Education Week - May 22, 2013 - Special Report - S14

S14

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EDUCATION WEEK: DIGITAL CURRICULA > www.edweek.org/go/digital-report

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MAY 22, 2013

Key Questions
Addressed By
Pew Researcher

99%

Of AP and National Writing
Project teachers agreed
with the notion that the
Internet enables students
to access a wider range
of resources than would
otherwise be available.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE S13

not. Teachers see today’s digital tools having
both positive and negative impacts on how
students conduct research. Overall, they
feel the positives outweigh the negatives,
but they do have some particular concerns
they’d like today’s educational system to
address.
On the positive side, virtually all ap and
nwp teachers in this study agreed with the
notion that the Internet enables students
to access a wider range of resources than
would otherwise be available, and 65
percent also feel that the Internet makes today’s students more self-sufficient researchers. [But] a slight majority of teachers, 60
percent, feel that “today’s digital technologies make it harder for students to find and
use credible sources of information.”
So the bottom line is that the Internet
has a huge upside for student research in
the sheer amount of information available
and accessibility. That upside is tempered
by concerns that students’ digital literacy
needs to improve—in today’s world, students
need to know how to judge the quality and
relevance of the information they find, as
well as how to sift through large amounts of
information.
Were there any findings that were surprising
to you?
It was interesting to see how many of
these ap and nwp teachers (of all subjects)
are devoting class time to teaching students
how to assess the reliability of online information, how to conduct research using the
Internet, and how to improve search terms
and queries. Given the pressure teachers
feel to teach to assessments and time constraints to cover required material, incorporating lessons on skills that are not formally
tested is quite a commitment and evidence
of how critical they feel these skills are.
More than nine in 10 of these teachers
identified “judging the quality of information” as an essential skill for students to be
successful in life, putting it atop the list of
skills we asked about (along with writing
effectively).
What are the implications of these findings?
Do they mean that students will go on to
college and to the workforce not knowing
how to do quality research?
That’s not the conclusion I would draw.
Rather, I would say this research confirms
that today’s students approach research
differently, with different tools and different
skills.
For educators, this shift may mean curricular changes to emphasize things like
evaluating online information, synthesizing
large amounts of information from many
different sources, recognizing bias in online
content, determining the trustworthiness of
sources, and how and where to find the best
online sources.
It may also require a different approach to
designing research assignments—many of
the teachers we surveyed and talked with in
focus groups told us that they design assignments that require students to find multiple
sources of information and synthesize that

65%

Feel that the Internet makes
today’s students more selfsufficient researchers.

information into a new idea. This moves students away from the temptation to copy and
paste the first information they find via a
search engine, and instead spend more time
thinking about and processing information.
How should teachers use these findings in
their own classrooms to improve student
research skills?
I think the message most teachers we
talked with wanted to get across was that
digital tools and online research are obviously how research will be done in the world
moving forward, and it’s incumbent upon
middle and high school teachers to make
sure their students have the skills they need
to operate in that world.
Beyond being able to find and assess
quality information for academic purposes,
teachers stressed that this is a life skill that
will benefit students in all areas of their
lives—whether it’s in their engagement
in the political process, how they manage
their health, how they keep up with what’s
happening in the world. Being able to sift
through and evaluate large amounts of
information will be essential to all parts of
students’ lives in the future. n

KRISTEN PURCELL:

“I think the message
most teachers we
talked with wanted
to get across was that
digital tools and online
research are obviously
how research will
be done in the world
moving forward, and
it’s incumbent upon
middle and high school
teachers to make sure
their students have
the skills they need to
operate in that world.”

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE
PEW RESEARCH CENTER’S INTERNET
& AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT SURVEY
OF TEACHERS ON HOW THE
INTERNET IS AFFECTING STUDENTS’
RESEARCH SKILLS:

83%

Agree to some extent that
“the amount of information
available online today is
overwhelming for most
students.”

76%

Strongly agree that “search
engines have conditioned
students to expect to be
able to find information
quickly and easily.”

60%

Feel that “today’s digital
technologies make it harder
for students to find and
use credible sources of
information.”

80%

Devote class time to
teaching students how
to assess the reliability of
online information.
SOURCE: Pew Research Center
http://www.edweek.org/go/digital-report
Education Week - May 22, 2013 - Special Report

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - May 22, 2013 - Special Report
