MindSwitch Mondays Issue #7: The Power of Information Literacy
Kids can learn to filter, digest, and express information, rather than only consuming it without validating it or being critical about it.
Hi Everyone,
This past weekend I got the second shot of the COVID vaccine and the side effects kicked in just last night, so I will be brief.
A few days ago I tweeted about learning to navigate the online world keeping what should be private, private, and what can be public. My tweet.
But my bigger question/concern behind this tweet was: How can we prepare our kids to navigate safely in the online world that only keeps growing?
If we think about what the world will look like for our kids, we probably cannot imagine it. A few years back, we thought we were far from what the Jetsons proposed, and now we are living in a somewhat “Orbit City.”
MindSwitch Idea💡
The good news is kids can start learning information, media, and digital literacy as early as preschool.
Kids can start by learning how to research, organize information, find resources, evaluate resources, be critical about the information received, and digest and express the information learned in meaningful ways.
Basically, kids learn to filter, digest, and express information, rather than only consuming it without validating it or being critical about it. YAY!
Interesting Find 🔎
This study lead by Alison Head, Barbara Fister, and Margy McMillan in the Project information Literacy in 2020 asked three questions about what students know and need to know about information literacy.
Environment: What is the nature of the current information environment?
Awareness: How aware are current students of the algorithms that twist and turn the information and news they are exposed to?
Comprehension: What can higher education do to help students comprehend the NEW media landscape?
Actionable Steps to flip the Switch. 🏃🏻
But how do we do this?
Engage kids in media literacy activities such as: describing character traits in movies or TV shows, this will help students learn about character traits or have a news scavenger hunt where you search for the same news in different sources to cross-validate the information.
Have THE TALK about what is OK to share online and what is not. Talk about what should be kept private and what can be public. Help kids draw healthy limits in the digital landscape.
This is all for this week. Thanks for reading!
Stay safe, stay healthy! 😷
👊🏻 « Digital literacy & awareness >>