Internet Inquiry

After watching all of the videos I still felt like a lot of information was missing. How do we implement these into our classroom? Moreover, Dr. Leu presents as if all of our students will be highly motivated and love using the internet in the classroom. I know that it can be successful if done the right way- but how do we do it? I decided to look more closely at internet inquiry, because, as I mentioned in my last blog, students too often are assigned research projects with little guided instruction on how to use the internet for research. In order to answer my question, I do what I do best, turn to Google! After doing some searching I came across this Read Write Think lesson plan, Inquiry on the Internet: Evaluating Web Pages for a Class Collection. You can check it out below:

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/inquiry-internet-evaluating-pages-328.html

This lesson plan explicitly teaches students how to find effective websites. It is for students in grades six through eight but can be modified for other grade levels. Building in extra time to teach students how to effectively use search engines will make a big difference in the long run for both the students and the teacher.

According to Dr. Leu, internet inquiry promotes independent research skills. Through five phases, question, search, analyze, compose, and share, students learn effective research strategies. He suggested scaffolding instruction in both the question and the search phase. I really agree with Dr. Leu when he talks about the importance of student created questions. It’s important for students to create the question because they will be more interested and more motivated to find the answer.

I thought that this website was a better tool for learning about internet inquiry because it provides a little bit more information than the video:

http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/toolkits/tk_introduction.cfm?tk_id=81 (Leu is actually sited in the references.)

I specifically found this information from the website to be useful:

“How can I fit Internet inquiry strategies into my busy curriculum?

Standards at national, state, and local levels call for integrating modern technologies such as the Internet into the classroom. Because Internet inquiry requires fluency with numerous literacy skills such as decoding, skimming, comprehending, notemaking, summarizing, and presenting, it is also possible to address traditional literacy learning standards through Internet inquiry projects. Further, Internet inquiry demands that students ask important questions, solve problems, and work collaboratively, all of which are critical skills in school and in life. However, teachers do need to be prepared to devote sufficient time to inquiry projects in order for students to generalize and transfer essential strategies.”  

This quote also addresses how internet inquiry addresses literacy skills in the classroom.

Technology is transforming the way students learn. I think about the first thing I do when I have a question about something- I turn to Google! Internet inquiry is a powerful tool to use in the classroom because it teaches students how to find information and promotes critical literacy skills. In addition, internet inquiry can be used at any time during a unit since students are creating their own questions.  

I just did an internet inquiry! I had a question. I searched http://www.google.com/ for an answer, I analyzed the information I found to pick out the best resouces, I wrote about it, and here I am, sharing it with you!

I hope you enjoyed my journey through internet inquiry.