as examples of different kinds of primary sources.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will research primary sources on the Library of Congress website. ➜ Students will each analyze one primary source using the Primary Source Analysis Tool.

Materials ➜ chart paper and markers ➜ copies of Primary Source Analysis Tool (page 169; page169.pdf)

2. Brainstorm with students as many different primary sources as possible. Record student ideas on chart paper. Some examples include letters, diaries, memoirs, photographs, government documents, interviews, audio recordings, and newspaper articles from a specific time period. 3. Using a projector, show the page of the Library of Congress website that focuses on primary sources (www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources). 4. Place students into groups. Distribute copies of Primary Source Analysis Tool (page 169), or have them complete the analysis online (www.loc.gov/teachers/primarysource-analysis-tool/). Tell groups to search the Library of Congress website to find intriguing primary sources. Then, students will analyze their sources to discern more about history from the source’s time period. 5. Have the groups work collaboratively and then share what they have learned with the class. 6. As a class, discuss how the different primary source types affected the analyses. Were some sources more difficult to analyze than others? What questions did the type of source raise?

Talk About It!

Using Information

➜ Have students discuss what they learned about the historical topic from the different types of primary sources. Each gives a different perspective; have students discuss the differences.

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Extension ➜ Have students find other primary sources to support what they discovered from their initial primary source study.

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Activity 22

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Primary Source Analysis Tool Directions: This chart is based on one created by the Library of Congress. Use it to analyze one primary source. The questions can help guide you in your analysis. Type of primary source: __________________________________________

Observe ➜ What do you notice first? ➜ What do you notice that you didn’t expect? ➜ What do you notice that you can’t explain?

Reflect ➜ Where do you think this came from? ➜ Why do you think somebody made this? ➜ Why do you think this item is important?

Question

Further Investigation ➜ What more do you want to know, and how can you find out?

Source: The Library of Congress www.loc.gov/teachers/primary-source-analysis-tool/ © Shell Education

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➜ What do you wonder about?

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Chapter 9

Using Technology to Teach

With all the advances in technology, there are many opportunities for students (and teachers!) to become producers rather than simply consumers. Much of the media introduced in this book is passive rather than active; however, the intent of this book is to engage students and teachers in regularly questioning and exploring the information received from all forms of media. This chapter focuses on technologies that allow people to do more than simply watch or listen. All these advances need to be explored and assessed for their educational values and made available to students in ways that make sense. Many of the twenty-first century skills discussed in Chapter 1 can be addressed by integrating technology into teaching.

Online Interactions More than twenty years ago, when email started becoming popular, people were struck by the way messages could easily be misinterpreted. Since the writer and sender are not face‑to‑face with emails, people cannot pick up on cues shared through body language. Of course, correspondents through “snail mail” already know this, but good letter writers think carefully about what they are writing and use the right words to make sure they are understood.

Using Information

Email is so easy and quick that you can send a message almost without thinking. Also, sarcasm and words that, in person, could be understood as a joke may come across as hurtful on a computer. Emoticons were developed to try to address this issue. :-) Those little faces made with keyboard characters were meant to take any possible sting out of a message and convey friendliness. Emojis do the same thing. Letter combinations that are composed of the initial letters of words in a phrase also grew to provide more personal and quicker communication. For example, LOL stands for “laugh out loud” when the writer wants to indicate that he or she is amused.

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Students need to know that words on a screen can more easily be misinterpreted than spoken words when they are sending messages to others via email or text. What they type may not be received in the exact way they intended. So taking extra care before hitting “Send” is always a good idea. Teachers should teach students to reread what they write, change it if they need to, and then send it. Most importantly, students need to remember that they can never assume anything they send or post on the Internet will remain private. That includes email! While even quicker methods of communication—texting, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram—have grown in popularity and often take the place of email, similar concerns about using proper grammar and conventions may not be so critical. The often-abbreviated form of instant messages is accepted in the modern world. Perhaps using acronyms for phrases (BFF for "best friends forever"), numbers for words (4 means for), and other such language adaptations (ur for your) help define members of communities (e.g., friends, work associates, families) and

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confirm their identities and memberships in groups. However, it seems appropriate to call attention to the communication model by coding and decoding such messages, at least for the sake of classroom discussions and clear communication. Psychology Today offers a list of 20 social networking etiquette tips (www.psychologytoday. com/blog/teen-angst/201512/top-20-social-networking-etiquette-tips-teens). Though the post is intended for teenagers, the advice is pertinent for all ages.

Cyber Safety and Cyberbullying With the open Internet access most students have, important issues of safety in the online world have emerged. Crimes that didn’t exist 20 years ago are, unfortunately, becoming more common today. The U.S. Department of Justice has a National Sex Offender Public Website (www.nsopw.gov). On the site’s facts and statistics page, it references numerous reports and findings. Some of these facts include the following: ➜ Internet-based predators used less deception to befriend their online victims than experts had thought. Only five percent of the predators told their victims that they were in the same age group as the victims. ➜ Fifteen percent of cell-owning teens say they have received sexually suggestive images of someone they know via text. ➜ Of respondents to a survey of juvenile victims of Internet-initiated sex crimes, the majority met the predators willingly face-to-face. ➜ About 70 percent of teenagers and young adults believe that digital abuse is something that should be addressed by society. To see the full list of statistics, visit the website (www.nsopw.gov/en/Education/FactsStatistics).

Cyberbullying—an online type of bullying—refers to using online tools to repeatedly harass, tease, or put down others. Unfortunately, cyberbullies are most often young people, and the interactions often occur through social media. According to a 2016 study from the Cyberbullying Research Center (cyberbullying.org/statistics), 33.8 percent of 12–17 year-old students have been bullied online. The most common forms of cyberbullying were having mean or hurtful comments posted about them (22.5 percent) or having rumors spread about them (20.1 percent). Teachers who create welcoming classroom environments can encourage students to speak up and report issues. The best way to prevent cyberbullying is to help students understand how hurtful and damaging this kind of behavior can be—in person and online. There are many online resources for teachers, parents, and students to support conversations, role-playing scenarios, and other awareness-building activities. One such resource is StopBullying.gov (www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it).

