Since the 2019-2020 school year marks the 10th
Anniversary of this blog, on Fridays, I’m resurrecting and updating old posts
that sparked a lot of conversation or that still have a lot to offer people
teaching or writing nonfiction. Today’s essay is the final post in a six-part
series that originally appeared in spring 2016.
Because
it’s difficult to create authentic, self-driven research experiences for early
elementary students, I’m sharing the last of my ideas for activities that will
allow K-2 students to develop research skills, such as visual literacy and
information literacy, without actually doing research. As a result, they’ll be
ready to start doing authentic research in third grade.
When
students have solid visual literacy and information literacy skills (Scrolls
down to read previous posts on these topics.), they’ll be well equipped to
evaluate the accuracy and reliability of websites as they conduct research for
reports. Here are some suggestions that can help children assess digital
resources.
The
first thing young researchers should do is look at a website’s URL and identify
its domain name—the final three-letter abbreviation. The most common ones are
.com (company/commercial), .net (network), .biz (business), .org
(organization), .edu (education), and .gov (government). Then they should ask
themselves: “What’s the main goal of the people who created the website?”
For
the most part, websites that end with .com, .net, and .biz are businesses and
their main goal is to sell products or services so they can make money. Because
this is not the same as the students’ main goal, which is to gather accurate,
up-to-date information, these websites usually aren’t the best sources of
information.
On
the other hand, websites that end with .org, .edu, or .gov often have the goal
of sharing carefully vetted, up-to-date information, which makes them great
resources for students. For example, if a student is doing a report on the
circulatory system, the American Heart Association’s website is the perfect
place to gather information. And if a student is doing a report on the history
of their town, the local historical museum’s website is an excellent
resource.
As
students look at a website’s homepage, they should ask themselves: “What is the
first thing my eye notices when I look at this website?”
By
drawing on their visual literacy skills (See previous posts.), students can
judge the usefulness and reliability of the site. If their search for
“hippopotamus” leads to a website with a prominent logo for a well-respected
university or a world-renowned zoo, students can be confident that they’ll find
reliable information. But if the most dominant features are stuffed animals and
dangly hippo earrings for sale or a sad-looking hippo and a donate button,
students should be suspicious.
Young
researchers should also think about efficient use of their time. If they find
that evaluating a website is difficult at first glance, they may want to skip
the site and look for resources that are clearly good choices.
Using
the activities I’ve described over the last five weeks, students should be
ready to begin doing authentic, self-driven research on their own in grade 3,
but that doesn’t mean they will always make the right choices. Today,
information is literally at our fingertips, but learning to effectively evaluate,
compile, collate, and synthesize it takes time and practice.
