Technology in the Classroom: Tools for Building Stronger Communities and Better Citizens

Kappa Delta Pi Record, Winter 2004 by Braun, Joseph A Jr

No matter how potential learning resources are identified, the authenticity and accuracy of information found on the Internet is always an issue. We want informed, not misinformed, citizens. Risinger (1998) provided a thorough set of guidelines for teachers' critical review of Internet material. In essence, you apply the same criteria used for any information source: who is the author, what are his or her qualifications, who published the material, and how relevant and up-to-date are the references.

Many teachers want to provide more structure to their students' learning experiences when using the Internet. Webquest is an inquiry-based curriculum design for online problem solving that has become very popular (Molebash and Dodge 2003; Dodge 2001; Milson and Downey 2001). In Webquest, students are engaged in a five-step learning experience using the Internet:

* an introduction with background information;

* a description of the task that awaits the student (a problem to solve or question to answer);

* a description of the process to follow in seeking a solution or an answer;

* a list of resources a student can mploy; and

* a conclusion page that provides closure to the task and shows how the student will communicate what he or she has learned.

Bernie Dodge, the creator of Webquests, has provided a great resource for learning how to create a variety of Webquests along with a rich repository of examples (see http://webquest.sdsu.edu/ materials.htm).

The computer is a powerful tool for storing, organizing, and manipulating information, whether it's text, numerical, visual, or audio data. Spreadsheet, database, and page layout applications were not specifically designed to help children become informed citizens, but they are, nonetheless, powerful tools for doing so when thoughtfully applied. Using data collected by 12-year-olds from three graveyards in South Africa, Paul and Kaiser (1996) pointed out several outcomes that students learned as they organized the data, developed their own hypotheses, and searched for answers employing the computational and representational properties inherent in spreadsheets. More recently, Drier and Lee (1999) described how spreadsheets could organize geographic information. Census data can be used to teach citizenship. The U.S. Census Bureau maintains a Web site with teaching materials that could easily be entered into a spreadsheet (www.census.gov/ dmd/www/schover.html). By doing so, students can quickly manipulate the data to find answers to questions posed in the materials. Moreover, they can create an array of graphs to represent the data.

Databases are another powerful computer-based tool that students can use to organize and manipulate vast collections of textual and numeric data. The development of skills such as data collection, question asking, and information processing is supported by research studies into students' use of computerized databases (Elder and White 1989). Most research studies of database instruction support an initial whole-group model of instruction followed by small groups and individual practice with various databases and search strategies (McCoy 1990). Students' learning reaches its highest stages when students actively participate in the design of the data base, collect the data themselves, and then develop questions and inquiry probes for other classmates or adults. Teachers could develop specific units in which databases are used to organize, store, and manipulate data. These units might focus, for example, on signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. A catalogue of Supreme Court decisions could be generated with variables such as defendant and plaintiff, issues before the court, or related cases. Hallmarks and major figures involved in the Civil Rights Era would be another database that students could learn to design and search.