Blog Post 5

I think that using the internet for research can be both helpful and harmful for students, especially students just learning how to use the internet. I think that it can be helpful because the new resources open up the mind to new possibilities, and helps students to understand the importance of backing up ones research. I think that it can be harmful because there are many places that they can find papers that have already been written. Also, it is very simple to just copy and paste information without actually digesting it. Furthermore, it is very easy to find a lot of information that doesn’t necessarily come from a credible source.
For this reason, it is very important to teach children how to find a good source. I, personally, like databases like jstore and project muse for finding sources because I know that the source I have found is always going to be trustworthy. I also think that most school libraries have similar sources available for their students.
I am interested in working with students who are in middle school and high school. With both age groups, I worry about not enforcing enough the importance of understanding how to use a library because the internet is a very easy way of finding sources and I worry that my students will want to take the easy way out. I also worry about the other things that the knowledge of understanding how to use a search engine can provide for children, the things that aren’t necessarily all that great to know. Knowledge is power, but knowledge can also lead to harmful actions, and that worries me a lot.