Month: March 2020

Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making Reflection

March 29, 2020 / msemilymiller

Below are some of the learnings that I took away from the course readings, activities and class conversation this week:

Galileo (2019). Designing Learning. Retrieved from https://galileo.org/designing-learning/ (Inquiry and Design Thinking)

Teachers as designers
- improving curriculum and pedagogy (long before the term became popular)
- an opportunity to really change what teaching and learning looks like in the classroom (Dr. Doug Clark)
- Its hard to change when you have seen 20+ years of examples around you (13 years of K-12, few years of undergrad, few years of graduate, and a few years of teaching)
- what is the problem you are trying to solve and how you can go about doing that? (important to reflect on the needs of students during the learning process and then adjusting teaching to better meet those needs)
Students as designers
- in the past it has been more of a passive role
- now there is a lot more information and ways to access it
- design thinking provides them the skills (what are the problems that we want to solve? how can I go about find the answer?

Hans Rosling: The Best Stats You’ve Ever Seen

Until you see statistics shown in a visual way and actually moving over time, you don’t really understand what the data means (visuals make it easier to understand)
Great way to visually show data and the change over time (would be a great resource for students to use to make meaning from the data they are finding)

What kinds of digital tools promote and encourage critical thinking?

Google Trends (TOTALLY NEW TO ME)

Students/teachers can explore trends by term or topic to find out more information

Popplet

Allows students to visual map their thinking (groups of students can be working on it at the same time) and its FREE!

FiveThirtyEight

sharing data and code behind some of their articles and graphics (students can visually see results of polls and where the information has come from and how dependable it is)

Kaggle

data sets that are open to the public

Canadian Open Data

Open data collected and approved by government

How does critical thinking influence narratives and perspectives?

People (kids most definitely) are extremely influenced by the adults around them and often take on their internal and external narratives. Kids often hold the same perspectives that their parents do. And parents hold the same perspectives that they grew up with and/or have interacted with in their lives. It is important to get well rounded information and data from a variety of sources before taking on a narrative or perspective. Especially in the digital age, there is so much information found on the internet. And a lot of it is misguiding and misinforming people. It is important to develop skills in students to think critically about what they are reading, seeing, and hearing.

Credible Resource Reflection – Crap Detection

March 20, 2020 / msemilymiller

Information from the article that got me thinking:

Through reading the article provided by this weeks topic, I am learning the importance of thinking critically when searching for information online. When searching for information, it is important to not just look at the first thing that comes up as the answer. But delve deeper to determine the validity of the site(s). When assessing credibility of sources, here are some things to consider, based on Rheingold’s (2012) article:

Who is the author?
What are the authors sources – triangulate by checking three different credible sources
Popularity of site
Professional reputation/offline reputation
Previous experiences with the site
Proof of neutral affiliation
Tone of the writing
Elements of style used

Our ‘infotention’ is often pulled in a variety of directions. It’s important, as a generation that is online for a large portion of their daily lives, to manage their attention on information. And to make sure that the information that they are paying attention to is easily accessible and accurate.

The filter bubble – search engines use precise information about your interests and search history to customize your searches (e.g. liberal vs. conservative viewpoints on current event articles). This is something that I vaguely knew about, but have not paid too much attention to.

How do digital filter bubbles affect the information that we consume about the Global Covid-19 pandemic?

During this time of uncertainty and almost constant stream of information, I am realizing that the information that I am being fed has already been predetermined for me. Ben, one of my Masters course classmates, posted a screenshot of the results when he searched ‘Coronavirus’ using a Google search engine. Cheryl then posted hers and it was so interesting to see there was a difference. My sister and I then just did the same thing and I was amazed to see the difference.

Ben’s Screen

Cheryl’s Screen (same day but later)

My Screen (a few days later)

My Sisters Screen (on the same day as me)

Doing this little experiment really showed me how little I know about the information I am consuming and how it is pre-directed to me. As this crisis evolves, I look forward to searching out my own information using the suggestions from the article above.

Reflection Questions:

How can our digital bubble as educators filter the stories we hear and believe?

It depends on how we are engaging with the digital world. Most educators now a-days are using platforms such as Twitter to engage with teachers around the world and get inspiration from other teachers around them. However, the information that they are receiving is only determined by who they are following and who those people are following. It is important to build the collection of who you follow around what you value and want to see on a day to day basis.

Digital platforms such as Twitter can be a great place to connect people and collect inspiration from others. However, it can also be a place where people share their personal opinions and views that do not necessarily align with yours. During particularly difficult times (e.g. pandemics, global tragedies, political unrest, union negotiating) it can become a particularly negative place (depending on who you are following).

What kinds of digital tools expand filter bubbles in your learning context?

Variety of search engines/resources – allows for me to collect a variety of information on a topic of interest
Twitter – help me engage with teachers around the world
Instagram – helps me engage with teachers around the world (I have a personal private account where I can limit what I see and a public teaching account where I am open to seeing and sharing more information)
Facebook – help provide ideas and learning prompts for structured play opportunities
Conversation with people – help to provide opportunities and information that I have not heard through my usual searches

What are you doing to ensure students are using a wide variety of digital resources ?

In my context, I have conversations with students about digital resources and reliable information. In term two, I looked up some information about Canadian provinces and territories with my Grade 2’s. Together we looked at sites and their authors to determine which would be good sources.

“Every (wo)man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him (them).” —Ernest Hemingway, 1965

References:

Rheingold, H. (2012). Chapter 2 Crap Detection 101: How to Find What you Need to Know, and Decide if It’s True. In Net Smart: How to Thrive Online. (pp. 77-111). Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press.