“I tried that – it was hard”
That was the response from my sister in-law who was writing a collage paper yesterday about the influences of Christianity on the media. As I watched her googling away, I remarked she would never have survived 15 years ago. When she looked at me puzzled I explained that the Internet was just in its infancy, and most research was still done in things called libraries with books. “Oh yeah,” she responded. “I tried that. It was hard”.
While I’m excited that she (and all students) are able to access vast amounts of information and resources quickly and “easily” – I am also worried. We no longer “need” to teach the Dewey Decimal System, but we now need to teach how to look up multiple sources and to be able to check if the information is valid. That we’re not spouting someone else’s lies.
A common example is the Martin Luther King website that was set up by white supremisists (it really exists… but I don’t want to link to it here as I don’t wish to help them generate traffic). A great example to use in class is dhmo.org. DMHO – that chemical compound responsible for thousands of deaths a year. Di-hydrogen Monoxide. Found in poisons. A key component in erosion. A horrid substance that must be banned! H2O!!! We must eliminate it! Water! it’s horrible!
Wait… Water?
But with all silliness aside, misinformation is common. A couple of days ago I had a discussion with a fellow teacher. We were talking about lever classifications. They were certain that scissors were class 2 levers. I argued that it was class 1. I used their class displays and the mnemonic FLE123 to prove my point. They did a google image search for class 2 levers and pulled up a picture of scissors. There was only one – but they felt it was enough to prove their point. I pulled up wikipedia, enchanted learning, and many images all claiming scissors were class one. It wasn’t until the next day that my colleague agreed that I was right. Scissors were a double class one lever.
This was a learned adult. Using one image to prove their point. How do we teach a child to fact search and validate their information? While library searches were hard, the information came from trusted sources 95% of the time. Now searches are easy – but our students are easy prey for false information.
We no longer just need to worry about candy from strangers, we have to warn kids about information from strangers too…..
