SVSD Literacy with ICT » Learning Experiences

Teens and the Internet

Carter — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:37:51 +0000

This post is from David Warlick at 2 cents worth . It caused me to pause and reflect how far we have come in such a short period of time. We are truly in the digital age, and we as educators and parents need to take notice of what our children are doing. I am also posting this on my class blog for the students to comment on. I am interested in what they have to say.

I am planning to talk about internet safety and get the students to create an awareness project to go along with the lessons. Anyone have some interesting ideas for middle years students? I thought we would use voicethread to create a movie.
- Kirsten

Parents & Internet-Using Teens

I’m on my way out the door, but this just popped into my aggregator. It may have been there for a while, just hiding. But the latest findings from the PEW Internet & American Life Project are interesting.

Pew Internet: Parent and Teen Internet Use:

Parents today are less likely to say that the internet has been a good thing for their children than they were in 2004. However, this does not mean there was a corresponding increase in the amount of parents who think the internet has been harmful to their children. Instead, the biggest increase has been in the amount of parents who do not think the internet has had an effect on their children one way or the other. Fully, 87% of parents of teenagers are online — at least 17% more than average adults.

The study indicates that parents are paying a lot of attention to their children’s media consumption.

Parents check up on and regulate their teens’ media use, not just in terms of the internet, but with television and video games as well. However, those rules lean slightly more towards the content of the media rather than the time spent with the media device.

Alexandra Rankin Macgill, the author of the report, suggests that “The fact that the biggest increase has been in the number of parents who think the internet has no effect on their children suggests that parents are beginning to have a more nuanced view of the internet.“ She continues, “It is a grey technology that can be helpful or harmful depending on how you use it.“ This is from the PEW Press Release for the study.

I wonder, though, — and this is just me wondering — if maybe the opposite might be true. That in 2004, we felt that we understood the Internet as a rich source of content. Some was good and some was bad, but it was a place to go to find answers. Today, however, our children seem to be spending more time interacting in their social networks, and, in my opinion, discovering and even inventing new ways to learn through those interactions. But we don’t understand this.

What do you think?

Links for Primary Grades

shugill — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:47:28 +0000

This is a great site with lots of interactive activities for Numeracy, Literacy and Science.

http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/

Search Engine Activating

Hayden — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:43:02 +0000

Students all search a given search criteria with a minimum of ten search engines and record the number of relevant results. Then they compare the results to see which search has the highest relevancy percentage (by simply dividing the relevant sites by the total sites on the first page). This makes students aware of different search engines that may be useful for them besides the almighty google. Works as a good activating strategy to get students started off on some internet research in any class.

Hayden Rooks

Secret Pal

Laura — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:20:11 +0000

Students chose a secret pal to write about. Students created a web of the information about their “pal”. They used the web to create a write up which they could type on the computer and add a picture of the student they wrote about.

Laura M

Venn Diagram for Data Management Unit

shugill — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:15:26 +0000

I use this Smartboard activity for when the students first come in in the morning. An example would be a three ringed Venn diagram, with the title “What Do You Like on Your Hotdog”, with the labels ketchup, mustard and relish. To speed things up I have each student’s name typed at the bottom, so all they have to do is drag their name into the appropriate circle. After the students have had a chance to place their name on the diagram we have a quick discussion about the results.

Shirley Hugill

Kidspiration in Grade 2B- All about Me

Rob — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:13:47 +0000

This is a great activity to start your students off in Kidspiration. Following the tutorial the students created a graphic organizor that has both digital pictures and text. Really cool, and at the same time they are learning about all the tools etc. of the software.

Welcome Team!

svsdliteracywithict — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:27:08 +0000

We are thrilled to have you on board and are looking forward to introducing you to Literacy with ICT. We hope this will be a useful and time saving communication tool.