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Inquiry Activities: Active Learning for Online Searching

This course explores effective online search techniques, critical thinking, and unusual queries through a variety of inquiry activities. Students learn to evaluate search analysis, execution, and evaluation.

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Inquiry Activities: Active Learning for Online Searching

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  1. Inquiry Activities: Active Learning for Online Searching Nancy Dennis, Outreach Librarian Salem State College Hanover, New Hampshire October 31, 2002 Inquiry Activities

  2. IDS 357 New Technologies for Information Retrieval • 3-credit undergraduate course. • Elective. • Text: Researching Online for Dummies by Mary Ellen Bates and Reva Basch. Inquiry Activities

  3. Inquiry Search Questions • Good searching techniques. • Critical thinking. • Unusual queries. • Full explanation of search analysis, execution, and evaluation. Inquiry Activities

  4. Where is Atkinson, Vermont? Inquiry Activities

  5. Researching Online Search Tips • Be flexible. • Try different approaches. • Recast search assumptions. Inquiry Activities

  6. Ask Jeeves. MapQuest. Plan A Inquiry Activities

  7. Plan B • Search engines? • General? • Meta? • Specialty?? Inquiry Activities

  8. “… just down I-89 from Montpelier” NOT Inquiry Activities

  9. Still in the game… Inquiry Activities

  10. These can’t be right… • Oprah Winfrey? • Morris? • Marie? • A song? Inquiry Activities

  11. Where is Atkinson, Vermont? • Fictional town. • Setting of the novel Songs in Ordinary Time. • Author: Mary McGarry Morris. • 1997 Oprah Winfrey Book Club selection. Inquiry Activities

  12. Inquiry approach = “Self-authentication” of search tips • Be persistent, flexible, and creative. • Revise the search. • Know when to stop. • Challenge initial assumptions. Inquiry Activities

  13. Authentic learning. Barbara Presseisen Nurturing thoughtfulness. Francis Schrag Augmenting basic cognitive skills. Charles Letteri Teaching college students. Robert Leamnson Supportive Student Learning Theories Inquiry Activities

  14. Creating Inquiry Search Questions • Encourage persistence, creativity, and flexibility. • Draw upon instructor’s search experiences. • Build in searching pitfalls. • Challenge students’ prior search assumptions. Inquiry Activities

  15. Lesson #1: Check spelling Where is James de Priest, Music Director and Conductor of the Oregon Symphony, appearing during the 2002-03 season?What is the closest he will come to Boston? Inquiry Activities

  16. Lesson #2: • Apply Boolean logic, phrase searches, and synonyms. • Switch the order of search terms. Inquiry Activities

  17. Can people get arthritis in their eyes? If so, how? Did the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich” accurately depict events as they occurred in real life? Inquiry Activities

  18. Lesson #3: • Recognize the need to gather preliminary information before proceeding. • Be persistent with tricky web sites. • Disregard extraneous information. Inquiry Activities

  19. October 17, 2001 The “Laundromat” Question • While at the laundromat this past Sunday between 8:30 and 10:30, l listened to a panel of two women and one man debating the merits of females coaching male sports teams. • The panel included: a female head basketball coach, a male former head of women’s soccer coach, and a female sports columnist. Inquiry Activities

  20. Laundromat, cont’d. • The female columnist strenuously opposed hiring women to coach boys. • What was her reasoning? How did the other panelists respond? Inquiry Activities

  21. Lesson #4: • Appreciate differing viewpoints on a topic. Inquiry Activities

  22. March 2002: Enron • Last week, the U.S. Government indicted the accounting firm Arthur Andersen over its dealings with ENRON. • Using newspapers, business periodicals, the EDGAR web site, and company web sites, find differing perspectives on what will happen to Arthur Andersen now. Inquiry Activities

  23. Lesson #5: • Look beyond traditional web sites for information. Inquiry Activities

  24. October 2001: Chinese Journalists • Last week, while listening to WBUR, a friend heard a report that some Chinese journalists had been evicted from the U.S. for laughing and applauding over the collapse of the World Trade Center. • Can you verify this news item? Inquiry Activities

  25. Lesson #6: • Some questions look easy, but are really quite hard. • Some questions look hard, but are actually quite easy. Inquiry Activities

  26. Is the smallpox vaccination safe? Where was the population center of the U.S. in 2001? Inquiry Activities

  27. Do fight clubs exist in real life? October 2001: Fight Clubs Inquiry Activities

  28. Fight Clubs, cont’d. • Has anyone commented on the similarities between the last scene in the 1999 movie “Fight Club” and the supposedly anti-corporate motives behind the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11? Inquiry Activities

  29. The “Detective” Question • Students: • Formulate own search questions. • Verify facts of a controversial web site. • Apply a full range of searching techniques. • Apply higher-level evaluation insights. Inquiry Activities

  30. “The Tapping of the Story” • Bryan Dean Watson’s “The Tapping of the Story” advanced his theory of the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981. • Locate, read, and evaluate the veracity of this document. Inquiry Activities

  31. “The Tapping of the Story”, cont’d. • Exhaustively and creatively attempt to authenticate all details. • Can you substantiate Watson’s conspiracy theory? Inquiry Activities

  32. Applying Inquiry Questionsin an English Composition Class • Sharpen students’ searching skills. • Reinforce course themes. Inquiry Activities

  33. Example #1: • Why did China try to “pull the plug” on Google? Inquiry Activities

  34. Example #2 • In Orwell’s 1984, the destruction and redefinition of vocabulary leads to control of what people may think. • Is this believable? • Could this really happen? Inquiry Activities

  35. Example #3 • During the week of September 8, 2002, the Boston Globe printed an article claiming that agendas of “Hawks” like Paul Wolfowitz were driving the Bush administration’s plans to invade Iraq. Inquiry Activities

  36. Example #3, cont’d. • What do the “Hawks” ultimately want to do? Why? • Can you substantiate arguments presented in this article? Inquiry Activities

  37. Example #4 • Log on to http://multinationalmonitor.org.  • Choose an article of interest. • Evaluate the veracity and reliability of the document you selected by authenticating all details. • Can you substantiate the author’s claims? Inquiry Activities

  38. Handouts • Exam I, Spring 2001. • Chart Relating Educational Theorists to Inquiry Search Questions. Inquiry Activities

  39. Thank you. For additional information, please contact Nancy Dennis at: 978-542-6218 nancy.dennis@salemstate.edu Inquiry Activities

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