Tuesday, May 5, 2009

An excerpt from Swine Flu and Breaking News in the Classroom

from Remote Access by Clarence Fisher

"My idea is simply this. How can we use an event like this, and all of the news sources that are available on a breaking, global story in our classrooms? How can we teach kids about which sources of information are valuable in the midst of swirling rumour? They must be able to evaluate the worthiness of primary information surces at a time like this. There are many different channels of information available. How can our understanding be collated and improved instead of swamped by information and rumour? This is a real test of information literacy skills."

Some of the resources he suggested using:

Google map - outbreaks
CDC Twitter
the flu wiki
WHO Disease Outbreak News page

...among other ideas.

A timely topic, with endless teachable moments!
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1 comment:

  1. Marilyn BottMay 5, 2009 at 10:22 PM

    This was a great post with some great resources. I've been sorry to see how many people have spent so much time and energy belittling the public health efforts that have been made in the last few weeks.

    There are so many different aspects to look at and reflect on. We (and our students) could be learning so much about information and how it's used and how it travels at the same time we're learning about diseases and how they work and how they travel.

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