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There are ways that teach students how to stay safe online. Most importantly, instruct students never to provide personal information. This includes names, any parts of their addresses, phone numbers, school names, favorite places to hang out with friends—basically any information that would allow a student to be identified and physically contacted or located. That is the first step in staying safe online.

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Focus on Writing Online Blogs Blogs are a way for anyone online to share his or her ideas on a topic at any time. This, of course, means there is good news and bad news. The good news is that everyone can make their views known, while the bad news is that since the views are personal, they may be offensive, unfounded, or just plain dull. There are, however, some wonderful blogs that address educational issues:

E ducational B logs Website Name

Website Address

Twitter Tag

David Warlick’s “2¢ Worth of Seeking the Shakabuku”

davidwarlick.com/2cents/

@dwarlick

Will Richardson’s blog

willrichardson.com/blog

@willrich45

Kathy Schrock’s “Kaffeeklatsch”

blog.kathyschrock.net

@kathyschrock

MindShift

ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/

@MindShiftKQED

Edutopia from the George Lucas Educational Foundation

www.edutopia.org

@edutopia

Blogging is a fantastic way to get students interested in writing. Teachers know that students often care more about posting online than writing within the classroom. The best part is that having students blog reaps many of the same benefits as other written assignments. David Warlick (2007) is a pioneer in the area of using blogs in the classroom, and he suggests in his book Classroom Blogging: A Teacher’s Guide to Blogs, Wikis, & Other Tools That Are Shaping a New Information Landscape that blogs offer a way for everyone to share their views and participate with others in global conversations.

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If you are interested in blogging yourself or setting up opportunities for students to blog, there are three phases you will most likely go through.

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➜ The first phase might be called “lurking,” which means that you can check in on particular blogs, or even subscribe to them, but you do not comment. Through reading what was posted, as well as the comments made by others, you access good information and monitor the content and tone to see if this is a blog you want to continue to read. ➜ The second phase in blogging involves writing comments in response to what you have read. The power of blogging lies not only in the idea that others read and agree with the writer’s thoughts but also that a conversation is taking place, and the writer gains from readers’ responses. It’s very easy to make comments. After you submit them, your comments will be listed among others, and you may find others commenting on your comment! Thus, the conversation continues. ➜ The third phase is setting up your own blog, which is very simple to do at websites, such as those in the chart on page 173.

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S et ting Up B logs Websites Website Name

Website Address

Blogger.com

www.blogger.com

Edublogs

www.edublogs.org

Weebly

www.weebly.com

When you set up and write a blog, you are sharing your thoughts with the global community. This includes your students and their parents, as well as other educators (and your administrators). The audience of the written word should always be kept in mind. Students can be cautioned to think about their parents’ reactions to an email they are thinking of sending—would their parents be offended? If so, it might not be a good idea to send the email. The same is true with blogging; what you or your students write will be around forever, so it is important to make sure spelling and punctuation are accurate and the message is clear, responsible, and thoughtfully crafted. Logistically, it is a good practice to craft (or have students write) blog messages in a word-processing program, which allows time and space to request feedback, reread, and edit the text. Then, when it’s right, post it on the blog. While some discussions can become heated when people speak face-to-face, the words eventually fade away, but if people write something online, the words remain for everyone to see. Since students become better at writing by writing, having a worldwide forum in which to write and receive responses stimulates thinking and creativity—and improves writing. Whether you are asking students to participate in a blog that involves writing 100 words on a topic, sharing it, and then commenting on other students’ posts on the same topic; or you are having students share their research on social studies topics, their deconstruction of math or science theorems, or their reflections on their learning, blogs are an authentic way for students to share their understanding of concepts and comment on the expressions of understanding of their peers.

Blogs aren’t as popular as they used to be because a lot of that public thinking has shifted to Twitter and other shorter forms of communication. However, there are still a lot of quality blogs being published. You may want to use news aggregators, such as Flipboard (flipboard. com) or Reddit (www.reddit.com) that collect resources from many different places and provide the titles for quick perusal. For example, if you’re interested in topics about “educational technology,” the sites will create lists of articles, blogs, and Internet resources. Part of the effect of this is that you don’t have to go to the original blog websites anymore.

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Will Richardson (2006) says in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, that the possibilities are endless. Blogs facilitate connective writing. This means students read carefully and critically, write for a wide audience, and link to the sources they use for their ideas. Just as it is important to evaluate website information thoughtfully, teachers must help students understand that the content of blogs is often editorialized personal opinions and must be verified if it is to be cited in research. Teachers must give students opportunities to experiment with blogs and other Internet tools so they can discover the benefits and drawbacks on their own.

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Wikis and More What is a wiki, and what is the difference between blogs and wikis? A wiki is an online area where a group of people can work collaboratively by creating postings and then editing them. Wikis differ from blogs in that there is more than one author, and the visible version changes with editing. Perhaps the most famous wiki is Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org). Wikipedia is the fastestgrowing online encyclopedia, and it is enhanced and maintained mainly by volunteers. While not everything is accurate in Wikipedia, more Nobel Prize winners have contributed to Wikipedia than any print encyclopedia. According to Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams (2006) in their book Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, “an average of nearly two thousand new English-language articles are posted every day on every imaginable subject.” The authors go on to say that because the Wikipedia articles are vetted by volunteers passionate about the subjects, accuracy emerges fairly quickly.

