A quick update on my "cloning research" assignment. Out of 60 students only 4 gave a clear indication that they did not believe that this site was real. The last question that students had to answer in a Google form was:
"Would you trust this company if you wanted to purchase a clone? Explain"
Many students said, "No" but they did not want a clone for various reasons such as fear, not wanting one, or even ethical or religious reasons.
So the next day I congratulated the students who figured it out and told the rest of the class that they had been tricked. We then had a short discussion about how they should trust no one including the internet, TV, newspapers, textbooks, and teachers. I told them that they should question and doubt everything until proven.
My hope is that it was be a memorable lesson for them.
Showing posts with label critical thinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label critical thinking. Show all posts
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Filters and Fake Sites
Today was my first day of class, and it flew by. I was not able to have students do my fun research project because it was blocked by the school filter under the category of humor. Wow, humor sure is dangerous! The good news is that I e-mailed my IT dept. and they had it unblocked by the end of the day, and I can teach it tomorrow. So for those of you in the #edchat on Twitter tonight about filtering, don't give up and keep asking for things to be unblocked.
I was inspired by Cattywampus in an old Reader's Digest article. Go read it a minute-its better than this post I admit it.
OK, you're back. I just had to try this idea in my technology classes. I found this site on buying a human clone. The students will answer the questions in this Google form. If you look very closely the site is not very believable. It is also a bit dated from 1997 I think. But most students will not question its authenticity because it is on the Internet and the assignment is from a teacher.
The key question I will analyze is the last one: "Would you trust this company if you wanted to purchase a clone? Explain." This should show me whether or not they believe the site.
I do not plan to give the students an actual zero in the grade book. But I will be telling them they "failed" if they do not figure out it is fake. Quote of the day will be "Question everything."And that is the first lesson I want to teach this year.
I was inspired by Cattywampus in an old Reader's Digest article. Go read it a minute-its better than this post I admit it.
OK, you're back. I just had to try this idea in my technology classes. I found this site on buying a human clone. The students will answer the questions in this Google form. If you look very closely the site is not very believable. It is also a bit dated from 1997 I think. But most students will not question its authenticity because it is on the Internet and the assignment is from a teacher.
The key question I will analyze is the last one: "Would you trust this company if you wanted to purchase a clone? Explain." This should show me whether or not they believe the site.
I do not plan to give the students an actual zero in the grade book. But I will be telling them they "failed" if they do not figure out it is fake. Quote of the day will be "Question everything."And that is the first lesson I want to teach this year.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Tiananmen Square Massacre Never Happened
TeachPaperless' Shelly Blake-Plock wrote an article here about filtering in China and in U.S. classrooms. It brought back memories to me of teaching English in China in 1999 during the ten year anniversary of the Tienanmen Massacre.
I was teaching English at a university in ShenYang, a heavy industry and mining city in Northeast China (think Cleveland or Pittsburgh). I remember we were using The JoyLuck Club in one of our classes and we had to cut out a part of the appendix because it mentioned Tienanmen Square and "that never happened" according to our Chinese overseerers.
If you remember in May 1999, NATO accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia based on info. from the CIA. This tragedy was a wonderful opportunity for the Communist Party propaganda machine to distract the people from the anniversary by turning their anger against the U.S. The government-controlled CCTV did not immediately broadcast the news. Instead they waited until the evening news when all Chinese people would be watching (there are not a lot of choices on Chinese TV). Professors organized their students to protest at the consulates around China. This was shown on the evening news as the majority of Chinese people heard about the bombing for the first time. Students could be seen yelling through a microphone of a police cruiser. It was very organized and designed to distract the people from the ten year anniversary of Tienanmen Square.
As an outsider it was much easier for me to see how the Communist government was manipulating these events to their advantage. (There was even a conspiracy theory that the Chinese government paid Clinton to bomb it to distract the people. Remember the big stir here when he was renting out rooms in the White House? I don't buy that though) Very few Chinese people saw it though and I had to try to explain it to my Chinese friends. A wise professor who tutored me in Mandarin saw through it all and we had great conversations as he pointed out that the United States had no motive and nothing to gain from the bombing. I learned about the power of propaganda through media and cultural perspective through this event. It has helped me re-evaluate the U.S. positions and actions throughout history more critically.
I want my students to think critically about all media and information that they encounter in life. It is scary when I make a statement in class that "it was on the Internet. It must be true" and no one disagrees with me. One of my goals for next year is to focus even more on critical thinking and evaluating skills. I want to adopt the approach of this great teacher who started the year off by showing kids that they need to question everyone and everything including himself. How will you teach students to think critically?
I was teaching English at a university in ShenYang, a heavy industry and mining city in Northeast China (think Cleveland or Pittsburgh). I remember we were using The JoyLuck Club in one of our classes and we had to cut out a part of the appendix because it mentioned Tienanmen Square and "that never happened" according to our Chinese overseerers.
If you remember in May 1999, NATO accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia based on info. from the CIA. This tragedy was a wonderful opportunity for the Communist Party propaganda machine to distract the people from the anniversary by turning their anger against the U.S. The government-controlled CCTV did not immediately broadcast the news. Instead they waited until the evening news when all Chinese people would be watching (there are not a lot of choices on Chinese TV). Professors organized their students to protest at the consulates around China. This was shown on the evening news as the majority of Chinese people heard about the bombing for the first time. Students could be seen yelling through a microphone of a police cruiser. It was very organized and designed to distract the people from the ten year anniversary of Tienanmen Square.
As an outsider it was much easier for me to see how the Communist government was manipulating these events to their advantage. (There was even a conspiracy theory that the Chinese government paid Clinton to bomb it to distract the people. Remember the big stir here when he was renting out rooms in the White House? I don't buy that though) Very few Chinese people saw it though and I had to try to explain it to my Chinese friends. A wise professor who tutored me in Mandarin saw through it all and we had great conversations as he pointed out that the United States had no motive and nothing to gain from the bombing. I learned about the power of propaganda through media and cultural perspective through this event. It has helped me re-evaluate the U.S. positions and actions throughout history more critically.
I want my students to think critically about all media and information that they encounter in life. It is scary when I make a statement in class that "it was on the Internet. It must be true" and no one disagrees with me. One of my goals for next year is to focus even more on critical thinking and evaluating skills. I want to adopt the approach of this great teacher who started the year off by showing kids that they need to question everyone and everything including himself. How will you teach students to think critically?
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