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Choosing Learning Materials for the Independent Learner
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7. Choosing Learning Materials for the Independent Learner
Novadays, there are thousands of available educational CD-ROM's and software programs ones that are curriculum related. However, there are many that a teacher might be interested in. One resource is the Children's Software Review, a database in America OnLine sponsored by HomePC magazine of more than 1,500 reviews of children's software. All product reviews are catalogued by title within an alphabetical index. Another resource is Superkids, available at
http://www.superkids.com
Still another review site on the Internet is
http://school.discovery.com/parents/reviewcorner/
Also available on the Internet is a comprehensive list of software - Children's Educational Software, categorized by grade level, available at
http://www.smartkidssoftware.com/grade.htm
There is a magazine called Children's Software Revue (note spelling). If you subscribe, you are authorized to see software reviews on the Internet.
When computers become more commonplace in classrooms, CD-ROM's and software will become more and more practical. With several computers available to a class, several students can use them; with workstations, the high cost of some software won't be such a drawback. As things now stand, with a limited number of computers in classroom or school, computers are soon overtaxed, and a school's or classroom's collection of available software is limited.
8. Using Internet for self-independent learning
There is such a wealth of information on the Internet that it must soon be a part of anyone's search for knowledge. At one time I was (mistakenly) diagnosed with a condition of excess iron in the blood called hemochromatosis. I wanted to learn as much as I could about the condition. My search, terminating (finally) with "medical articles," resulted in more than one hundred references to the condition. I selected three that seemed least esoteric and was able to download them for $1.50 apiece. Another time, I wanted to know the names of the full cast of the movie Pride and Prejudice with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. A search on the Internet gave me a list of all of the cast members. A search on almost any topic brings up an array of responses, which will grow as the Internet expands.
These searches do take time. The search for information about hemachromatosis took a couple of hours, and the search for the cast of Pride and Prejudice took at least three-quarters of an hour.
Practice with searching is necessary - the student can learn with practice to limit his or her searches so that Internet provides dozens instead of thousands of responses. www.altavista.com allows the user to surround a phrase with quotation marks, thus limiting the number of responses.
Before using the Internet, students will probably benefit from using a guide, such as Every Student's Guide to the Internet (Glencoe/McGraw Hill) or The Portable Learn the Net, found at www.learnthenet.com/english/index.html, which is the site, also, of on-line courses teaching use of the Internet.
The ACT Laboratory, through its Digital Education Network, has created InternetDEN, which offers online lessons that explain basic Internet tools and navigation: http://www.actden.com/
Most of the Internet's value to a student is the same as to an adult - providing information. However, there are some sites on the Internet specifically for students and children. Some of these are not as good as a book. Others, however, offer beautiful graphics, and still others are interactive.
The Internet is most valuable when the student has a purpose for using it. Without a clear purpose, a student can drown in a sea of trivia. Furthermore, in contrast with a book, magazine, or newspaper, on the Internet it is not easy to skim information, and so pulling information off the Internet can be less productive than getting information from a book, magazine, or newspaper.
Should classroom time be provided for gathering information from the Internet? In some cases, yes. However, the Internet can eat up much valuable classroom time. Certainly, it can serve as a supplement to classroom work when accessed from a student's home or from a school computer outside of classroom time.
Sending Independent-Study Work Home
How should a teacher respond to a student's request to work at home on independent-study materials? The teacher certainly doesn't want to stifle a student's interest; on the other hand, some students race through work so quickly that, instead of really learning, they are just covering ground. Furthermore, school materials that are safe in school are sometimes lost or damaged at home - "My dog chewed on it," the student says! Lastly, if the work requires checking, at a student's home the teacher is not at hand to check it. It is true that some parents are just as good at checking student work as the teacher, but others aren't. Then there is the student who does work at home and brings an armload of work to school for the teacher to check, expecting the teacher to spend an inordinate amount of precious class time doing so. For sure, the question of whether to send independent-study work home is not a simple one.
If the teacher does decide to allow independent-study materials to go home, the teacher must be particularly diligent to work with the student managers of kits and collections to be sure that they are keeping track of the materials. As any librarian knows, lost materials are a major headache. If possible, the teacher should keep a backup copy of the materials.
To those students who arrive at school with an armload of completed work, expecting the teacher to check it, the teacher should say, "Excellent! You have done a lot of work. Let's spot check it to see how conscientious you have been. If there are many mistakes, back you go to redo it."
Students who allow materials to be lost or damaged cannot be allowed to continue on their destructive path. On the other hand, their sentence shouldn't be forever. Once they commit to more responsible behavior, they should be given another chance.
Parents who are willing to work with their children are a godsend not only to their children but also to the teacher. The teacher provides the independent-study materials; the parents do the checking. However, sometimes parents are not knowledgeable enough to check their children's work, so the teacher must continue to spot check.
Navigate to Home Page "Students Can Learn On Their Own" - http://www.teacherneedhelp.com/ students/
[1] See for example, http://www.ets.org/testcoll/index.html
[2] See: ETS Test Collection Catalog" Oryx Press Pub. Barcelona 1992 or http://ericir.syr.edu
[3] Excellent resources are now available for finding tests. Buros Mental Measurements Yearbook and Buros Tests in Print have for many years been an excellent resource, and now, in addition, there is the Internet: http://www.ets.org/testcoll/index.html
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