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Lesson Plans
Literacy
Enhance
Literacy, Comprehension & Civic
Action
Literacy
for Democracy
Build Inquiry,
Critical Research and Analysis
Asking
Research Questions
Standards-Based
Testing
Connect
with Local Offices and the Internet
Community
Health and Content Standards
Explore Your Community
Social
Capital
Service
Learning and Civics
Assessing
for Learning
Community
Health and Content Standards
School
Violence and Local Government
Critical Social
and Civic Capital
Social
Capital
Assessing
for Learning
Practice Thinking
and Writing Skills
Improving
Student Work
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KAT's
Turn on Technology
Every educational journal and newsletter these days scents to have
an issue dedicated to "technology." Perhaps its reassuring
to know that KAT connects here too. KAT has its own website at http://pa.lwv.org/kat/ which
encourages user participation at several points. KAT advocates use
of the Internet for focused research and communications, and is developing
sonar student resource materials on CD ROM format.
KAT TIPS
on the INTERNET:
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Of course, KAT has its own spin on using technology.
KAT's approach to Internet ease and to other advancing communications
is unusually simple. It's consistent with our approach to all
other sources of information:
Keep
Analyzing and Thinking!
Just as textbooks mid newspapers have their own biases
and errors, so too do electronic sources of information.
In fact. there is leas "screening" between trade's
and the Internet than between readers and many print sources,
since publishing and distribution is relatively inexpensive
and easy on line. It is always appropriate inquire about
the qualifications of authors to treat a
topic and to question the evidence and reliability of
data and arguments presented. Ask yourself how you might test
the claims made or verify the data provided
by the site.
Your
brain is the main litter between Internet pollution and
you!
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Just as it's sometimes useful to browse in the more without
committing yourself to a particular purchase, it's fun and interesting
to browse the Internet. And do you renumber how long it took
you to "know" your way around a library? Getting
familiar and comfortable with the organization (or disorganization,
as some writers call it) of the Internet before you're really
desperate for an item. can help position you to find what you're
looking for more efficiently at some later time. But be forewarned
that on your trip to the Internet. somebody might have rearranged
the aisles and shelves. It may he hard to retrace your steps
and retrieve information you thought you saw. So make sure you take
notes as you roam along! The electronic bookmark is
another way to keep tabs on a site to which you want to return. |
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With all the links available. its easy to get detoured off
your main course, and lose your focus. Following your curiosity
is one of the joys of Internet travel, but it is important to discipline
your impulses. Follow links in a systematic way, explore carefully,
and use trail markers and a research or study sheet of some sort
to keep you oriented to your goal. Teachers should help
students stay focused by developing, or helping students develop,
a set of research questions to guide their exploration. |
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It is easy to be attracted by "cool" links that offer
sound and graphics. These links may be the result of
an agreement or deal between websites, and may have nothing to
do with the topic students are researching. Linking
around is a little like flipping channels on the TV—you
browse. but you don't study. One down-side of surfing the Net
is that it is indeed a SURFace skimming operation: students are
more apt to get a superficial glimpse at a lot of things without
getting any depth on the questions under review. In addition
to the research guides mentioned above, teachers can guide
children to particular sites and tasks relevant to the KAT problem
they are studying. |
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Try to remember that, for KAT purposes at least. computer technology
is not an end in itself, but rather a tool to serve a conscious
research or civic purpose. Don't succumb to the temptation to
use it instead of more appropriate research and communications
tools, or to substitute it because other tools might be a little
more difficult to access. Ask yourself ahead of time, for
what purpose do we want to use the Internet? |
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It's possible that the information you seek may be more efficiently
found in a specialized dictionary, or even an old encyclopedia.
Too often, one runs into topic searches on-line that
seem to be "pushing" or advertising particular listings and
the naive Internet surfer may get a skewed idea of what is available
on the subject of interest. Don't overlook traditional resources
in the excitement of being wired! |
Centerfold Lesson 1
Centerfold Lesson 2
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