using the internet to create meaningful instruction

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This article was downloaded by: [Texas A & M International University] On: 07 October 2014, At: 09:45 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK The Social Studies Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vtss20 Using the Internet to Create Meaningful Instruction Cynthia Szymanski Sunal , Coralee Smith , Dennis W. Sunal & Judy Britt Published online: 02 Apr 2010. To cite this article: Cynthia Szymanski Sunal , Coralee Smith , Dennis W. Sunal & Judy Britt (1998) Using the Internet to Create Meaningful Instruction, The Social Studies, 89:1, 13-17, DOI: 10.1080/00377999809599816 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00377999809599816 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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Page 1: Using the Internet to Create Meaningful Instruction

This article was downloaded by: [Texas A & M International University]On: 07 October 2014, At: 09:45Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

The Social StudiesPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vtss20

Using the Internet to Create Meaningful InstructionCynthia Szymanski Sunal , Coralee Smith , Dennis W. Sunal & Judy BrittPublished online: 02 Apr 2010.

To cite this article: Cynthia Szymanski Sunal , Coralee Smith , Dennis W. Sunal & Judy Britt (1998) Using the Internet toCreate Meaningful Instruction, The Social Studies, 89:1, 13-17, DOI: 10.1080/00377999809599816

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00377999809599816

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of theContent. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon andshould be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable forany losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use ofthe Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Using the Internet to Create Meaningful Instruction

Using the Internet to Create Meaningful Instruction CYNTHIA SZYMANSKI SUNAL CORALEE SMITH DENNIS W. SUNAL JUDY BRITT

uring his state of the union D address in January 1996, Presi- dent Clinton set an impressive goal- every American classroom would have Internet access by the year 2000. That declaration reflected the growing inter- est of teachers and curriculum develop- ers in providing students with access to Internet resources. In our study (Sunal, Sunal, Smith, and Britt 1996), we found that meaningful learning can result from the use of Internet resources by students. That will not occur, how- ever, until teachers have some expertise in the intricacies of the Internet so that they can facilitate its use by students.

Social studies instruction, in particu- lar, can be greatly enriched through use of the Internet. For example, students can check the U.S. Census Bureau’s “pop clock” to watch it continuously display the changing numbers of people in the United States and the world. With that information they can graph the

CYNTHIA SZYMANSKI SUNAL is a profes- sor of social studies education at the Uni- versity of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, where CORALEE SMITH is an assistant professor of teacher education and DENNIS W SUNAL is a professor of teacher education. JUDY BRITT is a computer coordinator for the Huntsville, Alabama, schools.

rapid rate of change and discuss its implications. They can delve into some of the holdings of the National Archives (http://www.nara.gove/nara/nail.html). They can compare a present-day map of a region in the United States with one of the same region from a century ago. From C-Span (http://www.c- span.org), they can obtain current infor- mation about the U.S. government’s activities. Despite this abundance of information, however, teachers, work- ing with their students, do not make wide use of the Internet.

In our 1996 study for the Center for Children and Technology, we surveyed teachers and reported the need for increased access to the Internet as a major problem. Ideally, a teacher would need several computers in the class- room so that the Internet could be an ordinary part of instruction. Alas, not many classrooms meet this ideal.

Meaningful Learning

Having access to the Internet does not guarantee that the information available will be used to construct meaningful learning. Morrison and Collins (1995) used the analogy of watching a tennis match and noted that watching the match does not teach you

how to play the game. Students must be involved in actively integrating new knowledge from the Internet into their existing knowledge. The Internet pro- vides a means for communicating with others and for research that enhances teachers’ efforts to help students con- struct new knowledge and reconstruct existing ideas (Wilson and Marsh 1995). For example, students can sur- vey other students at schools across the globe on a topic they might be research- ing-the size and composition of their family, how local government officials are chosen, or what an item, such as a small Coke, costs. The information could then be compiled and a summary report sent to all participating classes. Active approaches to learning, in which students use technology for reading, writing, observing, using primary data, and problem solving, move away from traditional roles for students and teach- ers and toward a constructivist ap- proach in which learning is centered on the students in real world contexts. Ele- ments of constructivist learning are pre- sent when students, actively involved in learning, encounter ways to integrate their new understandings into their existing background knowledge.

Harter and Gerhke (1989) compared the world’s knowledge to a kaleido-

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scope. The school’s curriculum brings integration and organization to the jumble of one’s life experiences and knowledge (Harter and Gerhke 1995). The concept of the kaleidoscope is an appropriate way to look at the world of knowledge available on the Inter- net. Teachers look at the students, their interests, and the knowledge they have already attained to structure

curriculum gives power to students and teachers, enabling them to construct meaning from current information and integrate it into an ever-increasing body of knowledge. Teaching strategies that appropriately use technology can encourage meaningful learning by stu- dents (Jonassen 1995).

Tapping into technology as a re- source and an instructional tool for

The integration of the Internet into the curricu- lum gives power to students and teachers, enabling them to construct meaning from current information and incorporate it into their growing body of knowledge.

activities that are aimed at helping them construct meaningful learning. Such activities have several sequenced components.