Google Classroom While blogs and wikis provide ways to share student ideas and writing with the global community, you may also be looking for tools to help better facilitate learning in your class. Many classrooms have success using Google Classroom, which is accessible on any device with Internet capability. This free service provides tools that make it easy to assign meaningful tasks, connect to engaging content, and monitor student work whether in school or out. Visit the Google Classroom website to sign in and create your class (classroom.google.com). Once Google Classroom is active, you can search for engaging content and create assignments. The organization of the assignments makes it convenient to plan ahead, to monitor assignments live, and to refer to past student work, which is saved online. Teachers and students have the ability to communicate anytime of day about the assignments, providing students with timely answers to their questions. Students can also interact with each other to share relevant content, discuss ideas, and collaborate on projects. Google Classroom is part of Google Apps for Education, which includes the following apps: ➜ Google Drive provides space for the storage of documents, photos, presentations, and videos in the cloud. Students and teachers can send links so that parents can view these projects upon completion.

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➜ Google Docs enables students to collaborate simultaneously on any document. Teachers can also review the documents to see the contributions of each student.

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➜ Google Forms makes creating quizzes, tests, and surveys easy by guiding the creator through the development. Once completed, students and teachers can share with any Google account. ➜ Google Slides supports students in creating presentations that can be shared. These presentations can showcase student knowledge and opinions with others. Google Classroom stimulates and streamlines the learning process. Teachers save time assessing student work and providing feedback. Students and teachers deepen learning through discussions and through interaction with new content that is contributed by each person in the class. Learning is no longer confined to the school walls, it can happen anywhere.

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Educational Apps An app is an abbreviation for the word application. It is essentially a software program that can run on computers or mobile devices. Most people think of apps as something to download, but they can also run completely online. With the number of apps growing exponentially each year, it’s difficult to decide what to use. Technology specialists can help in this regard. And there are also a number of sites that review apps regularly. Laura McClure (2015) summarized 25 awesome apps for teachers on the Ted-Ed Blog (blog.ed.ted.com/2015/09/19/25-awesomeapps-for-teachers-recommended-by-teachers). Some favorites from this list include the following apps:

Favorite E ducational A pps App Title

App Website

Animoto

animoto.com

iMovie

www.apple.com/mac/imovie/

Duolingo

www.duolingo.com

Evernote

evernote.com

Schoology

www.schoology.com

Google for Education

www.google.com/edu/products/ productivity-tools/

For classroom management systems

Edmodo

www.edmodo.com

Moodle

moodle.org

To see current news information

News-O-Matic

newsomatic.org

TIME For Kids

app.timeforkids.com

Pages

www.apple.com/pages/

Haiku Deck

www.haikudeck.com

Educreations

www.educreations.com

Kahoot

kahoot.com

Quizlet

quizlet.com

Reflex

www.reflexmath.com

To create and share videos To learn foreign languages For collaborative projects and discussion forums

Word Processing and Presentations

Games

The thing to note about apps is that many are free, but then you have to pay for certain features within the apps. To prevent students from making in-app purchases, make sure to check the privacy settings on your computers and devices.

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App Task

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Podcasts Starting with iPods, the idea of creating audio files and sharing them online has grown into huge collections of audio and now video files on countless websites. Educators are using podcasts to share student work as well as their own assignments for students who may have missed a class. Creating an audio file is very simple. All you need is a way to record digital audio—your computer, a tablet, or a smart phone. Free open-source software called Audacity® (www.audacityteam.org) allows for quick and easy audio editing. You can then upload your class podcasts to your school or class website for other students, parents, or the world to hear. As with everything public, however, be careful what you post. Check out the Education Podcast Network’s podcasts (www.edupodcastnetwork.com/p/ showsonepn.html) for professional examples of educational podcasts. Anything that benefits from being heard can be included in a podcast—a lesson, an interview, or even directions to a field trip. The possibilities are endless!

Social Media The idea that students can be in touch with each other nearly all the time through texting and social media supports the fact that many young adolescents learn better when collaborating and sharing. These twenty-first century skills are currently being integrated into today’s standards and classroom instruction. However, students have already gravitated to social apps and tools, and they have spent a lot of time sharing there. The teacher’s job is to help students use these tools rationally and safely.

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A wonderful example of the positive power of social networking sites can be seen at TakingITGlobal—a site where students from around the world exchange ideas and make plans to take action for the good of the planet and its people (www.tigweb.org). Another example of people coming together for a cause is Go Fund Me (www.gofundme.com). Go Fund Me allows individuals and groups to crowdsource funds for a cause.

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Discussing social-networking tools brings us full circle to considering safety and responsible behavior on the Web. Since youths can spend an inordinate amount of time on socialnetworking sites, teachers need to make sure students understand the ramifications of what they say, the pictures they post, and how they treat others there. It is imperative for students to realize that bits of personal information can be put together to identify who they are and where they can be found. Students must also understand the consequences of posting comments (positive or negative) about others. Words posted on the Internet cannot always be deleted, and they can do permanent, harmful damage. Current technology tools present amazing opportunities for students and teachers to participate in what David Warlick refers to as the “great conversation.” Educators are presented with opportunities to learn more about what engages students and to incorporate these tools and practices into the classroom when they make sense. Kimberly Tyson created the following resources for educators. Each can be found by visiting her website (www.learningunlimitedllc.com): Twitter Cheat Sheet for Educators and Pinterest Cheat Sheet for Educators.

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This is an exciting time to be an educator. With regard to collaboration, creative technology tools, and worldwide interaction, there are more opportunities for learning—and teaching— than ever before.

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Note: This chapter was reviewed by Helmut Doll, program coordinator of master of instructional technology program at Bloomsburg University.

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Teacher Activity 2

Online Tools Introduction

Procedure

In this teacher activity, teachers will explore educational online tools. It’s a whole new world in terms of the technology tools that are available to teachers—and that students feel comfortable using. It is essential that educators explore what’s available and bring what makes sense into their classrooms.

