Transcript Slide 1

Five Things Digital Natives Cannot Do
(And What You Can Do To Help)
Dan Balzer, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
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What digital natives don’t do
well
What they tend to do instead
Turn a question into a query
Rush ahead toward an answer,
either grabbing the whole question
“as is” or missing an important part
of it
Choose the right database
Enter words or phrases into Google
Recognize information when they
find it
Rush past important information and
clues, continue to browse
Find better keywords
Stick with their original words and
browse
Verify the credibility of information
Accept what they find at face value,
hoping somewhere in the
information there is an answer
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Google ‘digital natives’ and the top hit is:
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
Digital Immigrant instructors,
who speak an outdated language
(that of the pre-digital age), are
struggling to teach a population
that speaks an entirely new
language.
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Our Data Sources
• Assessment validation study series conducted
since fall 2004
• Both Middle & High Schools participating
• Variety of instructional treatments
• Instruction and assessment of core 21st Century
Information Fluency knowledge and skills
• Embedded into larger research assignments
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Our measurement methods
• Types of assessment items: knowledge,
performance, and cognitive
• Online micro-module assessments (multiple choice
with scoring feedback)
• Self-diagnostic performance-based assessment
(Flash file)
• Summative performance-based assessment (Live
Internet)
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Investigating the practices of student researchers: patterns
of use and criteria for use of internet and library sources
Computers and Composition, Vol. 17, No. 3. (December 2000), pp. 309-328.
Training Students in Evaluating
Evaluating
Resources (n = 543)
information on the
60%Web:
50%
40%
How have college
learned to
10%evaluate Internet
0%information?
30%
20%students
Library
Training
Internet
Training
• Nearly 60% of all college students
surveyed have received library
training in evaluating traditional
resources, which came most
frequently from high school teachers
• “…about 30% of university students
have received training in evaluating
sources on the Internet, leaving a
surprising two-thirds of students
untrained and presumably inventing
their own criteria of evaluation.”
Source: http://www.citeulike.org/article/4466
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Translating a question
into a query
Verifying the
credibility of
information
Finding better
keywords
Choosing the
best database
Recognizing
information
that’s relevant
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1. Translating a question into a query
 Starts with a question or a problem to solve.
 Task: Translate a natural language question or statement
into language that is understood by a search engine.
 Search engines differ in how they process queries, but for
the most part, what works on one big commercial search
engine tends to work on the others.
 Search engines perform a variety of literal matching
functions with Boolean and special operators.
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1. Translating a question into a query
Which of the following is the most effective query
for 'find the top speed of earth's fastest animal'?
 speed fastest animal
 what is earth’s fastest animal
 top speed earth’s fastest animal
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1.Translating a question into a query
Research Findings (IMSA second semester sophomores)
 36% recognized the optimal query from a list of three
queries. Only 14% of incoming 9th graders at a local high
school identified the optimal query.
 31% grasped that search engines perform literal matching.
 17% regularly use natural language queries.
 12% misinterpreted the research question.
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What You Can Do To Help
Question to query tutorials
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What You Can Do To Help
Question to query checklist
1. How many key concepts (important ideas) are found in the
question?
2. How many key concepts will I search for?
3. What keywords are probably effective “as is?”
4. For which concepts are more effective keywords probably
needed?
5. Are there hyponyms or professional language for any of the
intermediate words?
6. Are there words that have multiple meanings?
7. Did I use any stop words or clutter words?
8. Did I spell the words correctly?
9. Did I put the most important words first?
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What You Can Do To Help
Challenge: What is the top speed of earth’s fastest animal?
1. How many key concepts (important ideas) are found in the
question?
2. How many key concepts will I search for?
3. What keywords are probably effective “as is?”
4. For which concepts are more effective keywords probably
needed?
5. Are there hyponyms or professional language for any of the
intermediate words?
6. Are there words that have multiple meanings?
7. Did I use any stop words or clutter words?
8. Did I spell the words correctly?
9. Did I put the most important words first?
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What You Can Do To Help
Challenge: How many buffalo are there in North America?
1. How many key concepts (important ideas) are found in the
question?
2. How many key concepts will I search for?
3. What keywords are probably effective “as is?”
4. For which concepts are more effective keywords probably
needed?
5. Are there hyponyms or professional language for any of the
intermediate words?
6. Are there words that have multiple meanings?
7. Did I use any stop words or clutter words?
8. Did I spell the words correctly?
9. Did I put the most important words first?
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Choosing the
best database
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2. Selecting an adequate database
 This failure occurs before submitting the first query.
 Task: Predict where expert information may be found.
 No search engine performs a live Internet search when you
submit a query. (Otherwise, how could they come back with
a page that’s not found?)
 That which is stored in one search engine’s database is
invisible to another search engine (also called Enterprise
Data)
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2. Selecting an adequate database
Research Findings
 When permitted, most students prefer to “Google” (anecdotes
from teachers)
 A recent poll at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
revealed that
90% of sophomores google more than half their searches;
32% of the students polled use Google almost exclusively.
