Multimedia Hotlist - Exploring China - Scrapbook

Knowledge Hunt - for acquiring defined knowledge

Teachers choose to create a Knowledge Hunt when...

1. students need to acquire a specific body of knowledge
2. critical thinking is either not a goal is covered using other activities
3. Web-based resources are more current or reliable than traditional resources

Background

Many teachers and librarians who are new to the Web see it as a huge encyclopedia. Subsequently, their first thought is to use the Web for researching and gathering information. Helping students to acquiring knowledge also tends to be one of the main drives in education. Thus it makes sense to create a Web activity structure to meet these goals. The Knowledge Hunt is designed to help students acquire a body of knowledge via the Web.

This said, the Knowledge Hunt sounds like it should be the most used activity format. However, if you view the Web as an encyclopedia, you're due for a rude awakening. Read 3 Myths about the Net before going any further. Also, knowledge acquisition is just one kind of learning (and a lower level one at that, too). Let's learn more...

Tips for Using Knowledge Hunts

When it's time to develop some solid knowledge on a subject, teachers can create Knowledge Hunts. The basic strategy is to find Web pages that hold information (text, graphic, sound, video, etc.) that you feel is essential to understanding the given topic. Maybe you gather 10 - 15 links (and remember, these are the exact pages you want the students to go to for information, not the top page of a huge Web site). After you've gathered these links, you pose one key question for each Web site you've linked to. In this way, teachers guide students to useful pages and also prompt students to look for information that teachers feel is critical to developing a body of knowledge in the topic.

A smartly designed Knowledge Hunt can go far beyond finding unrelated factoids. By choosing questions that define the scope or parameters of the topic, when the students discover the answers they are tapping into a deeper vein of thought, one that now stakes out the dimensions or schema of the domain being studied. Finally, by including a culminating "Big Question," students can synthesize what they have learned and shape it into a broader understanding of the big picture.

So the Knowledge Hunt is here as one useful strategy to integrate the Web with student learning. However, because of the sketchy verity of very many Web pages (and thus their usefulness for concept development or critical thinking), knowledge acquisition shouldn't be the main use of the Web.

Example Knowledge Hunt - The Treasures of China

Subject Sampler - for connecting emotively / affectively to a topic

Teachers choose to create a Subject Sampler when...

1. you want students to feel connected to the topic
2. you want to motivate students to explore the topic further
3. you have a short period of time and a small number of great sites to share
4. you or your students are new to the Web and a user-friendly activity makes sense

Background

Part of what makes the Internet so great is the quirky, passionate, real stuff that many people and organizations post there. You'll find things on the Web that you'd never find on TV, the newspapers, or magazines. Subject Samplers tap into this vibrant vein in order to connect students emotionally to the chosen topic. Specifically, Samplers work like those chocolate samplers: you open the box, look things over, think you see something you'd like, then poke your finger into it. If you like it, you eat it. If you don't, you leave it pre-poked for someone else's taste.

Tips for Using Subject Samplers

Specifically, in a Subject Sampler learners are presented with a smaller number (maybe half a dozen) of intriguing Web sites organized around a main topic. What makes this a particularly effective way to engage student buy-in is that first off, you've chosen Web sites themselves that offer something interesting to do, read, or see. Second, students are asked to respond to the Web-based activities from a personal perspective. Rather than uncover hard knowledge (as they do in a Knowledge Hunt), students are asked about their perspectives on topics, comparisons to experiences they have had, personal interpretations of artworks or data, etc. Thus, more important than the right answer is that students are invited to join the community of learners surrounding the topic, for students to see that their views are valued in this context.

Example Subject Sampler - My China

Insight Reflector - for prompting open reflection

Teachers choose to create a Insight Reflector when...

1. creative thinking is more important than a uniform response
2. the subject matter benefits from being viewed through new perspectives
3. you want students to engage their emotions and minds in the topic
4. reflective writing is a course objective

Background

A higher-level cognitive skill valued by many state curricula and standards is reflective thinking and writing. In brief, this is the kind of creative mental pondering that reveals a mind at work. It's the open processing of an intriguing stimuli through a person's experience, ideas, and emotions. It brings all aspects of the person's nature to the task of making sense of the stimuli. While a highly valued skill, it's also a very difficult thing to teach.

Again, the wealth of the Web can assist us here. The first aspect of reflective writing is an opening occasion, something that sparks an emotion or starts the mental gears to turn. With its abundance of special interests and overt agendas, the Web affords more chances for reflection than are usually found in a classroom. Teachers gather a page or pages from the Web that they feel will perturb learners in such a way as to create a positive dissonance, then prompt students to look at the topic in different ways, to mull things over, to chew their cog(itations).

Tips for Using Insight Reflectors

Insight Reflectors won't be something you'll use as frequently as Subject Samplers or WebQuests, but when encouraging a creative thinking process is more important than prompting one defined and uniform outcome from students, try prompting insights with the Reflector. English and social studies classes as well as ethical approaches to science and technology are typical applications of the format.

Example Insight Reflector - The Otherness of the Past

Concept Builder - for developing and refining new concepts

Teachers choose to create a Concept Builder when...

1. a simple definition is too abstract
2. examples of the concept are available on the Web
3. at least a few critical attributes of the concept are easily perceived
4. you want to engage students in higher level thinking

Background

Another aspect of the Web that makes it a rich learning resource is the breadth of examples available. On almost any given topic, people have posted either professional or homespun pages sharing their information and perspectives. This maps very well to how we learn concepts: by viewing many examples we can derive the critical attributes or essential elements that define an "Impressionist painting," "cumulonimbus clouds," "social revolutions." Because conceptualizing is a higher level thinking skill that takes root in students' pre-existing schemas and requires an ongoing process of refinement, direct instruction of concepts is often an exercise in frustration for everyone. A better way might be to show students an array of well-selected examples and let them build or construct the concepts for themselves, then subsequent class discussions can help everyone refine their thinking.