This morning I read a great tweet by @onealchris
I think that the quote perfectly sums up the way in which our current learners use the web. This is an issue I am really keen to address in school, because in order for us to develop independent thinkers, we must first be able to encourage learners to understand the value, meaning, relevance and validity of the information they find online.
I decided to create a simple poster to encapsulate President Lincoln’s message.
The first poster I made did not include Lincoln’s year of birth/death. Just before I put it on the wall, I asked one of my senior classes (age 15+) what the poster meant. Worryingly only 25% seemed to get the joke. On further questioning, it transpired that the other 75% did not know that Abraham Lincoln died long before the birth of the Internet…
…so I added the dates!
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Mark, I think it’s really kind of scary that we’re in a low point now, in my opinion, with students’ information literacy and savviness. I think we were doing great for a while a few years ago in incorporating safety, media literacy, etc. but more and more I hear schools are not concretely incorporating these skills into curricula (or even as a separate course). I definitely think it’s time to rethink that – I know Lincoln really stressed this when he keynoted ed tech conferences way back when.
Agree completely Chris – I think there has been an assumption that learners will be naturally able to evaluate the information which they “Google”, but in my opinion this is simply not the case. I am looking at ways to address this at the moment…
I love your poster. May I borrow it? I’m speaking at BETT in January and think it would illustrate a point I want to make beautifully.
Hi Hilery,
Yes, of course, feel free
Mark