This year's offerings had more to do with my realm, as several sessions covered the collaboration between the librarians of Austin Community College and local districts' Early College High Schools. It was heartening to hear that the research skills I'm teaching to my second through fifth graders are exactly what these older students need. They may act as if they've never heard of citations or databases before, but the college librarians assured us that once they see the information again, a lot of students go "Oh, yeahhhh, now I remember."
What was disheartening was the report on the decline of critical thinking in this age of quick news clips on a smartphone, an overabundance of extremely biased media, and clickbait. Students--and adults--are quick to pass along anything that plays into strong emotions, without really thinking about the source or validity of the information. Many don't read past the headline before sharing.
I left the symposium with several resources to boost my information literacy lessons (did you know John Green has an IL video series?). I'm scanning posts in my FB feed with more focus, skipping over stories with vague sources and sharing very little. I'm taking more time to digest information before commenting. I'm doing my best to think and explore more.
I, too, have become reticent to share on social media and am slowing down to better digest information. Too often we - and kids - skim the surface instead of diving deep. It takes time. I do, however, find you amazingly reflective in your blog posts and comments! It IS disheartening (great word choice) to think of this decline, passing along less-than-credible information, often accompanied by knee-jerk reactions. We can scarcely afford to sacrifice critical thinking. Powerful, powerful points here, Chris.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a click-skim-share world it seems, Fran. I think information literacy is now the second most important lesson we teach in the library, next to love of reading/ learning.
DeleteSo much to think about and so many important points. I am careful to mainly stick to education on social media and do try to always read carefully before I share or comment. There are times I do trust the person who is sharing the information and do a more shallow dive -- I need to think more about that. Thank you for pushing my thinking
ReplyDeleteI have good friends and relatives who post stories from questionable sources; sometimes I remind them, but lately, I've just passed the articles on by without comment. Thank you for your thoughts!
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