1. Go online to the California School Library Association (CSLA) website and participate in the School Library Learning 2.0 online tutorial (schoollibrarylearning2.csla. net). Through this activity, you will become familiar with a range of online tools and can think about how they might (or might not) be applied in the classroom. 2. Visit some blogs that discuss using online tools in school, such as the following:

Learning Outcomes

E ducational B logs

➜ Teachers will explore online tools. ➜ Teachers will engage in conversations with peers about online tools. ➜ Teachers will incorporate online tools into the classroom.

Website Name

Website Address

David Warlick’s “2¢ Worth of Seeking the Shakabuku”

davidwarlick.com/2cents/

Will Richardson’s blog

willrichardson.com/blog

Kathy Schrock’s “Kaffeeklatsch”

blog.kathyschrock.net

MindShift

ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/

Edutopia from the George Lucas Educational Foundation

www.edutopia.org

3. Interview teachers of different grades to learn which online tools they are using in their classrooms, for what purposes, and what they think of them. 4. Encourage colleagues to take the CSLA course and talk with their students.

Using Information

5. Meet as a faculty and share ideas about how online tools might be used at your school.

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Chapter 10

Project Based Learning with Technology The purpose of all the chapters in this book comes together in this chapter. Using what we learned about topics covered in previous chapters, this chapter lists some online multimedia opportunities—many in the form of contests—available to students and takes a look at evaluating projects from a holistic viewpoint. Perhaps you have decided that having students present knowledge using a variety of media will satisfy a number of requirements, including meeting curriculum, district, state, and ISTE standards; addressing multiple intelligences; engaging students in collaborative work; and asking students to approach problems from diverse perspectives. Because contest designers have often thought carefully about the products they are looking for from a variety of educational perspectives, having students create websites or other multimedia projects often helps them focus on the dimension of effective communication in their work. Students who are producing for an audience larger than the teacher and their peers often respond to the heightened challenge and work harder and longer.

Project Design Well-designed assignments in Project Based Learning (PBL) meet many needs, including the goal of educators to help students think critically about what they are learning, apply their thinking to the world outside school, and communicate clearly to authentic audiences (e.g., parents, community members, and the world via the Internet). The creation of a good essential question forms the basis of a successful project and provides deep and meaningful learning experiences for students.

In her pioneering work on PBL, Sylvia Chard, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Early Childhood Education at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, has looked long and carefully at the “project approach” and how it benefits student learning. She defines a project as “an in-depth investigation of a real-world problem worthy of children’s attention and effort” (2014). At the website she maintains (projectapproach.org), you will find research on Project Based Learning, examples for grades preK–12, and successful teaching strategies. Chard divides a project into three phases: ➜ In Phase 1, students and teachers decide on a topic, share their previous knowledge of the topic, and develop essential questions for research.

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There are a number of people, organizations, and resource materials that focus on PBL and provide strong examples for teachers. Three of them are Sylvia Chard, the George Lucas Educational Foundation, and the Buck Institute for Education.

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➜ Chard calls Phase 2 “fieldwork.” All research, any virtual or actual field trips, compilation of materials, and development of the presentation take place. ➜ In Phase 3, the culminating event allows students to share what they have learned. Filmmaker George Lucas came to appreciate engaged learning when he went to film school and was allowed to work on what he loved. The foundation he created, George Lucas Educational Foundation (2017), identifies schools across the country that provide meaningful school experiences for students, such as those that have delved deeply into PBL. At the foundation’s website, Edutopia (www.edutopia.org), visitors are encouraged to read stories and view film segments of exemplary practices. The section devoted to PBL is especially meaningful for teachers trying to engage their students and use inquiry-based learning more often (www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning). Examples of projects and how teachers across the country have implemented PBL can be found in stories and film segments at Edutopia. Some examples include the following: ➜ London-based School 21’s infusion of the arts in a PBL model, emphasizing personalized learning (see “Arts-Infused Project Based Learning: Crafting Beautiful Work”) ➜ 14-year-old Kathryn’s hands-on project to build a car and appreciate and understand the math involved (see “How Building a Car Can Drive Deeper Learning”) ➜ researchers testing a project called Knowledge in Action with high school students who have diverse learning styles to see if PBL helps them understand the content more deeply (see “Rigorous Project Based Learning Transforms AP Courses”) ➜ teens in Philadelphia learning how to solve math and engineering problems while working together to build high-efficiency homes designed for disaster relief (see “Constructing Sustainable Houses Develops Collaborative Skills”) You may want to review Edutopia’s Project Based Learning Professional Development Guide for more information and ideas (www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-guide). The Buck Institute for Education (www.bie.org) promotes the thoughtful use of PBL in all grade levels and subject areas. Their numerous resources on PBL go in depth regarding the definition of PBL, creating good questions, planning a project, and developing meaningful evaluation. On its site, the institute also offers rubrics, handouts, extensive curricula for economics and civics, videos, and more.

USING INFORMATION

A number of curriculum-based contests provide already prepared opportunities for students to participate in projects. Even if having students submit contest entries doesn’t sound appealing, you may want to look at these sites for good examples of student work and ideas for projects.

