NEIT+2017+-+Open+Space+2F

NEIT 2017 - Open Space 2F

Discussion of: Did Media Literacy Backfire? by danah boyd Led by Bethany Martin, Dwight School

This article addresses something at the core of what we do

"no one can ever be fully informed" with that in mind, how do we help students navigate the world?

"We cannot fall back on standard educational approaches because the societal context has shifted"

Maureen Irwin, Rye Country Day - Different sources have different purposes, no one tells the whole story - this is a basic concept that we can teach 5th graders - it’s what we’ve always done, but we have to refine it to include the sources that kids actually use.

Pascale, UNIS - Facebook is a tool, students are using it as a source of information - we need to work on, what is it to trust information? - what do we need by fully informed?

JP, St Ann's - the act of getting informed, it's an undertaking that a small percent of people could do successfully. - research article about sugar, in a journal but it was the equivalent of native advertising. - had to look at the authors to see who they are and who funds them - we're getting to a point where, you can argue that everyone has a theory, but when the data is in you have an empirical truth. That's the point where we seem to be tipping past. - How can you teach kids to peel back the layers?

Nadine, School at Columbia - This is not our battle alone to fight, it would be a grave mistake for us to take that on. it's a new paradigm. MS starts the day with current events. - Use a fake story as part of the daily talking points with students, so they can be hyper-aware that this is the new reality. - We really have to think about the new model of experiencing information - This is one of the places where librarians and technologists can form an alliance

Amanda - You can always find something that will prove the point you believe - fb is dangerous in that way - there's a glut of information, so it's easy to encounter misinformation

Nadine - we don't have to go too far to find alternative viewpoints (NY Times vs Wall St Journal)

Joy - responsibility to dig into the sources, what are they saying, and why? - this can work for science and humanities, we should always be scrutinizing any author's evidence

Ingrid - the wayback machine - use this to look at the origins of a site - dig deeper, who's funding these websites?

Should we push into classrooms more? Train teachers to teach info literacy and research? How do we get it these skills into the curriculum when we're not around?

Elizabeth, Rodeph Shalom - Where are we finding spaces to teach kids about cognitive biases? How their feelings can affect how they interpret and respond to information? - How and where are we teaching about tribalism?

Gwen Kaplan, - people are really good at finding sources that confirm your biases. - maybe we need to find something else to say than "support your argument?"

Maureen - Take one event, look at the coverage from five different newspapers around the country - find the keywords that appear in different contexts, throw those into your searches - force google to show you other results

Aren't we actually talking about //critical thinking//? - this is about teaching critical thinking, what writing really is, every piece of writing has perspective - most writing is facts around a narrative - whatever we read has a point of view - how we do we suss that out? - it's the evaluation and perspective of that source? - most studies talk about correlation, not causation, but we don't teach kids to scrutinize the difference

JP - there's a real inequity between their learning experience and ours, and it's unfair - we could go to our librarians, get an encyclopedia, we knew there was bias but it wasn't this hugely important - how do you go to a 10 year old and bestow the crown of not being able to trust anything? - It takes so much work to unravel one headline - we're giving them a crushing responsibility - we need a toolkit for our kids and also for ourselves, we also need to empathize with the world they live in

Briar - we don't really have any choice but to drop this responsibility on them - they do need to know that they have that responsibility

Rebecca, Brooklyn Heights Montessori - concerned about the exhaustion of doing that work

Pascale - there's something bigger, we live in a society where people want to believe something different. Because we're disappointed in the truths we've been presented in for so long.

Joy - "We need to get creative and build the social infrastructure necessary for people to meaningfully and substantively engage across existing structural lines. "

Susan - you have to acknowledge another person's worldview and understand what they're saying - if you just present an alternative viewpoint, the other person is going to double down on their own viewpoint

Gwen - there's a piece about teaching //courage// - I would love to not believe in global warming, but it takes courage to confront scary truths and things that challenge your world - It takes courage to encounter a viewpoint that challenges your worldview. - Also requires humility - are there other spots in the curriculum where we can coordinate to strengthen these skills

Elizabeth - reducing the stress that accompanies finding out that the viewpoint you have isn't supported by evidence - the more we can encourage an open mindset and not reactivity, the better we'll be - we'll be less fragile and rigid in our thinking if we break down the idea of arguments as winning or losing

JP - we should also acknowledge crimes of nomenclature that kids will come to school with from their families - the resolution shouldn't be I win, you lose, it should be, we live in the same world and this is what the facts show - All we're really looking for is truth

Pascale - how do we understand truth? - there isn't truth, there's reality - by knowing, what I believe isn't truth, it's my reality, that will help us understand what other people's reality is

But we're in a world of alternative facts - another person's reality might not be reality - getting past the boundary of what refuting a person's belief means

JP - we need an empathetic safety net. - both parties should be challenging the other person and prepared to support them when they get agitated

Both people should go into the discussion with some give and take - both should be trying to meet halfway

Jill - there's also this problem of the anonymity of the Internet - how do you get them to translate the in-person skills to the how they behave online?

Briar - one of the reasons we get into un-winnable arguments online is that we all have very different ideas of what a trustworthy source is - Going to put together a panel of people (scientist, journalist), talk about how we know who/what to trust?

We can't just teach how to be consumers, we need to teach how to be creators. - Teach them that they have a voice too

Briar - some adults have built a network of trustworthy sources, have teens?

Gwen - working with 4th to 8th graders, guessing at what's developmentally appropriate re: information literacy - others echo this problem

Nadine - reach out to teachers to understand the students, their maturity level. Talk to the school psychologist to know what's developmentally appropriate

JP - resource on bias: NY Times: Peanut Butter, Jelly and Racismby Saleem Reshamwala

Gwen - John Oliver clip, "studies say" illustrates the idea of the problems with studies

It's not getting less complicated BrainPop should tackle this. We should be clear about what our goal is. One is to help kids know how to have disagreements

JP - one last consideration - the worst arguments you might ever have to facilitate between students are happening outside of school - they need to have models for healthy arguments - our students need to be able to engage with people who have zero of their experiences

Debate club can do that, when you're forced to take a perspective (whether or not you agree with it)

Briar - organization called Close Up - takes kids with opposing viewpoints and puts them in a room to discuss topics

Jill - global travel also gives students perspective and empathy, breaks them out of their bubble

Maureen - epals; you can have an electronic pen pal - choose by topic, grade level, location

Nadine - Consider running a workshop at school with your faculty