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What You Can Do To Help
Choose the best database
1. What person would know the answer I am looking for?
2. Where would I find that expert?
3. Use Google/Yahoo to get there and then use the proprietary
search engine to go farther.
4. To find a relevant database use keywords like DATABASE,
ARCHIVE, INFORMATION in combination with subject matter.
5. Use Beaucoup.com to search for databases.
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What You Can Do To Help
Challenge: How many times has Funny Girl been
performed on Broadway?
1. What person would know the answer I am looking for?
2. Where would I find that expert?
3. Use Google/Yahoo to get there and then use the proprietary
search engine to go farther.
4. To find a relevant database use keywords like DATABASE,
ARCHIVE, INFORMATION in combination with subject matter.
5. Use Beaucoup.com or Google to search for databases.
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What You Can Do To Help
Challenge: Classical guitarist John Williams has
scored the music for only one motion picture.
What is the name of the movie?
1. What person would know the answer I am looking for?
2. Where would I find that expert?
3. Use Google/Yahoo to get there and then use the proprietary
search engine to go farther.
4. To find a relevant database use keywords like DATABASE,
ARCHIVE, INFORMATION in combination with subject matter.
5. Use Beaucoup.com to search for databases.
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Recognizing
information
that’s relevant
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3. Recognizing relevant information
 This failure occurs when a student looks at the results
returned by a search engine.
 Task: Match findings with expectations, evaluate relevance
 Information on the Internet is not always found in predictable
places.
 Computers are made for speed, which encourages haste.
 Hyperlinks and graphics can be distracting.
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3. Recognizing relevant information
Research Findings (junior honors students)
 36% were able to identify web pages that contain
supporting research facts from a selection of three
pages.
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What You Can Do To Help
Recognize relevant information
1. Practice reading snippets: Soccer Challenge III
2. Use the FIND Command
Challenge: Find the name of the poem that contains the
line to tell just what it knows
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Finding better
keywords
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4. Finding better keywords
 This failure occurs throughout the search process: before the
initial query is submitted and as students look at the results
returned by a search engine.
 Task: Select and try increasingly specific keywords
 Frequently, effective keywords go unnoticed in snippets.
 Our claim: Effective searching depends on keyword selection
more than any other factor.
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4. Finding better keywords
Research Findings (high school)
 14% of IMSA sophomores used alternate keywords
when searching.
 7% of junior honors students chose effective alternate
words to find information.
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What You Can Do To Help
Find better keywords
1. Practice with snippets and thesaurus: Soccer Challenge II
2. Practice with professional vocabulary: Soccer Challenge IV
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Verifying the
credibility of
information
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5. Evaluating credibility
 This failure occurs after information has been located.
 Task: Check the credibility of information, authorship
 Typically, students forego this decision altogether and
uncritically accept whatever information they found.
 Depending on which database the information was taken
from, information may be unedited, unendorsed and
inaccurate.
 Special operators (link:) makes external evaluation easier.
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5. Evaluating credibility
Research Findings
High school honors students
 0% were able to use special operators to evaluate the
credibility of a web page.
College students
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Investigating the practices of student researchers: patterns
of use and criteria for use of internet and library sources
Computers and Composition, Vol. 17, No. 3. (December 2000), pp. 309-328.
• Access, access, access
Evaluating
information on the
Web:
What makes a source
most desirable to
college students?
– “source is easy to understand” (1)
– “source is easy to find” (2)
– “source is available” (3)
• “When students seem to use sources
without discrimination, they are
probably using what is most
accessible… (no real search is
required)”
Source: http://www.citeulike.org/article/4466
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Investigating the practices of student researchers: patterns
of use and criteria for use of internet and library sources
Computers and Composition, Vol. 17, No. 3. (December 2000), pp. 309-328.
• …up-to-date or recently published
information (8)
Evaluating
information on the
Web:
What makes a source
most desirable to
college students?
• …the use of external support,
particularly from primary sources (11)
• …the reputation of the publication (5),
the author (17), and the publisher
(22)
Source: http://www.citeulike.org/article/4466
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What You Can Do To Help
Verify Credibility
External validation of content: Links to this site from other sites
Technique - link: http://www.edutopia.org
1. Practice using the link: operator Evaluation Challenges
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How, When and Where can skills be taught?
Performance skills require hands-on practice
Search challenges
Interactive tutorials
MicroModules (example: FIND COMMAND)
Search Wizard
When and Where can I teach these skills?
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keywords:
information fluency
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Professional Development Events
• Webinars
• Face-to-Face Workshops
• Conference presentations – ISLMA, IETC, IPA, ICE
• IMSA full circle resource kit (coming Fall 2006)
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Contact Us!
URL http://21cif.imsa.edu
General info [email protected]
Bob Houston [email protected]
Dan Balzer [email protected]
Carl Heine [email protected]
Dennis O’Connor [email protected]
Gautam Saha [email protected]
Thank you for participating!
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