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PBL C ontests ➜ MY HERO Project (www.myhero.com) The MY HERO Project celebrates heroes in text, short films, and art. The project’s mission is to use media, art, and technology to celebrate the best of humanity one story at a time. Students and adults from around the world contribute stories, films, and artwork. A contest is held every year, and students of all ages and experience levels compete with their peers. ➜ International CyberFair (www.globalschoolnet.org/gsncf) Global SchoolNet’s mission is to combine education and technology to strengthen communities and benefit humanity. They engage educators and youth in learning projects around the world, and each year they host International CyberFair. This is an award-winning authentic PBL program that started in 1996. ➜ California Student Media Festival (www.mediafestival.org) Started in 1966, the California Student Media Festival is billed as “the nation’s oldest student media festival.” This contest is open to schools in California, and celebrates the media and multimedia projects produced by California’s students and teachers. They encourage regions that don’t have their own festival to use theirs as a model to create their own. ➜ National Student Production Awards (emmyonline.com/nationalstudent)

Participation in any of these projects can fulfill the definition of PBL. The final product in these cases is often a short film, a website, a story, or a piece of artwork. Each of these presentations provides an opportunity for students to share their work with a wide audience—globally, in the case of materials shared on websites. Another kind of culminating event for projects is the presentation of results to an interested group. For example, if students explored the water quality of a local stream, they may present their findings to the city council or a local water or environmental group. To prepare for their presentation, a graphic organizer may provide the clearest outline of necessary steps. Using even simple diagrams, students can plan their presentations, listing what will be needed for each area, locating images, creating charts or other pictures, or developing a script or voiceover for their digital story or movie. Collaborative groups can divide up the work and keep track of what has been completed and what needs to be done. © Shell Education

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USING INFORMATION

Sponsored by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the National Student Production Awards honors student work in video production. As stated in its introduction, the award “promotes excellence by showcasing work created by high school students in news, craft and programming categories.”

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Project Assessment Vital to the success of PBL is meaningful assessment. Meaningful evaluation of projects includes performance based assessment. This means that simply assigning a grade or administering a standardized test is not the best way to assess the learning that has taken place. Developing rubrics with students empowers them by encouraging them to define quality work and know what is expected of them. Each of the contests mentioned includes a judging phase based on criteria outlined for the contest. The International CyberFair Contest, for example, requires students to judge other submissions as part of their participation in the contest using a comprehensive online evaluation tool. Other websites provide examples of rubrics, as well as opportunities for teachers and students to build their own rubrics using templates. Search for “rubric maker” or “rubric generator” for a number of different possibilities. These sites might best be used to help students develop rubrics for their own work, using the samples provided, and then moving to original rubrics that clearly state the particular expectations for a project. When students participate in the planning of their projects and the development of the rubrics by which they will be assessed, they are more likely to participate in their project more fully as well as better understand the requirements of their work. Quite a bit of research has been done on rubrics and how to write them. Carefully designed rubrics serve as valuable learning tools for students and for teachers as they continue to refine their curricula. Hints to writing good rubrics include the following: ➜ Clearly state the goal or intent of the work. ➜ Develop a good description of exemplary work. ➜ List a small number of levels of work one might expect to see.

USING INFORMATION

For example, the product of a project may be defined as a presentation to a community group that details findings concerning the water quality of a local stream. Criteria within the rubric might assess the quality and completeness of the data collected, the depth of collaboration among group members, the quality and clarity of the presentation, and the thoughtfulness of the proposed action steps. If you take one of these criteria—data collection, for example—the four levels might list exemplary research techniques and data analysis for the top level and then detail three lower levels, with the lowest including no data collection or a flawed analysis.

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E x ample R ubric C riterion

Complete Data

Exemplary

Very Good

Average

Needs Improvement

Data collection exceeds expectations and includes information that allows for clear conclusions.

Data collection meets expectations and includes information that allows for clear conclusions.

Data collection is good but does not include enough information to support clear conclusions.

Data collection is poor and does not include enough information to support clear conclusions.

While rubrics can have almost any number of levels, many rubric designers agree that an even number of levels is better than an odd number because it is a human tendency to lean toward the middle level. An even number of levels encourages more thoughtful decision-making. Also, the terms that head the levels can vary a great deal. Perhaps one helpful way to think about them is this: the top level is a resounding “yes!” The student did a great job, understood the challenge, and went the extra yard. The next level is “yes, but,” meaning the student did a good job, but there was more that could have been done to really solidify the learning. The next level is “no, but,” which indicates that the student missed some major aspects of the project, but there were points that showed understanding as well. Finally, the lowest level is “no”—either no work or not enough work was done or the student did not understand the implications of the work and could not communicate his or her learning. You can develop the labels and content of these levels with your students to make the whole endeavor more meaningful to both them and you. The most important thing when it comes to building rubrics is being clear at each stage. One common mistake is to try to put too much into a single criterion. For example, if you are spelling out the characteristics of a good oral presentation, you will want to separate aspects such as clear speaking voice and good eye contact. If you put both of them into the same criterion, it will be difficult to score if a student uses a clear speaking voice but has little eye contact, or vice versa. As you work with students to develop essential questions for projects, also think about the rubrics and how those questions will be evaluated.

➜ Activity 23: Creating Project Based Learning Rubrics ➜ Activity 24: Developing a Project Based Learning Project

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To prepare students to create their own PBL rubrics and project plans, the following activities provide some practice:

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Activity 23

Creating Project Based Learning Rubrics Introduction

Procedure

In this activity, students will work with the teacher to create rubrics and understand more about how rubrics are used.

1. Describe the following model project to students and tell them that they will be designing the rubric for evaluating student work. Research four presidents to discover key facts about them personally and politically. Then, mix them up in history. Share, through a presentation, how each president might have responded if he had served during a different time in history. For example, switch Abraham Lincoln with Franklin Roosevelt and describe Lincoln’s response to Pearl Harbor.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will develop a rubric template. ➜ Students will eventually apply the rubric to a project.

