Reflective Searching
I will confess that when I want some quick information or even when I am doing research, I will Google it, at first. With research, however, I will do more digging than accepting the first few websites that come up. I like to write things down, print items and make notes. Students do not like taking notes at all. They would rather use Google because they can just look it up again. When someone needs information, we will say "Google it." I remember when I would have a question for my mother. She would say to look it up. I would go to the dictionary or encyclopedias. (Quit laughing.)
In Terry Heick's article How Google Impacts the Way Students Think, the title alone scares me. Google having control of people's minds is not good. He made very good points. The following is so true to me:
"Having found an “answer,” rabid-Googlers are ready to “finish” the assignment.
In Terry Heick's article How Google Impacts the Way Students Think, the title alone scares me. Google having control of people's minds is not good. He made very good points. The following is so true to me:
"Having found an “answer,” rabid-Googlers are ready to “finish” the assignment.
Or are ready for more Googling (because Googling is easier than thinking)." The article Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, stated that "young scholars are using tools that require little skill; they appear satisfied with a very simple or basic form of searching (p. 14)." They do not want to spend the time looking. In How Teens Do Research in the Digital World, one statement that went along with the previous quote is, "Speed is their objection, not quality." and "They don’t know how to filter out bad information, and they are so used to getting information quickly, that when they can’t find what they are looking for immediately, they quit." Students (and it is happening adults, too) want their answers, so they can move on to something else. They do not research their research to see if it is true or not. I have seen a commercial about if it is on the internet, it must be true. Most of our students know that this isn't true, but are they willing to accept it so they will not have to do anymore digging?
Another statement from How Teens Do Research in the Digital World that stuck out: "Today's digital technologies do more to distract students than to help them academically." When students are using phones or tablets, there are ads, messages, Instagram and Snapchat popping up all the time. How can they get things done? A co-worker and I were talking about students researching today as a matter of fact. He mentioned the phrase, Google amnesia (digital amnesia). I looked it up (and yes, I used Google). I found a website, https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/digital-amnesia/, that talks about digital amnesia. Something that stuck out was that "memory had a sibling. Concentration." Another word that sticks out to me, is discipline. If students pay attention to what they are researching and really put forth effort, I think they figure things out. They will know what it is true. Sometimes, I do not give them enough credit.
Students should know there are other search engines and other ways to do research. It is up to us as teachers to show them.
We talk about how Google is messing up our students, but look at us using Google Classroom, Google docs, chrome books and other Google stuff. Big brother. Like I had written earlier, scary. (After I wrote this, I saw an episode of The Big Bang Theory when Howard thought the Air Force was following him.)
Students should know there are other search engines and other ways to do research. It is up to us as teachers to show them.
We talk about how Google is messing up our students, but look at us using Google Classroom, Google docs, chrome books and other Google stuff. Big brother. Like I had written earlier, scary. (After I wrote this, I saw an episode of The Big Bang Theory when Howard thought the Air Force was following him.)
Angela,
ReplyDeleteI agree that Google can be an asset and a hindrance. Not only do teens expect to find an answer quickly, when they do find the 'answer', the don't look any further or seek more information to give them a more well-rounded answer and the author of 'How Google Impacts the Way Students Think' recognized this. Google does seem to be taking over the education search engine world. Many school systems are adopting many parts if not all of Google for Education to help facilitate ease of access for educators and students alike. It offers so many apps that help integrate 21st century learning for our students. But Google isn't the ONLY search engine out there - there is Yahoo, Firefox, Enterprise just to name a few. 10-15 years ago I used Yahoo more for my image searches to enhance my science lessons because the images were more numerous and relevant than those I got on Google. I conducted a search using 3 different search engines on my computer and although the results were very similar, there WERE information options that differed.
Hi Angela, you and I share some of the same concerns about information searching. Like you I have also used Boolean operators and a typewriter. As you mentioned in those days we "looked up" information in dictionaries and encyclopedias. Now we are living in a whole new world as it relates to information. Our children and the students that we teach are now living in a different time in which they have to not only learn digital research skills but they also need to judge the quality of online information. I see this as a teacher issue and not a student issue. We have to shift paradigms from how we did research to now how our students must search for information and evaluate it. We must get smarter and learn the necessary skills to prepare our students to be information fluent. I agree with you that this must start at the elementary school level. I applaud my school district in this regard because they have implemented mandatory research skills instruction in their media center program from elementary to high school. Now teachers and media specialist are collaborating to teach students the information literacy skills that they will need to be an informed citizen.
ReplyDeleteExcellent observations! You hit the nail on the head in your reference to individuals wanting information so quickly, that they fail to evaluate the accuracy or credibility of the source. While the internet has provided us with such an abundance of information (credible and incredible), it has also created a culture of "Fake News" and "Alternative Facts".
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, as both scholars and educators, we have to be able to distinguish between best and the worse sources of information. Besides, there's a certain 'fulfillment' that we achieve when we find exactly what we "think" we are looking for--whether we know it's accurate or not.
While reading your post, I had many points of agreement with what you were saying. I too am someone who often turns to Google to find answers. I am somewhat ashamed to admit how Google has become so convent by using it on mobile devices, that it is somewhat a habit for a quick find. I agreed when you said it is up to us, as teachers, to show students that there are other search engines and other ways to do research. I am not saying that all Google is “wrong”, but exposing students to various accurate methods to find research is eminent. Google docs and various additions to Google has shaped the way educational functions occur in a modern classroom. Even though it is convenient and somewhat effortless, Google is not the only way to find answers, and I need to know and teach other methods of information wrangling. :)
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