Investigating With Technologies

This chapter talked about how to search. Initially I didn't think that I was going to gain a lot of new information, I can't count the number of times I have searched for something on the web, but after reading I have found that I learned a lot not only about my searching techniques, but also how to help my students gain knowledge in searching the internet for information.

I liked the four-step process that the book suggested using. I think that these steps:

1. Plan
2. Use strategies to search the web
3. Evaluate
4. Triangulate sources (Jonassen & Colaric, 2001)

Help to focus students’ search and keep them on the right track. The Internet is a big place and sometimes you can get lost in trying to find what you are looking for. I think that these steps can help guide a student towards the information that they want.

I also liked what the book said about browsing not being thinking. Students need to keep thinking about what it is they are trying to learn. “The educational secret to the Internet is intentionality,” I think this quote is important to keep in mind when we are searching the web and when we are teaching our students about the Internet.

From this chapter I learned that students can use the internet to gather information, conduct experiments, and use others to help them in their investigations. Previously I knew that the Internet was a valuable resource, but I didn’t think about students gathering information from it in my classroom. I thought that they would use the Internet at home and that I wouldn’t have to teach them. Now I know that I will have to help my students learn how to search the Internet and teach them ways to use it in learning.