Materials ➜ copies of Evaluation Rubric (page 186; page186.pdf) ➜ optional: copies of Evaluation Rubric Example (page 187; page187.pdf)

Using Information

➜ optional: rubric-generator website

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2. Distribute the Evaluation Rubric (page 186) to each student. They will complete this activity page as you work through the steps together. 3. Discuss with students the idea of a four-level rubric, explaining that having an even number of choices helps evaluators (including the students themselves) think about the quality of work. Brainstorm ideas for the names of the four levels (e.g., Yes; Yes, But; No, But; No; or Exemplary, Advanced, Average, Not Acceptable; or Accomplished, Competent, Developing, Beginning; or 4 points, 3 points, 2 points, 1 point). The point is that the levels can be named anything as long as they are well defined. You can come to agreement as a class or allow groups of students to name their own levels. For the sake of this activity, reach some agreement on the levels that will be used. Have students write those levels across the top of the Evaluation Rubric. 4. The next step is to consider the criteria that will be rated. Think about the civics assignment described above. You would probably expect research (the number of sources explored might be a category), high-quality content, clear presentations, good collaboration, creativity, and so on. Solicit criteria ideas from the students, and agree on which four you will include in your rubric. Have students write the criteria on the Evaluation Rubric. If necessary, share the Evaluation Rubric Example (page 187) with students. 5. Have the whole class work on one criterion together before having students work individually or in groups to fill in the rest. Start with a description of the highest level, then the lowest, and then fill in the middle two. These descriptions for the criteria should be recorded on the Evaluation Rubric.

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Activity 23

Creating Project Based Learning Rubrics (cont.) Procedure (cont.) 6. Decide whether you will be assigning points to the levels. If not, the points column on the right side of the rubric can be ignored. The Evaluation Rubric is now ready for use with students.

Talk About It! ➜ Have students talk about how developing a rubric might help them as they work on a project.

Extension

Using Information

➜ Have students create rubrics for projects of their own design. They should develop the project description and the rubric to match. New copies of the Evaluation Rubric can be distributed for this activity.

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Activity 23

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Evaluation Rubric Directions: Decide on the names of the four levels. In the left column, enter the criteria for the assignment. Then, write the descriptions for the highest levels and lowest levels. Finally, fill in the middle descriptions. Points

Using Information

Criteria

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Activity 23

Student Reproducibles

Evaluation Rubric Example

Criteria

Exemplary

Advanced

Average

Needs Work

Points

Research

Research for the project is thorough, multiple strong sources were used, and all sources are cited.

Research for the project used a number of sources, and all sources are cited.

Research for the project used only one or two sources, and they are cited.

Sources are not cited.

10

Content

The content reflects critical thinking and includes new ideas based on the research.

The content reflects good thinking about the research.

The content begins to get at new ideas based on the research.

The content is a reiteration of the sources.

10

Presentation

The presentation was well planned and well executed.

The presentation was well planned, but there were some glitches.

The presentation lacked some planning, and there were some glitches.

The presentation lacked planning and was unclear.

10

Collaboration

All members participated regularly and responsibly.

Most team members participated regularly and responsibly.

Some team members participated regularly and responsibly.

The team did not work well together.

10

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Using Information

Directions: Decide on the names of the four levels. In the left column, enter the criteria for the assignment. Then, write the descriptions for the highest levels and lowest levels. Finally, fill in the middle descriptions.

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Activity 24

Developing a Project Based Learning Project Introduction

Procedure

In this culminating activity, students bring together everything they have learned as they work through a project, including formulating essential questions, planning the project using graphic organizers, searching the Internet, locating sources at their public library, using a variety of sources, evaluating information sources, citing sources, and checking copyright rules.

1. Let students know they will be planning and completing a research PBL assignment that will bring together a number of strategies, evaluation skills, questioning techniques, and other information literacy skills they have learned. Together, decide on the parameters of the project, and design the evaluation rubric. (Use the Evaluation Rubric (page 186) to create the project rubric.) You will want to decide on a time frame for the project, with benchmarks for project progress. Perhaps there is an area of study in your social studies or language arts curricula that lends itself to a studentgenerated project, offering some choice for students while still meeting standards.

Learning Outcomes ➜ Students will complete a PBL project. ➜ Students will use a variety of media, resources, research techniques, and strategies.

Materials ➜ copies of Evaluation Rubric (page 186; page186.pdf) ➜ copies of Project Based Learning (page 190; page190.pdf) ➜ copies of K-W-H-L Chart (page 61; page61.pdf) ➜ copies of Question Scale Questions (page 62; page62.pdf)

Using Information

➜ optional: graphic-organizer software

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2. After you and the students have designed the parameters of the project, have student groups begin working through the research process. Distribute copies of Project Based Learning (page 190). Tell students to use this sheet to plan their projects. 3. Remind students of the work they have done with developing essential questions. The first step is to develop a K-W-H-L chart using K-W-H-L Chart (page 61) and to fill in Question Scale Questions (page 62). 4. Remind students of the variety of resources available, including their local library, local experts, and online resources. Discuss the types of critical analyses the students should do of the content and the sources before including them in their projects. Make sure students are evaluating the websites they are using. 5. Remind students to cite all sources. You may want them to use the Citation Machine. 6. When the projects are complete, have students present them to their peers, community members, experts, or other students. You could even post the completed projects on the Internet, as long as students followed copyright rules! 7. Have students use the rubric you created together to evaluate their own projects as well as projects of their peers. Discuss how the rubric helped them as they created their projects.

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Activity 24

Developing a Project Based Learning Project (cont.) Talk About It! ➜ Ask student groups to discuss their work and what they might do differently for the next project.

Extension

Using Information

➜ Have students repeat this activity for independent projects. They should create rubrics, project plans, and essential questions. Once you’ve approved those, they can complete the research and share what they’ve learned.

