Post Number 5

I think that the Internet is very useful in student research. Many times, the books in the library are outdated, and the Internet can be a great source for updated and current information. The Internet can be very useful in research projects, but students need to be aware of the traps that lurk in the internet, since some information is false. The Internet is not useful in student research if the student just copies and pastes what they find. One, the teacher is most likely going to find out, and two, it doesn't help them develop their research and writing skills if they are just copying word for word what somebody else has already taken the time to write.

I would ask students to use Google to find different things, kind of like the web hunt that we did for this class. I also like many of the intereactive learning games that are available. I would like to teach History, so I would ask students to try and find virtual tours of historical places that we are studying, such as Colonial Williamsburg. Histroyteacher.net is one resource that I used quite frequently as a student, as teachers recommended it, and I would encourage my students to do the same. The Internet can be a plethora of knowledge if you know how to navigate it to find what you are looking for.

If I were supervising students in a technology environment, I would be afraid of students getting off task. While they are supposed to be doing research, for instance, a student may get distracted and start looking up song lyrics or information about their favorite music artist's next concert tour. Many schools have blocks against sites such as Myspace, Facebook, and YouTube, but there are some students who know how to get around these blocks and will be focusing on those sites rather than doing research for a specific subject. As I want to be a high school History teacher, the students I would be supervising would be teenagers in high school.