As the amount of information on the World Wide Web increases, does it really aid us in research, broadening the baseline of knowledge, bringing sources to our fingertips and speeding up what can be a tedious job, or does it only increase the entropy, the disorder of an already messy situation?
Whenever a
great deal of energy has been put into a system, and the Net certainly
represents a lot of energy, it only increases the overall entropy.Science
loosely defines entropy as a measure of disorder and all things go toward
disorder.(Just look at your desk
a few days after you have organized and cleared it.)The
only way to organize things again is to add more energy to the system.Of
course this only increases the total amount of entropy in the long run.The
value of this exchange of energy, like all energy exchanges is to do work,
and that’s what seems to be going on as technology, like the Internet,
help us do work.
I often have students
go to the Web to gather information. In this way one can establish some
prior knowledge in which to engage the students in a subject of discussion.At
the high school level some students will have no knowledge of a subject
matter and the Internet connection can quickly expand the walls of my classroom.In
fact, it has always been my believe that misconceptions are more valuable
than no conception at all.Brain
research has shown us that association of some kind is necessary to begin
the establishment of neuron pathways and assimilate knowledge.Even
if the pathway is flawed with misinformation, it is gives one something
to associate to.Therefore I premise
my remarks here by crediting the World Wide Web with giving us so many
doors to open.Before we opened
these doors, often times, first exposure to a new concept came from the
teacher’s own expertise.Although,
I consider myself an authority in my field, I too am sometimes flawed,
and may be at times unintentionally biased in my teachings.
Still, searching
the Web, by nature of its vastness can become a frustrating activity.Several
of the reading assignments for this lesson point this out and give some
guidance for evaluating the quality and credibility within cyberspace.As
instructors we own our students some guidance in evaluating this new medium.I
have decided on two simple evaluations that I hope will suffice at the
high school level without adding too much more entropy.The
first can be used for short information seeking activities like described
above.The second evaluation is
for real research papers like those, which may be assigned, in English,
history or science class.
Evaluation Tool
#1 Find three web sites that agree with each other concerning the information
you are seeking
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Name:
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Date:
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What are you trying
to find out?
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URL of site#1
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What does the
URL extension tell you?
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Summarize what
you learned.
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URL of site#2
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What does the
URL extension tell you?
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Summarize what
you learned.
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URL of site#3
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What does the
URL extension tell you?
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Summarize what
you learned.
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Do these sites
verify each other enough so that you feel the information is valid? Explain
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Do you suspect
any biases in dealing with any of these sights? Explain
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Evaluation Tool
#2Complete this form for every
web site you use in your assigned research paper.
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Name
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Date you researched
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URL of site
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URL of sites home
page (if different)
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Author and/or
Representative Name (i.e. company)
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Last date of update
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What does the
URL extension tell you
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What was the purpose
of the information (to explain, persuade, market, etc.)
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Who is the intended
audience?
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Summarize the
information you need from this site.
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Explain why you
feel this site is useful to your research.
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Write a bibliography,
using the format requested by your teacher, for this sight.
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