LM_NET 03/04/01: No Subject

["Judi O'Brien" <obrienj@RIDE.RI.NET>]

Hi LM_Netters,

Since this is a busy time of year for student research projects, I've
noticed a pronounced difference in the ways teachers handle student online
research assignments.  Some of our teachers have asked me in advance for a
list of web sites on the topic that is being assigned. Others bring
students to the computer lab and seem to give no parameters of any sort.
They instruct students to find information on their topic without
instructions to use age-appropriate search engines or directories. If
students don't know where to begin, they tell students to use google or
another meta-search engine. The result is that the students are wasting
time browsing through the thousands of hits that these search engines
typically produce. They don't have time to evaluate what they've found
because it took them too long to find it - if they were lucky enough to
find anything at all! And, of course, this type of searching makes it more
likely that they will come across inappropriate material. A recent class,
for example, had several students researching the Ku Klux Klan, and some of
the information available is a bit graphic for 6th graders.

Part of the problem is, of course, with the assignments that are being
given. Teachers don't always check to see what information on the topic is
available before they assign it, but that's beyond our control. Since I
can't accompany classes to the computer lab without closing the library,
that isn't one of my options. If teachers are interested in a list of web
sites, we have a half-time computer tech/computer teacher on our staff and
a half-time enrichment coordinator in addition to myself, so the manpower
to compile a list is always available. Before I approach the teachers about
this topic, I would like to know what other middle schools are doing. Do
you limit students to age-appropriate search engines or directories? Do you
suggest to teachers that they ask for a list of web sites in advance of the
project? Is there a school policy or an unwritten understanding in regard
to how student online research is
done?
Judi

Judi O'Brien
obrienj@ride.ri.net
Library Media Specialist
Davisville Middle School
200 School Street
North Kingstown, RI 02852

"If information was power, librarians would rule the world".

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