First, the activities challenge stu- dents’ existing knowledge and activate their prior knowledge. Material from the Internet can provide students with needed challenges. For example, stu- dents may examine pictures of Mexico that have been downloaded from the Internet and be surprised to find many cars on the road. A stereotype of Mex- ico as a country in which most people have no knowledge of cars and travel only by burro can be challenged with such information.

Next, with the activities, students can be guided through explanations and examples of the new ideas as the teacher has students use reference materials on modern Mexico. On the Internet, students may find sites that will enable them to contact Mexican students or obtain general and tourist information about Mexico. Such exer- cises help students expand their new knowledge as they apply it to a range of different contexts (Sunal and Haas 1993). Students might undertake a pro- ject in which they share information with students in Mexico or explore another nation to determine whether their concept of that country is accurate. The integration of the Internet into the

today’s classroom imposes an exciting challenge for educators at all levels. Teachers who believe technology can enhance teaching and learning are more likely to include it in their instruction. But when should we begin integrating technology into the curricu- lum? Should it be an instruction tool at the elementary level? Teachers have recognized that technology has a place in the curriculum, beginning in kinder- garten. Young students in our kinder- garten classrooms play computer games at home and at school and are integrating technology into their daily activities. If they have access to such technology at home, they will be using it there even if it is not a part of a school’s curriculum. Teachers have also recognized that realistic expecta- tions are needed (Mitchell-Powell 1995). The new technology, which typ- ically is not widely available to teach- ers, cannot replace many types of activities in the classroom and is not a solution to all educational problems. Yet, a technology-rich curriculum has a place in the day-to-day activities of the classroom and can foster learning.

Levels of Internet Use

In our 1996 study, we determined that Internet use by a classroom teacher and students can be divided

into five levels. At level 1 , Internet resources are used by the teacher to gather content information. When Internet resources are shared with stu- dents to provide content information, the class has reached level 2 . Level 3 is achieved when the teacher incorporates Internet information directly into a les- son. At level 4, the teacher acts as a learning facilitator in a student-directed project, that uses a variety of Internet materials. Level 5 has been reached when the students directly plan and implement their use of Internet.

In our study of preservice teachers’ levels of Internet use with their elemen- tary students during an extensive practicum, we found their initial use of Internet to be mostly at level 1 and somewhat at level 2 . That level of usage was achieved after a workshop on accessing the Internet and finding use- ful Internet sites. Some help, when requested, was available to the preser- vice teachers during the semester. A few of the preservice teachers chose not to use the Internet, although its use was required in their courses. They reported that they just did not have enough time to use it, finding it time-consuming and difficult. They also said they did not always have access to a computer when they wanted to use one.

In a second part of the study, anoth- er group of preservice teachers demon- strated widespread classroom use of the Internet at levels I and 2 . About one-third used the Internet at level 3, and a few used it at levels 4 and 5. The greater usage of the Internet by the sec- ond group appeared to result from a more extensive workshop, efforts to provide easy and frequent access to the Internet, and modeling of the use of the Internet in the social studies and sci- ence methods classes taken by these preservice teachers.

Teacher Needs

Providing Access

Our study suggests that teachers need access to the Internet, supporting the conclusions reached by other researchers. The best option is to have

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Internet access within the classroom, preferably at several computers. Such access, of course, is not commonly available. Many schools first offer Internet access at one or more comput- ers located in the school’s library or computer laboratory. Such an arrange- ment is likely to result in the lower lev- els of Internet use, at levels 1 and 2, and perhaps 3. Management and scheduling problems arise when students or teach- ers attempt to work at levels 4 and 5. At both of those levels, we found that the students were the primary users of Internet. Enabling each student or even small groups of students to have access to the Internet is difficult when the computer is not in the classroom.

If the Internet cannot be accessed from the classroom, an alternative is to work out a schedule for its use among interested teachers. Open access time each day should be included in the schedule. Open access times should vary, occurring in the morning on some days and in the afternoon on others. That flexibility would enable teachers and students to use the Internet as vari- ous subjects are taught or problems and interests arise.

The amount of use time assigned to a teacher needs to be determined by the group. However, a two-hour block of time is a useful beginning point that would allow Internet use by several stu- dents or repeated use by one or more students. A block of this length allows for time taken up moving between the classroom and the computer’s location and for some time spent finding one’s way through the Internet to the sources that are useful for the activity or project under way. Several two-hour slots dur- ing the week are preferable. As more teachers ask for slots, the need for addi- tional Internet access will become obvi- ous. A growing number of requests for slots will give the school’s administra- tor data to argue for increased Internet access at the school.

Teacher Training

From our study, we concluded that teachers need an introduction to the basics of Internet navigation. It is

important to note the menu available. Teachers should learn how to save Internet material and transfer it to a disk and how to print material from the Internet. Training in the use of book- marks should be of particular interest because these allow teachers to save the address of a useful site. Then a teacher can click at any time on that address and have it immediately come up for viewing and use.

