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There is a new digital divide on the horizon. It is not based around who has devices and who does not, but instead the new digital divide will be based around students who know how to effectively find accurate information and those who do not. Helene Blowers has come up with seven ideas about the new digital divide – four of them, the ones I felt related to searching, are listed below.
The New Digital Divide
In an age of information abundance, learning to effectively search is one of the most important skills most teachers are NOT teaching. They assume students know how to conduct a search, and set them free on the internet to find information. They assume that students have the skills to critically think their way through the searching and the web. Sadly, this is not the case and everyday we are losing the information literacy battle because we often forget to teach these crucial searching skills in our schools.
Teachers – especially in the elementary grades, need to develop a shared vocabulary around the skill of searching. They need to make sure their students learn some basic search strategies and keep applying them until they become almost automatic.
Critical Search Skills Students Should Know
Quotation Marks
Students should always use quotes to search for an exact word or set of words. This is useful when you want something like quotes, song lyrics or text from an exact historical time period.
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Example: “The First Governor of Lagos State”
Dashes (or minus sign)
Use this symbol directly before a word to help exclude unwanted information from your search
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Example: Great Chicago Fire -soccer
Two Periods
Use this to help you find information between those two numbers. For example you might want to try:
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Example: Tribes in Nigeria 8..10
Site Search
For a look through the Chicago History Museum site only
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Examples: Great Chicago Fire site:chicago.org or site:Chicagotribune.com
Country Codes
Students should gather every side and view possible on current events, and historical news stories. Not just those that are seen through the red, white and blue colored lenses of our media. To do this all they need is to search using different country codes. For example, if you wanted to get to Google Korea all you would have to do is search using the country code of Kr for Korea.
Try it yourself first by going to Google Korea – www.google.co.kr.
Below are a few of the country codes.You can find the complete list here. However, Nigeria’s code is ‘ng’
The Filter Bubbles
Did you know that while you are searching, you are inside of an invisible bubble? The results you get when you search are coming to you through filters. These filters determine, based on your past searching history, what results you would most likely want – often leaving out opposing viewpoints. Basically, what comes back to you in your search results depends on your past searches, likes and location. The scary part is that what gets filtered out of your search results is not decided by you but by the algorithms of the companies that are providing you with the results.
Two different people can get two very different search result pages. Author Eli Pariser explains this concept in his short TED Talk (link to talk above). Teaching students about the filter bubbles is crucial for helping them understand the hidden power behind search results.
Credit: Edudemic.com
