Media Literacy Lesson Plan

PBS Teachers has wonderful resources for science lesson plans. This particular lesson plan, A Climate Conundrum, relies on media literacy.

This lesson plan potentially meets several of the ISTE-NETS Standards, but the one I feel it best addresses is Standard 1B: Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.

In the lesson plan, students must first use several multi-media resources to develop an understanding of a real-life problem in ecology. They then must collaborate to determine possible solutions to the problem, and  present their ideas using digital resources.

Photo Analysis: Obama

Caption: President Obama meets with National Incident Commander US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen for a briefing on the BP oil spill at Coast Guard Station Gulfport in Gulfport, Mississippi, on Monday. 

This image portrays characteristics that make me have more confidence in Obama's leadership abilities, than another image that is just a close up during the same meeting. Here are a few reasons why:

• Caption Analysis
• The caption alone implies that the President is getting the most up to date information by being briefed on the response updates by an expert. The caption is reinforced by the following visual characteristics as well:

• Non-Verbal Gestures/Facial Expression/Body Language
• His open hands imply understanding, and make him more open to the audience
• We can tell the picture is spontaneous and not posed, as he is in mid-conversation
• His face has an expression of trying to figure something out... concern for the crisis perhaps
• People
• Not only is the President here, but also National Incident Commander, US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen. This implies a sense of teamwork, and a network of expert support.
• Clothing
• The Admiral is in what appears to be a daily uniform, and Obama is in casual dress, with his sleeves rolled up. I feel this paints a picture of professionalism on the Admiral's part, and a sense of "rolling up your sleeves", or getting in the midst of the problem, and coming to the people's level.
• Background
• In the background we see an American flag, implying patriotism. We also see images of response workers working, as well as maps images of the response to the oil spill, which displays that efforts are being made to respond, and that there is a plan of action being carried out. This subtly leads the viewer to have a more trust in the ability of Obama and the other leaders to address the spill in a competent way.

Think Aloud- Teaching Standards

Here is a ThinkAloud I created, that demonstrates the reliability and validity of a website that discourages use of Taser Guns in Schools, using comprehensive critical thinking. 

Taser Gun ThinkAloud from apatton2

I feel that having students create and use a Think Aloud, it meets the ISTE-NETS standard 2a. 

2A: Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

• A Think Aloud is clearly a digital tool, and it leaves room open for the student to demonstrate learning and understanding in a creative way, just as this standard requires. 
• A think aloud relies on the students' comprehension of the data provided, and their ability to clearly communicate this information in an organized way.
• Essentially, this tool still makes the student demonstrate understanding in similar ways that an essay or test would, but adds another layer of learning by having them present it in digital media.
• Since a ThinkAloud leaves room open for student creativity, it can lead to the student taking more pride in the work and possibly enjoy making these reading connections, more than a traditional assignment would.
• I feel that since technology plays such an important role in our everyday lives, digital tools such as a Think aloud should be encouraged, especially since it does indeed meet teaching standards. 
• I plan to use this tool, as well as others to promote creative learning experiences in the classroom.

Information Literacy

Detecting Bias in the pro-arming teachers website.

What facts has the author omitted?
Problems that may incur with arming teachers.

What additional information is necessary?
Needs counter arguments.

What words can create positive or negative impressions?
Saying things like "largely ignored by the media" and "an obvious way to solve the problem" makes large assumptions by using slightly stronger language than just presenting facts.

What impression would I have if different words had been used?
Would be left open to make your own assumption rather than being led in one direction with strong language.

Should Teacher Be Armed? The Debate...

This is a website I found that supports school staff being armed.

http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID=1949

This is a worksheet on the website linked above, that helps determine the accuracy or reliability of the website.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3x8NrqRAQxiOGt4M09MOENwcDA/edit?usp=sharing

Wikipedia Reliability

The Doppler Effect Wiki Article Review Sheet

I also researched 3 of the contributing editors who made changes or flagged issues with the article. I have listed some of the personal information provided about each member.

• Alan Peakall
• Born: August 22 1964 near Newbury, Berkshire
• Citizen and resident of: United Kingdom
• Educated: various, including Cambridge University
• Occupation: Software Engineer
• this contributor seems to have much experience in engineering, esp the doppler effect, as it applies to technology. 


• User:Binksternet
• First edit: July 28, 2007
• Unique pages edited: over 24,000
• Total edits: over 90,000
• Top 260 at WP:List of Wikipedians by number of edits (and I don't use a bot)
• this contributor has high rankings as a senior editor for wikipedia. clearly with the number of edits made, we can see this person is adamant about making reliable postings and has much experience "cleaning up" wikipedia.

• Mattias Blennow
• Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden
• Residence: Stockholm, Sweden
• Occupation: Assistant professor, Royal Institute of Technology
• Research interests: Mainly neutrino physics and dark matter physics. A feed with my papers on the arXiv can be found here.
• this contributor is clearly as expert in the subject area, being a professor of physics at the Royal Institute of Technology, and who is doing research into dark matter and neutrino physics.

The fact that these professional individuals are the ones who are catching errors in the article and correcting them make me have more confidence in the article. That being said, it make me wonder at how horrible the original version must have been for these people to have to make or suggest so many revisions. I am glad that there are professionals who are willing to take the time and effort to do this, so that information in Wikipedia can evolve into a truly reliable resource.