Jul 21 2009
Another Webquest on History… or Is It More Than That?
On the surface, this seems like a great site for learning about explorers. However, this isn’t a just another website for history lessons. All About Explorers is a great tool to use to teach students about finding validity in what they find on the web. Wikipedia defines digital literacy as “the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate and create information using digital technology.” The lessons you’ll find on All About Explorers are designed for elementary students, emphasizing the importance of digital literacy.
Be sure to check out the resource page for teachers first, where you’ll find lessons, materials, links and references. Here are the lessons you’ll find:
- Just Because It’s Out There Doesn’t Mean It’s Good.
- So How Do You Find the Good Stuff?
- Google, What?
- Where Exactly Am I, Anyway?
- How Could They Be So Wrong?
- Explorer WebQuest
The website has students complete research using a variety of website links. The links chosen for the activities have all been created by the team behind All About Explorers. Some of the information is true, mixed in with fictitious facts. Here’s an example, taken from one of the websites about Christopher Columbus:
“Columbus returned to Spain in 1939 and was hailed as a hero. He was known as the first person to walk on American soil. A huge parade was held in his honor. He appeared on Larry King Live and became quite famous around the world.”
“Columbus made three more voyages to the lands of Hispaniola, Dominica, Trinidad, Venezuela, Mexico, Honduras and Panama. These trips were all documented by National Geographic and opened a whole new business of tourism for the country of Spain.”
Some of the other fictional examples are not as obvious to spot. The creators have this to say about their project:
“Because we wanted to make a point about finding useless information even in a site which looked at first to be fairly well put together, all of the Explorer biographies here are fictional. While many of the facts are true or based on truth, many inaccuracies, lies, and even downright absurdity are mixed in indiscriminately. As such, it is important that you do not use this site as a source of reference for your own research!”
Use the lessons to teach how to search the Internet skillfully, to discern which information is valid and useful. Then, if you want to continue with the historical webquest on explorers, the site provides accurate information in a different section.
One of the featured videos on the education section of The New York Times is “The 21st Century Librarian.” One of the archived videos highlights school librarian, Stephanie Rosalia. She shares how she has transformed into a “multi-faceted information specialist who guides students through the flood of digital information that confronts them on a daily basis.” In the video, she is shown using the All About Explorers lesson with a class of 5th graders. Take a look here. If you decide to give these lessons a try, let me know how it goes. Thank you for the organizers of All About Explorers. This is a wonderful, useful tool that I’ll be using with my students for years to come!