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Activity 24

Student Reproducibles

Name: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________

Project Based Learning Directions: Fill in the information as you develop it. Team members: ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Project title: ____________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Essential question(s): ___________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ List possible research sources: ___________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ What is the first thing you will do to begin work on the project? ______________________________________________________________

Using Information

______________________________________________________________

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References Cited Ajayi, Luvvie. June 7, 2017. “How to Keep Your College Admission Offer: Start with Digital Literacy.” The New York Times. mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/opinion/how-to-keep-your-college -admission-offer-start-with-digital-literacy.html. Buck Institute for Education. 2015. “Gold Standard PBL: Essential Project Design Elements.” www.bie.org/object/document/gold_standard_pbl_essential_project_design_elements#. ———. 2017. “What Is Project Based Learning (PBL)?” www.bie.org/about/what_pbl. Burmark, Lynell. 2002. “Why Visual Literacy?” tcpd.org/burmark/Handouts/WhyVisualLit.html. Center for News Literacy. “Making Sense of the News.” Stony Brook University School of Journalism. www.centerfornewsliteracy.org. Chard, Sylvia. 2014. The Project Approach. projectapproach.org. Churches, Andrew. 2017. “Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.” edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom%27s+Digital +Taxonomy. Common Sense Media. 2017. “Kid-Safe Browsers and Search Sites.” www.commonsensemedia.org /lists/kid-safe-browsers-and-search-sites. Cornell University. 2017. “Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States.” copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm. Creative Commons. 2017. “What We Do.” creativecommons.org/about/. Cyberbullying Research Center. 2016. “2016 Cyberbullying Data.” cyberbullying.org/2016 -cyberbullying-data. Flood, James, Shirley Brice Heath, and Diane Lapp. 2015. Teaching Literacy Through the Communicative and Visual Arts, Volume II. New York, NY: Routledge. Gardner, Howard. 2017. “The Components of MI.” multipleintelligencesoasis.org/about/the -components-of-mi. George Lucas Educational Foundation. 2017. “Project-Based Learning.” www.edutopia.org/project -based-learning. Google. 2017. “Refine Web Searches.” Google Search Help. support.google.com/websearch /answer/2466433.

International Society for Technology in Education. 2016. “ISTE Standards for Students 2016.” www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students.

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Appendix A

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). 2002. “Bloom’s Taxonomy ‘Revised’ Key Words, Model Questions, & Instructional Strategies.” www.iupui.edu/~idd/course_design /bloom.doc.

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References Cited (cont.) Larimer, Sarah. June 27, 2017. "Johns Hopkins University Wants to Improve Civic Discourse. It Hopes a New Institute Can Help." The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point /wp/2017/06/27/johns-hopkins-university-wants-to-improve-civic-discourse-it-hopes-a-new -institute-can-help/?utm_term=.b3c88d95ca95. Library of Congress. 2008. “Using Primary Sources.” www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/. McClure, Laura. 2015. “25 Awesome Apps for Teachers, Recommended by Teachers.” blog.ed.ted .com/2015/09/19/25-awesome-apps-for-teachers-recommended-by-teachers/. McKenzie, Jamie. 2012. “Grazing the Net: Raising a Generation of Range Free Students.” The Question Mark. questioning.org/dec2012/covdec.html. ———. 2017. “The Questioning Toolkit—Updated.” The Question Mark. questioning.org/apr2017 /covapr.html. McTighe, Jay, and Grant Wiggins. 2013. Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Metiri Group and North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. 2003. “enGauge 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age.” pict.sdsu.edu/engauge21st.pdf News Literacy Project. 2017. “Our Mission.” www.thenewsliteracyproject.org/about/our-mission. Norton, Alan. 2011. “10 Tips for Smarter, More Efficient Internet Searching.” TechRepublic. www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-tips-for-smarter-more-efficient-internet-searching/. Ogle, Donna M. 1986. “K-W-L: A Teaching Model that Develops Active Reading of Expository Text.” The Reading Teacher 39 (6): 564–570. fu-ctge-5245.wikispaces.com/file/view/Ogle.pdf. Olshansky, Beth. 2006. “Teaching the Art of Writing.” Educational Leadership, 63 (Summer). www.picturingwriting.org/pdf/ASCDarticle.pdf. Olshansky, Beth. 2014. “Picture This: A Multimodal Approach to the Common Core that Engages All Learners.” The New Hampshire Journal of Education, XVII (Spring), 50–57. Partnership for 21st Century Learning. 2007. “Framework for 21st Century Learning.” www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework. Pierce, Dennis. June 28, 2017. "ISTE Participants Respond to Spike in Fake News Websites." THE Journal. thejournal.com/articles/2017/06/28/iste-participants-respond-to-spike-in-fake-news-websites.aspx. Real Time Statistics Project. 2017. Internet Live Stats. www.internetlivestats.com.

Appendix A

Record, Michael. 2015. “Implications of Graphic Organizers in an Age of Social Media.” New Directions for Teaching and Learning. Winter 2015 (144): 73–86. (Copyright of New Directions for Teaching & Learning is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)

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Richardson, Will. 2006. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

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References Cited (cont.) Rothstein, Dan, and Luz Santana. 2017. The Right Question Institute. rightquestion.org. Tapscott, Don, and Anthony D. Williams. 2006. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. New York, NY: Portfolio. Thornburg, David. 2004. “Inquiry: The Art of Helping Students Ask Good Questions.” Tofade, Toyin, Jamie Elsner, and Stuart T. Haines. 2013. “Best Practice Strategies for Effective Use of Questions as a Teaching Tool.” American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 77 (7): 155. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3776909/. United States Copyright Office. n.d. “Copyright Basics.” www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf. ———. 1961. “Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law.” www.copyright.gov/history/1961_registers_report.pdf. ———. 2017. “More Information on Fair Use.” www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html. United States Department of Justice. 2017. “Raising Awareness about Sexual Abuse: Facts and Statistics.” National Sex Offender Public Website. www.nsopw.gov/en/Education/FactsStatistics. Warlick, David. 2007. Classroom Blogging: A Teacher’s Guide to Blogs, Wikis, & Other Tools That Are Shaping a New Information Landscape. 2nd ed. Lulu.com. Wineburg, Sam. 2016. “Why Historical Thinking is Not about History.” History News 71 (2): 13–16. Wineburg, Sam, Sarah McGrew, Joel Breakstone, and Teresa Ortega. 2016. “Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning.” Stanford Digital Repository. purl.stanford.edu/fv751yt5934.

