Key Points in Chapter 1 of Technology in its Place
Technology in its Place - Chapter 1
The three central points Debbie Abilock, librarian at the Nueva School for gifted and talented students in San Francisco, makes in her article “Using Technology to Enhance Student Inquiry” are:
1. Librarians should be utilized in the curriculum development equation.
Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Librarians are often sadly underutilized in our schools. Yet, Who is better poised to advance the cause of developing information literate students than our librarians? Are they not, after all, educators too?
“New technologies such as the Internet give students access to literally millions of documents (Jukes, Dosaj, Macdonald, 2000). Sifting through all that the Internet has to offer is a daunting task. Why not call on those who are trained information sifters? Leaving librarians out of the loop is detrimental to the entire process of education.
2. Information literacy equals metacognition. “The essence of information literacy encompasses processes such as clarifying the task, locating appropriate materials, making decisions related to their authenticity, organizing the ideas, using the information to address real life issues, and then evaluating what has been produced” (Jukes, Dosaj, Macdonald, 2000). Oftentimes one does not consider that in researching, one is evaluating not only the information at hand, but periodically detaching oneself from the process in order to evaluate this process.
3. Role-playing and collaboration are essential to deep understanding. “From their investigations students learned to describe the past through the eyes of those who were there” (LeBaron, Collier, 2001). This quote from Debbie Abilock is the key to a constructivist view where learning is subjective but where, with the aid of others, one gradually places oneself in another’s shoes. This process develops and grows a person.
Sources
Jukes, I., Dosaj, A., & Macdonald, B. (2000). net.savvy: Building information literacy in the lassroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
LeBaron, J., & Collier, C. (2001). Technology in its place: Successful technology infusion in schools.San Francisco: Jossey-
posted by Brigitte Melton @ 11:55 PM
3 Comments:
I used the same key point about librarians that you did. We discussed how helpful librarians can be in an early class. I try to make an effort to utilize her information whenever possible.
While I was in school the students didn’t have much contact with the librarians. To make matters even worse research skill were rarely taught by the classroom teachers. Finally when I was in High school I had the opportunity to learn how to properly use multiple resources to research a topic. Things have gotten better since I was in school; children in elementary school spend their “special” period in the library once a week. During this time the students learn about the different resources that are available and how to find them. While this is a dramatic improvement there is still minimal collaboration between the teachers and the librarians. It really is a shame that such a great resource is not being used to its fullest extent.
I really liked how you included the point on perspective, walking in another persons shoes. All too often we view things too narrowly so it is very important that students put themselves in other peoples’ place to gain a better understanding of why they act or think in a certain way.
Good comments.
I wanted to point out again what Glenn pointed out - "walking in someone else's shoes". Each of us should do this and especially our students.
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