Thinking Encyclopedias
I’m spending a great deal of time this year working on the “thinking process” with students. With all grade levels I’m working on recognition of various stages of metacognition. To the classroom teacher it looks like I’m simply asking a couple of weird questions or having students use interesting hand signals when they realize they are doing certain activities mentally during lessons. What I’m trying to accomplish is facilitate recognition of thinking and learning strategies so students can practice extending their processing skills to new activities. I do see great leaps and bounds in the students, baby-steps among the teachers.
I have long been a thinker about Jamie McKenzie’s Questioning.org website and his book Beyond Technology. I incorporate big thinking questions in every lesson. Every written activity includes a question from a higher order level of thinking. So, tell me why our students are so totally full of technolust that they can’t engage in a comparison of print and electronic encyclopedias?! During one third grade class’ exploration of encyclopedias in print and electronic format we had the misfortune to have the company (Grolier) being in the process of installing an update at 1:30 p.m. CST. All searches came back telling us that Grolier and it’s major databases of encyclopedias had no information on Bees, bears, leukemia, etc. The students had to stop their work to return another day when the electronic encyclopedias were accessible. Did a single pairing mention the unavailability and unreliability of electronic sources during their comparisons? NO! They were so excited by the broad range of extra material available once they searched, they forgot their inconvenience and their delay in accessibility. Their teacher even commented that she was willing to give the internet a second chance, but the books had only one shot to prove themselves.
I shall gird myself with tools for more rational thinking tomorrow. Off to battle technolust.
