Double Journal Entry #7

Teaching Media Literacy

Quote:

"Unlike reading assigned textbooks, reading online challenges students to make judgments about the reputability and validity of the information they see. Researchers who directed several hundred college students to three bogus Web sites about fictitious nutritional supplements found that half of the students lacked the skills to identify the trustworthiness of the information, yet most thought they had strong research skills (Ivanitskaya, O'Boyle, & Casey, 2006)."

Reaction:

Many people who believe they have the skills necessary to critically evaluate sources and data are mistaken. These skills need to be taught and since there are so many untrustworthy sources out there these days, it is getting harder and harder for even skilled researchers to find valid information. If we don't teach students how to research with a critical eye for validity, they can never be expected to learn these skills on their own.

Reading a textbook is easy from a researchers point of view. If something is in print, especially in an educational setting, we can be fairly sure that it has been reviewed and re-reviewed over and again by credible people. Therefore we don't really have to worry about the validity of a text book. However, more and more schools are opting out of using textbooks all together. In an attempt to engage the student's interest by using the Internet for information rather than texts, we have created a whole new problem of how to help those students distinguish the difference between what is credible and not.

In my senior year of high school in my World History/Civics class, we had a student who just didn't understand why he had to check out all his sources. Our teacher convinced a few students (including me) to create a false website with ridiculous information about the topic of this misguided student's research paper. He used the website we created as a source in his paper and once the papers were turned in our teacher revealed the plot against this student. The student was obviously embarrassed but he, and the rest of the class did learn a value lesson. Don't worry, the teacher didn't deduct a grade from the student since it was all a learning experience.

This un-couth way of showing students how valuable it is to have the skill to properly evaluate media is just an example (I'm not saying any teacher should publicly embarrass any student) of one way to make students aware of this growing problem in our ever changing technological society. We as educators need to make it our responsibility to teach students these valuable skills just like we teach any other skill in the classroom.

Related Source:

Citations:

David, J. (2009). Teaching Media Literacy. Literacy 2.0, 66(6), 84-86. Retrieved October 6, 2011, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Teaching-Media-Literacy.aspx

 

Thomas, C. (n.d.). 12 shocking Eco-Truths with one small problem: they’re false | The Ethical Nag. The Ethical Nag | Marketing Ethics for the Easily Swayed. Retrieved October 6, 2011, from http://ethicalnag.org/2010/05/16/false-eco-truths/