Search vs. Research
Search is utilitarian and objective driven. You search for the location of a restaurant or you look up the hour a movie starts. Search is black and white…answer oriented. Research on the other hand is about shades of grey and is more about figuring out what questions you should be asking than it is answering them. Professor Guy Claxton says that Research requires, “a tolerance for confusion, hanging out in the fog, allowing questions to become difficult and complex before they begin to give up a result.” (Grant)
I sat with a student today helping them research an essay question for a Dual-Credit class they were taking. We were using the Miller Library at WNMU and finding it very frustrating to look through article after article without finding the exact information we needed to answer the essay question. But I shared with the student that research was often like looking for a needle in a haystack and that you often don’t really know what you are looking for until you find it. Research requires a little skimming, a lot of reading, and “the chasing of rabbits”. Sometimes the best sources are in unlikely places.
Grant, Ian. “Search vs. Research.” Encyclopedia Britannica Blog. Sept. 8, 2008. Web. June 6, 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/09/search-vs-research-britannica-hosts-a-debate-on-the-issue/>
Cell phones in the Classroom
The problem is that a phone is just not a phone these days. Cell phones are miniature, portable, computers…in addition to being a verbal/textile communication device. I allow and even encourage my students to use their cell phones to place reminders on their day-timer/calendars, to record audio reminders, to use a calculator, to listen to their vast libraries of music, to set an alarm, to use the web browsing capabilities to Google and access the web. All of these uses and more are perfectly allowable in my classroom. The problem arises when my students want to cross over into the communication functions of the cell phone, ie.: the problem is when the phone is used as a phone. Because this kind of communication is “hidden” and “unaccountable” and too often serving merely a social agenda. How often does a student text another student in the middle of class to ask their advice on applying the Pythagorean Theorem? So, I can find a hundred uses of Cell Phones as Computing/Media devices, much like any computer. It’s the social/communication functions for which I struggle to find redeeming educational use.
Games from Spree Learning
I liked the game called “Green Globs and Graphing Equations”. I find that students are very often bored with the graphing section of Geometry. This game brings some fun into the equation. However the link was broken when I tried to actually play the game. Another game I thought worth the effort was called “The Curfew” and it is a role-playing, decision making came. This might be good as a writing prompt for Language Arts or a tie-in to a lesson on Social Studies lesson on Civil Liberties. The game took a while to load though, so I’m not sure how easy or practical, or reliable it would be to use. I also like the whole category called “Critical Thinking”. It had a number of puzzle solving and logic building games. Of course I enjoy these games myself, but I’m not sure all my students would enjoy them other than for the novelty of playing a game in class. All in all, a lot of good resources and games.
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