Assignment 1C: Research Synopsis
Oh Saturdays…how I longed to go back in time and be a kid again! I miss that happy “kid” feeling you got while waiting in anticipation for 7am to come so you could turn the tv on and watch your favourite cartoons. Two of my all-time favourites were, The Flintstones and The Jetsons. I always found it interesting to watch how (I thought) people lived in the Stone Age and would live in the future, the level of resourcefulness they possessed was simply amazing! Can you imagine flying to Mexico on a Pterodactyl? Or using your feet to start your car instead of a key? How about carrying books made of stone?!
On the other hand, we would have the futuristic Jetsons. I always thought it would be amazing to have anything we wanted at our fingertips! Hungry? Sure, let’s press this button and dinner will be served! How about flying to school? Or using holographic textbooks?!
I think that what appealed to me the most about the Jetsons as a child, was how easy it was to get what you wanted with just the touch of a button…never in my life did I think that a few decades later, I would be complaining about this very feature to my now children, who think their mom is like Wilma Flintstones living in the Stone Age!
And why am I bringing up these two cartoons you ask?
Let me explain…
These past two weeks have been a learning curve for me on many levels. Not only have I come to realize that technology plays an important part in our society, but I have also now truly felt that overwhelming sense of “digital literacy helplessness” when you find yourself surrounded by an infinite amount of information. I went from feeling happy that I had found some key terms to explore; just like Wilma feels after buying a new dinosaur operated machine, to feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information out there in the cyber world! I seriously felt like a panicky George Jetson trying to stop a futuristic machine from blowing up by pushing every button available, including the red button that says, “DO NOT TOUCH.”
The cartoons also show us, in a way, how we have also evolved as a society…from being resourceful and always being able to get things done using what we had, to being able to develop a system where we can get it done faster and sometimes with less effort (here is where the click of a button comes into play.).
Research has also evolved the same way, gone are the days where we would go to the library, look through the rows and rows of catalogue cards to find what we needed, and then proceeding to the shelves where we could find what we were looking for. If we needed to see historic newspapers, we would talk to our librarian, whom in turn would set us up with the microfilm reader. Nowadays, we can go to the library, search the online database, or we can even do it from home, to find what we need. We can even just do a Google search and have access to an infinite amount of information.
This is where it gets tricky though, how can we tell the difference between “real” information and fake news? It seems that sometimes all you need is one person backing it up and suddenly, the information shared is true. This really got me thinking…What can I do to help my students understand that the first 10 searches that pop up are sometimes not the right ones and they need to dig deeper? Our students are growing up in a digital era where they are constantly being bombarded with information, be it a video on YouTube, a post in a chat room, a video on TikTok, or Tweet. Our job as teacher librarians is to teach from a young age to question everything we find online. We need to provide our students with the skills needed to become good critical consumers. I am still learning myself, as you have already learned by reading my previous posts! I do think I’m on the right path though, and that the key terms I have chosen for my Inquiry project will take me on an interesting journey.
Back to my research…
Like I said before, I was very pleased with the 7 terms I had chosen and even had my doubts that it might not be enough. After careful consideration of all 50 resources I had found, and knowing how it would be nearly impossible to carefully read every single one of them, I went one step further and decided to combine some terms and continue to curate my resources. This certainly took time, but like any teacher librarian would say, “time spent looking for the right source is never wasted!”
I did find it interesting that some of the resources were very biased, what I mean is that I would only get articles talking about the benefits of say constructivism, for example, but I had a hard time finding articles talking about disadvantages. Maybe I am too jaded and always look for positives and negatives on every issue? I mean, do we not need to know the negatives to come up with a plan to help us overcome those obstacles? Perhaps it’s the digital filter in Google that only does searches based on your search history? I am still trying to work around that issue. I have tried typing different words and even cleared my search history and still have difficulty finding, what I have now named, “negative resources.” However, I can still say that I am happy with the results thus far, I have now cut down my resources to 18. Still a big number but I know that once I figure out the one topic I want to explore, I will be able to narrow it down even more.
Where does that leave me though?
Well, I still dislike how I can have anything I want with a click of a button…don’t get me wrong, it is very convenient to just open my web search and tell “Siri” what I want to know. I mean, my students love that! I know that if we take the time to dissect the information we find and question the purpose of it, we will be able to weed out the “fake information” and compile a nice list of “reliable resources.” I truly believe that this is what I want to do moving forward, I want to find a way to blend in all the terms I have found and turn them into an interactive “choice board.” I want to create a safe place for my students to be able to log in and make mistakes, learn from them, and continue to master the skills needed to become a digital citizen our community will be proud of. It does sound complicated and maybe a little far-fetched, but I know that with a lot of dedication and creativity, this teacher librarian can weather this “knowledge storm” and create something that can help my students write their stories, and become good critical consumers in this new digital era.
I look forward to finding out where the next chapter in my story takes me…perhaps a nice tropical Island, or the calm after the storm. I hope you continue this journey with me, I won’t promise calmer weather, but I do promise a sturdier boat full of newfound knowledge. This boat is in the form of an annotated bibliography of the resources I think will be useful to continue to work on creating my final project to be able to help my school “bring us closer together through our stories.”
As for the Jetsons…It sure is an eye opener to see that they got some things right…we may not have flying cars yet, but the pandemic has made sure we use more technology than usual for our day-to-day activities.
Stay tuned…
The Duchess of Bookington
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Another well-written and engaging post. Your narrative reflections draw the reader in and help them connect to the important work you are doing. Having this deep understanding of the research process will help you help your students as they engage in these tasks. Looking forward to seeing how this all comes together in your final project.
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