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Here are the notes from
this past week in class:
We spent quite a bit of
time discussing research terms and ideas. The following is
information that was reviewed in class (taken from the Lauer
text):
1. There is a main reason to use or engage in educational
research. The main reason to do so is because we as educators,
need to make evidence-based decisions in and out of our
classrooms in order to find effective ways to maximize all
students' learning.
2. There are current issues driving educational research in
today's society. The main force is the No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Act of 2001. It important to know that schools' and districts'
effectiveness are measured by
adequate yearly progress (AYP). This movement is increasing the
awareness of research for educators and policymakers.
Standards-based reform is another force that is currently
driving educational research. The standards movement started
much earlier than the NCLB Act - although it's important to know
that they now go hand in hand. It's important that all
preservice teachers are aware of NCLB. Please click here for an
external site that provides additional information on the NCLB
Act.
3. There are National
Research Council (NRC) Guiding Principles for scientific
research. They are: (1) Pose significant questions that can be
investigated empirically, (2) Link research to relevant theory,
(3) Use methods that permit direct investigation of the
question, (4) Provide a coherent and explicit chain of
reasoning, (5) REplicate and generalize across studies, and (6)
Disclose research to encourage professional scrutiny and
critique.
4. There are different
types of education research. They are descriptive and
experimental research. Descriptive research design is used when
data are collected to describe persons, organizations settings
or phenomena. A correlational research design is used to
describe numeric data (statistics). Experimental research
designs include (1) true experimental and (2) quasi-experimental
research. There are quantitative and qualitative data. Ideas
about action research was also reviewed.
Please read Lauer's text
(Ch. 1-4) for more information on the above content.
In class, we also spent
some time in the computer lab. While in the lab,
we began to discuss ways that we can search for
information on the Internet. There are two main Web browsers
that are often used: Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. We
reviewed three types of search tools. Indexed search engines,
non-indexed search engines and meta search engines.
There are different types of effective web search tools. They are:
1. Indexed search engines
a. http://www.yahoo.com
2. Non-indexed search engines
a. http://www.google.com
b. http://www.altavista.com
3. Meta search engines
a. http://www.dogpile.com
b. http://www.metacrawler.com
*It is estimated that about only 30% of websites are accessible through the above search engines. To find sites that seem 'invisible' when using the above searches, use this site to locate specialized search engines and directories:
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/specialized.html
There are search engines that are kid safe/student friendly. They are:
1. KidsClick! - This is a search engine that was created and is maintained by librarians. It is an indexed site that was a project of the Ramapo Catskill Library System in Middletown, NY. It is maintained daily by the Colorado State Library. KidsClick! Is not an internet filter. No advertising is found on KidsClick! Pages. The website address is:
http://www.kidsclick.org
2. Yahooligans! - This is a search engine that serves as a web guide for kids. Educators check for content accuracy and link appropriateness for children aged 7-12 carefully check each site. Every site that is indexed by Yahooligans! is hand-picked by their editors. That is the only way that the sites get into their directory. The website address is:
http://www.yahooligans.com
3. Ask Jeeves for Kids - This is a search engine that accepts questions that are asked in a typical
question format to facilitate students' ease with finding answers. Users are encouraged to write their questions in a sentence format when searching for information. The search engine is maintained by askjeeves inc. in Oakland, CA.
The website address is: http://ajkids.com
4. FactMonster - This search engine is published by Pearson Education and was first known as infopleasekids.com. The site has updated daily features as well as content-specific information. There are advertisements that pop-up and are highlighted in a banner on top of the web pages. The website address is:
http://www.factmonster.com
5. Awesome Library - This search engine previews all web sites that are searchable and only accepts them if they are found to be kid-friendly and are high quality for Internet users. The Evaluation and Development Institute (EDI) and Dr. R. Jerry Adams own this site. The website address is:
http://www.awesomelibrary.org
6. Dib Dab Doo and Dilly too! This search engine is filtered to be kid friendly. It is owned and maintained by a father of 4 children who wanted to create a search engine that was safe for children. This is an ad free search engine. The website address is:
http://www.dibdabdoo.com
That's all for this week. Keep reading, keep learning, and keep
coming to class! ~Kim
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