According to the National Forum on Information Literacy
(NFIL), information literacy is “a learner centric instructional template that,
if applied strategically, can foster the development of independent,
self-sufficient learners.” So it makes perfect
sense to teach students how to effectively define, access, evaluate, manage,
integrate, create and communicate information. And because technology has
infiltrated almost every aspect of our lives, it is important that our students
know how to use technology to develop these skills.
I used the NFIL infographic categories (please see below) to
explore some technology tools that I could utilize in my classroom. For this tech play, I was aiming to find
tools appropriate for the fourth to sixth grade age level. I attempted to find both computer and smart
phone options (specifically iphone since that is what I currently own) that incorporated
the different learning styles of my future students. Some categories were easier to search for than
others, but I was able to find tools for each and have listed and
described some of my favorites below.
To explore technology tools for media literacy I tried a
few different online searches. All the
searches for the broad category “Media Literacy” left me pretty empty-handed so
I moved to the subcategories. I began
with “Visual Literacy” and found an amazing blog called The
Book Chook by searching with the term “visual literacy activities for kids”. The post provides examples of online
resources that support visual literacy.
Two of my favorites that I could see using in my classroom were Howtoons and Origami Kids. I liked Howtoons because it used dynamic visuals
to show kids how to build all sorts of things and Origami Kids because it used
easy step-by-step visuals to create a variety of origami art. Both of these websites would be great for
both visual and kinesthetic learners. Origami Kids also had some
instructions with videos that had narration for auditory learners, but I do have some hesitation because there are advertisements on the site that may not be something I want the kids to have to see. Another thought to improve visual literacy was
to use a photo sharing website, like Shutterfly,
and have students create picture books of their own. For the smart phone, Scribble could be used
to create images to accompany stories and Animoto could also be used to
visually tell a story through pictures.
I didn’t focus too much on “Computer Literacy” since most kids already
are pretty knowledgeable with computers by fourth grade, but there were two
sites that had lots of different activities that I thought I may be able to
incorporate into lessons: http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/c/students
and http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/clf/tguidesitemap.htm.
I liked the Macmillan site because it offered a variety of computer activities
related to different readings. I didn’t
like that the actual computer literacy lessons look a bit outdated, but it
could still give me lots of ideas to bring into class. The Scholastic site offered a variety of
computer activities covering different content areas that could be a lot of fun
for students while they also learn.
The next information literacy category to tackle was “Research
and Library Skills”. This was probably
the easiest search because the very first term I used “how to develop internet
research skills” gave me a great website called Kids Computer
Lab. It has tutorials and activities
aimed at improving online research skills, using primary and secondary sources,
documenting online sources, school reports, and school presentations. Lo and behold it also has tutorials for
computer skills so it ties into the “Media Literacy” category too. I also
searched “tools to develop internet research skills” and found another
fantastic website called Edudemic that
suggested sites such as Boolify Project,
which visually shows the Boolean search process, and KidRex, which is a safe search engine designed
for kids.
The “Critical
Literacy” tool search was a bit trickier but through perseverance I was able to
find Learn421
by first searching “critical thinking online tools” and then clicking on
related searches “critical thinking problem solving tools”. Some of the online resources for creative
thinking included How Big Really, Kids House, Edheads, and Storyline Online. Learn421 also provides online resources for
research and information fluency, creativity and innovation, and digital
citizenship so I could use it to locate a variety of sites to utilize in my
classroom (needless to say I was very happy about this find!) I’m sure that there are a lot of apps that
could help develop critical literacy skills but the one I found called
Creatorverse was pretty neat. I didn’t
find anything specifically for the “Critical Reading” subcategory, but I
figured that could be done pretty easily by finding any reading online and providing
assignments that have students dig deeper to enhance clarity and comprehension.
Finally I
searched for “Information Literacy” tools.
For the subcategory, “Copyright” I thought it was important to teach
students how to correctly cite their sources so in addition to Kids Computer
Lab and Learn421 websites that discussed this, I found two options online EasyBib and Citation Creation by doing an
online search for “citation tools”. There
is an even an EasyBib app on the iphone where you can scan the book’s barcode
and automatically have the correct citation.
I searched “teaching kids online safety” to look for tools for “Security
and Privacy”. The search, surprisingly,
was unsuccessful because I couldn’t find anything that would be interesting for
the kids. A lot of the information was
geared towards parents, not the students.
I did discover Educational
Freeware and it gave some online resource options for different age groups,
but then I remembered recently discussing the website Common Sense Media
and I found a plethora of tools available there regarding internet safety. Some of my favorites were the videos, toolkits,
and the Digital Passport suite that I could easily and effectively use to help
my students learn how to become responsible technology users.
I know this
post might be information overload (no pun intended) but I think it is so
important that students develop skills in all areas of information
literacy. Having these skills and
knowledge will only benefit these kids both now and in their future so I really
didn’t want to leave out any category. I
also sought out tools that engaged visual, auditory, kinesthetic and
combinations of learning styles. I don’t
think researching online should replace researching in libraries, but I do
think it can enhance it. I also don’t
think “Media Literacy”, “Critical Literacy” and “Information Ethics” should
solely be taught with technology either.
I do think, however, that incorporating these tools that I’ve just
discussed will be a great start to foster the development of independent, self-sufficient learners
and I am excited to see the results when I begin teaching.
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