Appendix A

Zimdars, Melissa. November 18, 2016. “My ‘Fake News List’ Went Viral. But Made-up Stories Are Only Part of the Problem.” Washington Post Online. www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything /wp/2016/11/18/my-fake-news-list-went-viral-but-made-up-stories-are-only-part-of-the-problem.

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Teacher Resources and Digital Resources

Student Technology Skills Empowered Learner Digital Citizen Knowledge Constructor Innovative Designer Computational Thinker Creative Communicator

Appendix B

Global Collaborator

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Teacher Resources and Digital Resources (cont.) Finding Reliable Sources Determining reliable sources is an important step in research. This is especially true when you are researching controversial, political, or evolving topics. You should strive to accurately represent facts in a sensitive and well-rounded way. Use sources that are reliable so that you ensure accurate information. ➜ When researching, check your facts! Find two reliable sources to confirm each fact and list them in the margins of your notes. ➜ Or reference a highly reliable source such as Britannica, National Geographic, PBS, NPR, BBC, or Smithsonian. ➜ Avoid blog pages, personal websites, Ask.com, and Wikipedia. The following chart includes reliable sources for fact checking and research: Type of Information Abbreviations and Acronyms

Aggregators

Biographical Information

Corporate Information

Website Address

Abbreviations

www.abbreviations.com

Bartleby

www.bartleby.com

New York Public Library

www.nypl.org

Biography.com

www.biography.com

Britannica

www.britannica.com

D & B Hoovers

www.hoovers.com

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml

CIA The World Factbook

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/ the-world-factbook/index.html

Appendix B

Countries

Website Name

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Teacher Resources and Digital Resources (cont.) Type of Information

Website Name

Website Address

Dictionary.com

www.dictionary.com

Merriam-Webster

www.merriam-webster.com

YourDictionary

www.yourdictionary.com

U.S. Copyright Law

www.copyright.gov

Bartleby

www.bartleby.com

Project Gutenberg

www.gutenberg.org

Google Maps

www.google.com/maps

National Geographic’s Map Machine

maps.nationalgeographic.com/

Mathematics

Wolfram|Alpha

www.wolframalpha.com

Trademarks

International Trademark Association

www.inta.org

Word Histories

American Dialect Society

www.americandialect.org

Definitions

Fair Use

Famous Quotations

APPENDIX B

Maps

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Teacher Resources and Digital Resources (cont.)

How Should You Evaluate News and Websites? Accuracy—Compare the information to what you know and what else is available at other information sources. Authorship—Who is the author or sponsor? What do they stand for, and what is their agenda? Currency—Check the site for clues as to whether it’s timely and updated. How important is currency to your topic?

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APPENDIX B

Purpose—Is the author’s agenda compatible with what you want to do with the information?

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Teacher Resources and Digital Resources (cont.) Digital Resources To access the digital resources, go to this website and enter the following code: 92950542 www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/administrators/download-files/ The contents of the digital resources include the following folders:

Student Reproducibles This folder contains student reproducibles needed for the lessons. The filenames of the pages are included in the materials lists within the lessons.

Teacher Support Files

APPENDIX B

This folder contains the example student reproducibles. The filenames of these pages are included in the materials lists within the lessons. This folder also contains additional teacher resources, such as the charts and information from the appendices.

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Acknowledgments

No one writes a book alone. I traversed this particular journey with the help of many people, and in no particular order, I’d like to thank the following people: ➜ Emily Smith, the content director at Teacher Created Materials who asked me to work on this project and patiently answered my questions; ➜ Librarians Katie Yelinek, Elizabeth Adelman, Mary Broussard, and Kathy Schrock. Between the four of them, they answered my questions about search techniques, copyright and fair use, and analyzing sources; ➜ Hall Davidson, who graciously allowed me to update his original quiz for educators and checked it for us; ➜ Glen Warren, whose passion for copyright and fair use made for enjoyable conversation and learning; ➜ Beth Olshansky and Helmut Doll for their thoughtprovoking interviews on visual literacy and using technology to teach; ➜ my family, for providing me the time and space to write; ➜ and the numerous, unnamed sources who guided me in this project indirectly through teaching, talking, and inspiring.

APPENDIX C

Pamela Brunskill, Ed.M. www.pamelabrunskill.com Twitter: @PamelaBrunskill

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Acknowledgments (cont.)

Many people contribute to a book, whether they know it or not. I’d like to thank all the thinkers who continue to work on ideas of literacy to make teaching and learning more effective and meaningful to students and teachers. ➜ Many thanks to the contributors to this book (and its earlier editions years ago) who shared their work directly: Lynell Burmark, Hall Davidson, Bernie Dodge, Jamie McKenzie, and David Thornburg. ➜ Jan Alexander, Marsha Ann Tate, David Warlick, and the folks at Inspiration Software, Inc., generously gave permission to share website information and pages. ➜ Kathy Schrock, Gay Ducey, and Leni Donlan contributed thought-provoking interviews. ➜ Bonnie Marks, Chip Bertram, Bernajean Porter, and David Thornburg shared their thoughts with me as well. I hope this book is useful to you as you explore ideas of information literacy and help students expand their views on the topic.

APPENDIX C

Sara Armstrong, Ph.D. Berkeley, California

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Thank you for purchasing this eBook. This eBook is copyrighted. If you accessed this eBook without making payment, you should be aware that neither the author nor the publisher has received any compensation, and you may be in violation of state, federal, and/or international law. For further information about our products and services, please e-mail us at: [email protected].

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