CEP 806 Inquiry Project 1: Do Students Really “Know” How to Evaluate Internet Websites

1. CEP 806 Inquiry Project 1: Do Students Really “Know” How to Evaluate Internet Websites Michelle Perry

2. Motivation Behind the Inquiry • Would the current generation be able to survive without the internet? • To the majority of the students in my classes, the internet is an irreplaceable part of their lives • Parents don’t need to “ground” a child anymore, they take away their technology • They use it for research, connect with other people, communicate, publish their ideas, and many times they exploit themselves on unfiltered sites such as facebook and myspace • Students are accustom to the “instant gratification” of the internet • Technology continues to get faster • The “information connection highway” continues to expand

3. Do students really know how to evaluate all the information that the internet provides for them? • What type of “readers” of the internet are they? (Bertram C. Bruce 2001) • Exegetical • Dogmatic • Agnostic • Dialectic • How can teachers help students to become “dialectic” readers?

4. When students perform research on the internet are they aware of the different search engines available or do they just use the “easy” or “popular” one? • What criteria do students employ to evaluate the websites that the search engine provides? • Do they ever use more than one search engine? • Do they base their choice of search engine on what they are researching?

5. Predictions • The most popular search engine used will be Google • This should not be surprising since it is now a word → to “google” something • Most students will not use wikipedia as a source • Teachers in the district have emphasized the unreliability of wikipedia as a resource

6. Students will demonstrate some understanding as to how to evaluate a website • Other classes have had them use the internet to perform research and have provided guidelines for use • Students may have developed their own set of guidelines to evaluate a website since the internet has become such a major part of their lives

7. Why is it important that my students develop an understanding of how to evaluate a website? • In science, as in many fields, there is a constant influx of information. • The students need to be able to research information from reliable and current sources. • Since they will perform most of their research on the internet, they must be able to evaluate the websites they encounter • Even if students do not choose a science career, it is important that they learn how to evaluate information and its source.

8. Description of Inquiry Plan • The students will start the project by answering the following questions on a worksheet: • You are about to research stem cell technologies, what search engine would you use? • Start your search. Write the first 10 websites listed below: • Which one of the websites might you use for your report and why? • Now go to the two science databases listed on the Media Center website. Repeat your search and list the first 10 articles. • Which one of the articles might you use for your report and why?

9. After doing their own search, the students would work with their lab group to develop a rubric to evaluate websites. • This would incorporate both group discussion and full class discussion • Our guest speaker will be our head librarian who will discuss with the students what they should be looking for in their evaluations • The students will finalize their rubric • I will compile their rubrics into a final “class” evaluation form for internet evaluation which we will use for our first report.

10. Summary of Data • Class background: • Biology I class • All sophomores • Supposedly similar backgrounds in internet research • And the winner is … Every student selected Google as their search engine When asked why… Because it is “easy”

11. I was surprised by some of their logic as to which websites to use from Google: • “I would use stemcells.nih.gov because it seems to be a real site about the topic” • “I would use [various sites] because it has .edu so it is an educational site” • “all of them so I have a better chance of finding what I want” • “www.stemcells.com becuse it is the first website brought up and it is usually a sign of accuracy” • “Contractassay.com because it has big words which mean smarter people with more information”

12. Others provided deeper insight into their choices: • “I would use www.sciencedaily.com because the scientists reporting to this website are from Harvard and Columbia. I believe that these Universities are up-to-date on technology and research and they could provide me with more information.” • “I’d use advancedcell.com because it provides me with scientific papers, research, and updates. It also has many links. The site has a great fact sheet and a gallery. There are a lot of available options and links. • Another student had a similar comment on the site and also noted that the research was “actually done by scientists.”

13. When looking at the library databases (EBSCO Science and Facts On File) the students noted that most if not all of the articles could be used • Seemed to be from a “valid” source • Current • “straight forward” • “All about stem cells” • “Has all the information I need for a report” • “Scientists wrote the articles” • “All of the articles have titles which go along with the topic of my research.”

14. From here we started to discuss how we could “really” evaluate the sites and they were quick to offer criteria: • Credentials of the website owner • Accuracy of the information • Currency of information? • Validity • Students were quick to offer terms, but most could not provide explanations when they first started working in their groups

15. First going group to group and then as a class discussion, it was realized that students knew what they might look for, but they did not know what it necessarily meant. • When I asked one group what they would look for under credentials, one student responded “I don’t know because I don’t know what credentials are.” • None of the groups could completely describe what should be present if a website was “valid” • Most defaulted on saying that the information present was “valid” – I continued to ask what that would entail and continued to receive information such as the author’s credentials and an “.edu” or “.org” at the end of the URL

16. As our discussions continued, the students came to realize many of the items listed in the article “Searching the Web: New Domains for Inquiry” by Bertram Bruce (1999) • Anyone can make a website • Not all information on the web is relevant • Commercial websites are supported by people who want to make money • Not all websites are kept up-to-date • It is easy to copy information found on the web

17. Impact of the librarian as guest speaker • The students were prepared to ask questions since we had already discussed the topic • She helped clarify different categories for evaluation • Authority • Accuracy • Objectivity • Currency • Coverage • The students were prepared to be active participants during her presentation and she clarified many of the questions they still had

18. Using the five categories presented by the librarian, we were able to create a rubric with which the class can evaluate websites.

19. Emergent Ideas, Questions, and Lessons about How Students Find and Use Internet Information • Students have been “drilled” on what to look for in a site since elementary school. • This does not mean that they understand how to evaluate a site, it may just mean that they have memorized the different items • Many of them do not use the criteria that they have been repeatedly exposed to and rely on the website URL

20. Students, like most Americans, like the “easy” or “popular” route of internet search engines. • Many of them just go to the first site listed not realizing that sometimes companies pay to be priority listed • Unless another is provided by a teacher, the students stick to the search engine they are comfortable with • Some students may have achieved becoming agnostic readers of the web, however, most of them have not become dialectic readers

21. Since the internet is such a major part of students’ lives, it is important that they learn to view the information critically. • Not just memorize what they were told they should do but to understand what they should do with every website they encounter

22. Credits • Logos from • www.Google.com • http://Yahoo.com • http://Lycos.com • http://About.com • http://Space.com • http://Livescience.com • Graphics from • Microsoft office clipart