I have very savvy 8th graders. I have caught them using their iPhones in class to get answers! Whenever I have assigned them research topics and allowed them to use the internet I am disappointed. Instead of researching, I catch them checking their Facebook pages or the sports scores.
When I do get them on task I find they only know the very first step of internet research: They know how to google. After they press enter, they think they are done. They have a very minimal capacity for figuring out which sources are at their level, which ones are appropriate (not Wikipedia!!!), and which ones will best help them in their specific quest.
This concerns me deeply as I have spent most of my professional life as a Research Coordinator. Luckily, for me, I feel I learned how to research first, and then later, when google came into the picture, I was able to integrate it into my research methods. My students, however, grew up on google. .
When you google, you google for the answer. Rarely does one google to learn. That is to say, if I ask, what is the capital of X, most people I know would google “capital of X,” and read the first entry’s summary to give me the answer. Back in the olden days, you’d have to get an encyclopedia, or a map, to find the answer, or maybe you’d call a friend who has visited X. You’d probably learn something else about X in the process. Like, where it is in the world, or what it is most well know for, etc. Unfortunately, google has cut out the process of research and this is truly a shame for it is in the process that the memorable things are discovered.
When I do get them on task I find they only know the very first step of internet research: They know how to google. After they press enter, they think they are done. They have a very minimal capacity for figuring out which sources are at their level, which ones are appropriate (not Wikipedia!!!), and which ones will best help them in their specific quest.
This concerns me deeply as I have spent most of my professional life as a Research Coordinator. Luckily, for me, I feel I learned how to research first, and then later, when google came into the picture, I was able to integrate it into my research methods. My students, however, grew up on google. .
When you google, you google for the answer. Rarely does one google to learn. That is to say, if I ask, what is the capital of X, most people I know would google “capital of X,” and read the first entry’s summary to give me the answer. Back in the olden days, you’d have to get an encyclopedia, or a map, to find the answer, or maybe you’d call a friend who has visited X. You’d probably learn something else about X in the process. Like, where it is in the world, or what it is most well know for, etc. Unfortunately, google has cut out the process of research and this is truly a shame for it is in the process that the memorable things are discovered.
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