Information Management


Information Management

 

In a world where creating and accessing content online has become remarkably easy, researching has become harder than ever!  Thinkers---whether they are 5, 35 or 85---are buried in information every time they turn to the internet for ideas.  Learning to sift through and evaluate that information is one of the most essential skills for efficient learners to master. 

 

The resources on this page will help teachers to introduce students to the skills and behaviors necessary for managing information easily. 

 


 

Using Google's Related Searches Feature

Handout_GoogleRelatedSearches.doc

 

Dominating the internet search field, Google has become the first stop for many student researchers.  The challenge is that students often search general terms---poverty, global warming, war, drought---and end up buried under millions and millions of results.  To help researchers break search results into logical subcategories that are easier to manage, Google has improved their Related Searches feature---and this handout will show your students how to use it!

 

 

Spotting Websites You Can't Trust

Handout_SpottingHoaxSites.pdf

 

It is important for students to understand that they can’t automatically trust everything that you find online—especially when they are studying a topic that can get people all riled up! This activity will help students to spot websites that aren’t trustworthy by looking at one of the most famous hoax websites of all time: An effort to save the endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus!

 

 

Judging Web Links

Handout_JudgingWeblinks.pdf

 

Because online authors earn credibility with their readers by including links to external sources that support their positions and verify the facts that they’ve included in their arguments, it is important for students to identify several statements in any piece that they are writing that would make for logical places to include links. It is also important to evaluate the overall quality of the sources that they intend to link to. This handout will guide them through this process.

 

 

Using Feed Readers to Organize Thinking

Handout_UsingFeedReaderstoOrganizeThinking.pdf

 

Feed readers—also known as content aggregators—are one of the most valuable tools for organizing student thinking and ensuring that classes have access to meaningful content connected to the topics that they are researching in class. This handout will walk you through the process of using Pageflakes—one of the best feed reading applications available—to create student resource pages for your students to explore.