Tech Tuesday: Students as Information Consumers and Creators
Inviting students into the research process is sticky, I know. Most of the time we shy away from research, dreading that inevitable paper to grade. But, what if we approached research with our students from a different stance? What if-- instead of the monster once-a-year Research Project--we considered an embedded approach?
When we invite students to adopt an inquiry stance in our classroom, research becomes a part of our daily dialogue. Asking questions, searching for information, browsing, collecting, evaluating, publishing--these are all processes in the inquiry classroom that work on varying scales.
Our students are bombarded with information 24/7/365. They forget (never learned) how to be curious and critical consumers. An inquiry stance to learning taps into our natural curiosities, building upon content area knowledge in relevant and authentic ways. A simple infographic (informational graphic) might make more of a lasting impression upon a student and his learning experience than a five page research paper or report.
Our students are bombarded with information 24/7/365. They forget (never learned) how to be curious and critical consumers. An inquiry stance to learning taps into our natural curiosities, building upon content area knowledge in relevant and authentic ways. A simple infographic (informational graphic) might make more of a lasting impression upon a student and his learning experience than a five page research paper or report.
How is it done? Invite students to collect and categorize data for authentic purposes. In science, what if a lab experiment resulted in a graphic representation of the reactions, observations, and data students collected? In English, invite students to identify a problem in their community, create a survey, and then publish their findings through a dynamic, visual platform. Math lends itself particularly well to integrating infographics through embedded bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts, and percentages. Pose a problem for students to consider, asking them to transfer their findings into a digital display, or invite them to be problem-posers.
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| Created at www.piktochart.com to publish the library's statistics for January |
Free Infographic tools such as Piktochart provide templates and tools for students to synthesize information and publish it digitally. Not only are they collecting and consuming information, but they must synthesize what it means in order to create a visually dynamic representation.
American Association of School Librarians (AASL) NETS-S
3.1.1 Conclude an inquiry-based research process by sharing new understandings and reflecting on the learning
3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess
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