Five Things Digital Natives Cannot Do

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Five Things Digital Natives Cannot Do (And What
You Can Do To Help) Carl Heine, Ph.D. Illinois
Mathematics and Science Academy
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Translating a question into a query
Choosing the best database
Verifying the credibility of information
Finding better keywords
Recognizing information thats relevant
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What digital natives dont do well What they tend to do instead
Turn a question into a query Rush ahead toward an answer, either grabbing the whole question as is or missing an important part of it
Choose the right database Enter words or phrases into Google
Recognize information when they find it Rush past important information and clues, continue to browse
Find better keywords Stick with their original words and browse
Verify the credibility of information Accept what they find at face value, hoping somewhere in the information there is an answer
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Google digital natives and the top hit is
http//www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky20-2
0Digital20Natives,20Digital20Immigrants20-20P
art1.pdf
Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an
outdated language (that of the pre-digital age),
are struggling to teach a population that speaks
an entirely new language.
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1. Translating a question into a query

• Starts with a question or a problem to solve.
• Task Translate a natural language question or
  statement into language that is understood by a
  search engine.
• Search engines differ in how they process
  queries, but for the most part, what works on one
  big commercial search engine tends to work on the
  others.
• Search engines perform a variety of literal
  matching functions with Boolean and special
  operators.

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1. Translating a question into a query

• Which of the following is the most effective
  query for 'find the top speed of earth's fastest
  animal'?
• speed fastest animal
• what is earths fastest animal
• top speed earths fastest animal

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• Translating a question into a query
• Research Findings (IMSA second semester
  sophomores)

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• 36 recognized the optimal query from a list of
  three queries. Only 17 of seniors at a local
  high school identified the optimal query.
• 31 grasped that search engines perform literal
  matching.
• 17 regularly use natural language queries.
• 12 misinterpreted the research question.

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2. Selecting an adequate database

• This failure occurs before submitting the first
  query.
• Task Predict where expert information may be
  found.
• No search engine performs a live Internet search
  when you submit a query. (Otherwise, how could
  they come back with a page thats not found?)
• That which is stored in one search engines
  database is invisible to another search engine
  (also called Enterprise Data)

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2. Selecting a good database Research Findings
(IMSA second semester sophomores)
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• 90 search with Google more than half of the
  time.
• 32 use Google exclusively.

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3. Recognizing relevant information

• This failure occurs when a student looks at the
  results returned by a search engine.
• Task Match findings with expectations, evaluate
  relevance
• Information on the Internet is not always found
  in predictable places.
• Computers are made for speed, which encourages
  haste.
• Hyperlinks and graphics can be distracting.

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3. Recognizing relevant information Research
Findings (junior honors students)
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• 36 were able to identify web pages that contain
  supporting research facts from a selection of
  three pages.
• 25 -- same task, middle school students

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4. Finding better keywords

• This failure occurs throughout the search
  process before the initial query is submitted
  and as students look at the results returned by a
  search engine.
• Task Select and try increasingly specific
  keywords
• Frequently, effective keywords go unnoticed in
  snippets.
• Our claim Effective searching depends on keyword
  selection more than any other factor.

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4. Finding better keywords Research Findings
(high school)
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• 14 of IMSA sophomores used alternate keywords
  when searching.
• 7 of junior honors students chose effective
  alternate words to find information.

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5. Evaluating credibility

• This failure occurs after information has been
  located.
• Task Check the credibility of information,
  authorship
• Typically, students forego this decision
  altogether and uncritically accept whatever
  information they find.
• Depending on which database the information was
  taken from, information may be unedited,
  unendorsed and inaccurate.
• Special operators (link) makes external
  evaluation easier.

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5. Evaluating credibility Research Findings
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• 33 of Illinois schools report having a
  curriculum method for teaching students to
  evaluate online resources
• 0 of junior honors students were able to use
  special operators to evaluate the credibility of
  a web page.

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What You Can Do To Help
Question to query checklist
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1. How many key concepts (important ideas) are found
   in the question?
2. How many key concepts will I search for?
3. What keywords are probably effective as is?
4. For which concepts are more effective keywords
   probably needed?
5. Are there hyponyms or professional language for
   any of the intermediate words?
6. Are there words that have multiple meanings?
7. Did I use any stop words or clutter words?
8. Did I spell the words correctly?
9. Did I put the most important words first?

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What You Can Do To Help
What is the top speed of earths fastest animal?
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1. How many key concepts (important ideas) are found
   in the question?
2. How many key concepts will I search for?
3. What keywords are probably effective as is?
4. For which concepts are more effective keywords
   probably needed?
5. Are there hyponyms or professional language for
   any of the intermediate words?
6. Are there words that have multiple meanings?
7. Did I use any stop words or clutter words?
8. Did I spell the words correctly?
9. Did I put the most important words first?

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What You Can Do To Help
Keyword tutorials
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What You Can Do To Help
Choose the best database
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1. What person would know the answer I am looking
   for?
2. Where would I find that expert?
3. Use Google/Yahoo to get there and then use the
   proprietary search engine to go farther.
4. To find a relevant database use keywords like
   DATABASE, ARCHIVE, INFORMATION in combination
   with subject matter.

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What You Can Do To Help
Classical guitarist John Williams has scored the
music for only one motion picture. What is the
name of the movie?
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1. What person would know the answer I am looking
   for?
2. Where would I find that expert?
3. Use Google/Yahoo to get there and then use the
   proprietary search engine to go farther.
4. To find a relevant database use keywords like
   DATABASE, ARCHIVE, INFORMATION in combination
   with subject matter

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What You Can Do To Help
What if Google cant google it?
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What You Can Do To Help
Recognize relevant information
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• Practice scanning California Gold Rush
• Practice reading snippets Snippet Sleuth
• Use the FIND Command
• Practice reading hypertext Flash Video
  Tutorial

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What You Can Do To Help
Find better keywords
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1. Practice with snippets and thesaurus Soccer
   Challenge II
2. Practice with snippets Soccer Challenge III,
   Snippet Sleuth

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What You Can Do To Help
Verify Credibility
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1. Interactive MicroModule Companions Link To
2. Safe Searching Use It? Or Lose It?
3. Safe Searching Bad Apple

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How, When and Where can skills be taught?

• Performance skills require hands-on practice
• Search challenges (example Kermit)
• Interactive tutorials (example Keyword
  Challenges)
• MicroModules (example FIND COMMAND)
• Search Wizard (advanced searching with help)
• When and Where can these skills be taught?
• In the context of research paper preparation
• Library and research orientation
• Computer lab and non-digital applications

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keywords information fluency
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Professional Development Events

• Webinars A Gaming Approach to Evaluation.
  Tuesday, Nov. 14th, 3 to 4 pm, CST
• Free Online Subscription Resources Full Circle
• Conference presentations ISLMA, IETC, IPA, ICE
  
• Face-to-Face Workshops (fee)

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Contact Us!
URL http//21cif.imsa.edu General info
21cif_at_imsa.edu Carl Heine heine_at_imsa.eduDennis
OConnor doconnor_at_imsa.edu Thank you
for participating!
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