2. -For the first website: 27 students took the quiz and the 24 students that responded stated that they would not use the first website.-For the second website: 27 students took the quiz and the 24 students that responded stated that they would use the site.
3. In responding to the quiz question: ‘what sources they would use’ -most students responded with: the list of sources I had previously listed on the board: databases, encyclopedias –both print and online, internet, books from our library, and science textbook. In responding to the quiz question: ‘how can you evaluate a website’ -the majority of students responded with: check website for date, name, and email address or contact info. Three students responses had date, contact, and name, but also included: good facts. Two students responded with: name and how it looks. And two students responded with good facts and authors/”writers” information. Based on these results I know that some student learning took place and that most students paid attention and took good notes. I also know that by their following along in this lesson and their using the evaluation sheet for their quiz –this practice alone has helped them become more information literate.
4. What I would do differently next time for the assessment portion is to allow the students to take the quiz individually using their evaluation sheets instead of as class. For this quiz, I had the students look up at the projector as I went through each of the websites and I asked them to evaluate each of the websites for its reliability. This is a fine method; however while going through the websites I could not help but make comments in attempts to help the students which probably affected their responses to the questions. However I do know that student learning did take place as Mr. Salinas mentioned to me very excitedly that our lesson is the best lesson he has been involved in all year based on the actions of his students during research. While observing some of his students researching the last 5 minutes of class for taking notes on their actual project he observed several groups discussing their selection of only the websites from their search results from Google with web addresses that ended in ‘.edu’ or ‘.gov’. Mister Salinas was very excited upon his observation of these certain student’s behavior and newly learned skills and how they were utilizing their newly learned skills so adeptly. I believe the spirit of inquiry was sparked for when I showed the students how to use the online encyclopedia almost everyone was fully engaged and taking notes. The students were also running over to each other’s computers to see the videos of various body systems available in the encyclopedia. Many students were also excited about the fact that they did not have to rush and take incomplete notes with only five minutes left in class because there is an ‘email the article’ feature in Britannica’s online encyclopedia.<br />