My students at 11 years of age are spending 3-6 hours per day online. For some, they spend more hours online than they do in the classroom. As an educator, I have a responsibility to teach critical viewing.
Once again, I taught a lesson where content was secondary to critical thinking. As an introduction to First Nations, we have been viewing Ice Age Columbus. (If you decide to use this film, please preview it carefully. Not all scenes are suitable for a younger audience). The documentary is current and gripping. I can't thank my board enough for allowing access to You Tube. I've been following a discussion group on Classroom 2.0 and was surprised to see how many districts have blocked access to valuable information.
After watching the first 2 clips, we watched the third with this question in mind: How can we trust the validity of what we are viewing?
We discussed the meaning of validity and then the students jotted down clues from the film that would allow them to trust and accept the information as valid. They generated the following:
1. real scientists are named
2. universities are named
3. locations and real evidence(artifacts) were presented.
4. cool words (i.e. scientific terminology)
5. research is mentioned
6. the source of the film was identified
7. the film came from a reputable company (Discovery Channel)
We then watched a clip from a second documentary on the same topic, also found on You Tube. The information in the film was accurate, but all of the above was missing. My students realized that while many facts were presented and the film appeared to be true, it was less trustworthy because the source of the information could not be verified.
We then went one step further; we decided to check the credentials of one of the scientists in the first documentary. We googled him, found his credentials, - he did indeed work at the university mentioned. We read about his accomplishments and then saw that we could contact him.
21st century educators provide real world opportunities for learning. Technology allows us to work outside the four walls of the classroom on a daily basis if we so choose. My students are now viewing the rest of the documentary recording questions that they would like to ask the scientist. In the past, I would have had my students record questions. In the past, I would have provided them with answers - to the best of my ability, perhaps with inaccuracies. Today, my students can email or Skype, pose questions to the most knowledgeable source and receive a real-time response. They can take charge of their own learning. My role is to provide them with the skills and the tools to seek their own answers.
Once again, I taught a lesson where content was secondary to critical thinking. As an introduction to First Nations, we have been viewing Ice Age Columbus. (If you decide to use this film, please preview it carefully. Not all scenes are suitable for a younger audience). The documentary is current and gripping. I can't thank my board enough for allowing access to You Tube. I've been following a discussion group on Classroom 2.0 and was surprised to see how many districts have blocked access to valuable information.
After watching the first 2 clips, we watched the third with this question in mind: How can we trust the validity of what we are viewing?
We discussed the meaning of validity and then the students jotted down clues from the film that would allow them to trust and accept the information as valid. They generated the following:
1. real scientists are named
2. universities are named
3. locations and real evidence(artifacts) were presented.
4. cool words (i.e. scientific terminology)
5. research is mentioned
6. the source of the film was identified
7. the film came from a reputable company (Discovery Channel)
We then watched a clip from a second documentary on the same topic, also found on You Tube. The information in the film was accurate, but all of the above was missing. My students realized that while many facts were presented and the film appeared to be true, it was less trustworthy because the source of the information could not be verified.
We then went one step further; we decided to check the credentials of one of the scientists in the first documentary. We googled him, found his credentials, - he did indeed work at the university mentioned. We read about his accomplishments and then saw that we could contact him.
21st century educators provide real world opportunities for learning. Technology allows us to work outside the four walls of the classroom on a daily basis if we so choose. My students are now viewing the rest of the documentary recording questions that they would like to ask the scientist. In the past, I would have had my students record questions. In the past, I would have provided them with answers - to the best of my ability, perhaps with inaccuracies. Today, my students can email or Skype, pose questions to the most knowledgeable source and receive a real-time response. They can take charge of their own learning. My role is to provide them with the skills and the tools to seek their own answers.
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