sandra d_inquiry project 1

8/14/2019 Sandra D_Inquiry project 1

1/23

Inquiry Project

Sandra L. Dubridge


2/23

Ideas, Predictions and Explanations

As a high school student the word research seemslike a overwhelming task.

Students have a difficult time understanding how tolook up reliable information and where to look upreliable information.

For my project I wanted to create a

student driven rubric that will allowstudents to quickly and easilydetermine if a website is reliable.


3/23

General Information

As stated in the Bertram Bruce article,Searching the Web: New Domains for Inquiry,

students have a vast amount of information they canaccess on-line. The trick becomes findinginformation that contains quality and relevance.

Within the rubric, I also wanted to incorporate theideas from the Johns Hopkins University articleabout being biased, staying current, producingreliable credentials and authorship.
https://angel.msu.edu/section/default.asp?id=MRG%2D080812%2D113647%2Ddwong%5Fmsu%5Feduhttps://angel.msu.edu/section/default.asp?id=MRG%2D080812%2D113647%2Ddwong%5Fmsu%5Fedu


4/23


My project started as a class discussion on

the element Iron and its different uses.We went to the computer lab and I asked the

students to look up information on the

element Iron and its different uses.

The students had to document the sites they

visited and what information they obtained

form each site.


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Within my group we all made predictions that

the students would use Google to get a list ofreliable websites to use for their project.


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We also agreed that many of students would

use a reliable website but would unable toidentify reasons why it was reliable.


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9/23

Description

As the students worked on their project, I

figured we would stop periodically and talkabout what websites they were looking at

and why they were reliable.


10/23

Description

The problem came as soon as we got to the

computer lab.

Very few students used Google or any other

search engine for that matter to look up

websites that would provide them withinformation on Iron.


11/23

Description

Instead, the majority of students went to the website

Wikipedia as their only source for information.

The idea of looking through multiple websites that a

search engine provided seemed silly to them.

Why take the time to look at so many different sites

when all the information they needed was right at

their fingertips on Wikipedia.
http://www.wikipedia.com/http://www.wikipedia.com/


12/23

Student Data

Please click here to watch a short video

on why my students and even fellowteachers use Wikipedia to gather

information.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGbZbeLe_Rwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGbZbeLe_Rw


13/23

Student Data

Shown are the three websitesthat the students claimed to usemost often when doing

research.

In nearly every class Wikipediawas used most frequently tolook up research relatedinformation.

Students claimed that theinformation on Wikipedia waseasier to understand, easier tonavigate through, and wasindeed reliable.

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1stHour

2nd

Hour

3rd

Hour

4th

Hour

Wikipedia

Google

Yahoo


14/23

Student Data

Many students claimed that Wikipedia was easy to

use.

I think the Bruce article on New Domains explains

why students use a website such as Wikipedia. The

size of the web can be very overwhelming and the

sheer volume of information can be frustrating. By

going to a website they are familiar with, they do not

need to spend time looking at hundreds of websites.


15/23


16/23

Student Data

At this point I seemed to be so far from my original goal ofcreating a rubric for reliable sources.

I was totally shocked by the outcome of my project. All thistime and effort and the only real thing I had to show for it wasthe fact that students and teachers have gone unchecked usingWikipedia for everything they do!

One student even said,

If its not on Wikipedia its probably not worth looking up.

-Kayla Anderson


17/23

Emergent Ideas

Although I was frustrated, we sat down the

next day and I was determined to create myrubric and make the students more aware of

how to search for information.

I also reread the Johns Hopkins University article on EvaluatingInformation Found on the Internet, to make sure and include

similar criteria for my classroom discussion.


18/23

Emergent Ideas

I started by opening Wikipedia and searchingfor the element Iron.

I demonstrated to the students how easy it isto change any piece of information simply byediting the page to make it say whatever Iwanted it to say.

We then discussed why Wikipedia was notreliable and that there were better websitesavailable.


19/23

Emergent Ideas

As a group we used the digital projector to find a

website that was reliable, such as the

American Chemical Society website, and looked upinformation about the element Iron.

We discussed several reasons why the it was

reliable and using the American Chemical Societywebsite the students brainstormed ways to check

and see if other websites were reliable.
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/contenthttp://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content


20/23

Emergent Ideas

I have learned that by having the studentsgenerate the ideas they have ownership overthe process and a much higher level ofcommitment.

After reviewing the American ChemicalSociety website the students generated a listof requirements for a website to beconsidered reliable.


21/23

Emergent Ideas

Characteristics of Reliable Websites:(Created by St. Louis High School Chemistry Students)

3. You should be able to find where the website comes from.

4. There should be an author for the website.

5. The author should have available contact information.

6. The websites usually produce better information when they

end in .org, .edu or .gov7. There should be information on when the website was last

updated.

8. The information should not favor one side or the other.


22/23

Emergent Ideas

We then looked at websites that helped

explain if a website was reliable or not. Thestudents even found templates used to

evaluate websites.

Some of the websites included:

American Library AssociationCornell University Library

UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops
http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/greatwebsites/greatwebsitesforkids/greatwebsites.cfmhttp://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webcrit.htmlhttp://lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.htmlhttp://lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.htmlhttp://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webcrit.htmlhttp://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/greatwebsites/greatwebsitesforkids/greatwebsites.cfm


23/23

Emergent Ideas

Using the criteria that the students generated and

actually understand, I am hoping we can continue to

produce quality research and incorporate reliablewebsites into our assignments.

I would like to continue this process in my classroom

for the next couple of weeks and have the studentscreate an actual website reliability worksheet that

we can be used for the rest of the year.

sandra d_inquiry project 1

Documents