Search engines are another important component of training in using the Internet. Some of these are Yahoo, Lycos, Alta Vista, and Infoseek. Each will help the teacher search for sites relating to a specific topic. Some sites include “social studies lessons” (for ex- ample: at http://www.csun.edu/-hcedu 013/index.html; or at http://www. yahoo.com / Education / k-12 / Social Studies/Indices/; or at http://www. csun.edu/-vceed009/socialstudies.htm). Some are associated with a specific individual; for example, sites associated with Nelson Mandela can be found at http: // www.obs-us.com / obs / English/ books/Mandela/Mandela.html or http:// www.obs-us.com/obs/English/books/ Mandeldobselsl .html. It is possible to type in the names of people and find out whether they have home pages or sites on the Internet. For instance, a teacher can type in the name of an educational researcher and may find that he or she has a home page, allowing the teacher access to information or research cur- rently under way. It also is possible to use yellow pages on search engines to find the address of an individual or a business. Electronic mail addresses for some people also can be found through the Internet.

In the training program, teachers should learn about a variety of sites that might be of interest to them and should select them so that they learn the range of sites available. Teachers might look at the sites for the ERIC system (http://www.aspensys.com/eric2/wel- come.htm1). They might visit Tales of Wonder, with folktales and fairy tales from around the world (http://www.ece. ucdavis.edu/-darsie/tales.html). They might go to What Was the American Revolution? (http://gopher://ericir.syr.

edu:70/00/Lesson/Crossroads/elem/K2 /unit-4); Your First Paycheck (http:/1 www.macomb.kl2.mi.us/wq/cq2ucs, htm); the Library of Congress (http:/t www.loc.gov); Russia Today (http:/t www/russiatoday.com); C-Span (http:/1 www.c-span.org); or OceanEXPO, which is following a fleet of boats as they circle the globe (http://www.usin- ternet.com/onlineclass/SOC/Neptune- Sub. html).

Teachers also should be introduced to listserves, which are groups of peo- ple who share an interest. They com- municate with one another, asking questions, presenting ideas, and in the case of teachers, often sharing lesson plans. One such listserve is found at http://www.eduzone.com/. Another is the Talk City Educenter found at http://www.talkcity.com/educenter/. The Teacher Net Chat Board (http://www. netlwwwboard/) is a group that can be accessed to ask questions or just chat.

The training program should involve teachers in discussing usage policies. Marker (1996) has an excel- lent discussion of developing a school policy to ensure fair, appropriate, and ethical use of the Internet by students. Teachers should consider developing a form that students can use to request permission to print materials from the Internet. A permission form limits stu- dents’ common desire to print all sorts of interesting Internet material (see figure 1). On the form, students give the address of the site from which they are printing, briefly explain why they need to print from the site, describe how they will be using the printed materials, and indicate how many pages will be printed.

In our study, we also found that modeling was important. Teachers should have opportunities to work through sample lessons or projects that use the Internet. It is helpful to let pre- service teachers visit classrooms in which students’ use of the Internet is the norm.

Using the Internet in the Classroom

Level 1 use involves finding infor- mation for personal use on the Internet.

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FIGURE l S a m p l e Form for Student’s Request to Print from the Internet

i Name:

1 Number of pages to be printed:

Date:

Address of the site:

Brief explanation describing how you will use the materials printed from the site:

Once one has had some experience nav- igating the Internet and visiting sample sites, level 1 is easily attained. At level 2 , use involves sharing Internet materi- al with students as a resource for infor- mation. For example, a teacher imple- menting a unit on Mexico provided the students with seventy pages of maps, information on historic sites, and eco- nomic information. The materials had been printed from three different Inter- net sites. Another teacher printed views of rooms in the White House for her students to use during a study of Wash- ington, D.C.

At Level 3, information from the Internet is directly incorporated into a unit. For example, a teacher printed hourly weather reports over a twelve- hour period from the Weather Chan- nel’s site at http://www,weather.com/ and directed students to graph the changes in weather for their region of the country. Another teacher printed documents relating to African Ameri- can history from the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The students read and analyzed the documents. The sparse material available to them in their textbook and school library was extended through access to the Internet, which offered students opportunities to compare several perspectives on an issue they were studying.

At Level 4 the teacher acts as a leam- ing facilitator in a student-directed pro- ject that uses a variety of Internet mate- rials. As part of a study of the world’s rain forests, one group of students found several Internet sites with rain

forest-related information. One address- http://www.yahoo.com/science/ecolo- gy/ecosystems/rain-forests/ -has a number of rain forest-related sites that can be accessed. Another site was http://ww w.ran.org/ran/kids-action/ index.htm1. The teacher often acted as a facilitator when students had difficulty locating a site dealing with the topics of interest. At one point, students found a site reporting the project of elementary- school students in Ecuador in which they earned money and used it to buy a piece of the Ecuadorian rain forest that would then remain in its natural state. The U.S. students used electronic mail to communicate with the Ecuadorian students, and their teacher used elec- tronic mail to work with Ecuadorian teachers to set up a process by which the students could contribute to the pro- ject of the Ecuadorian students.

At level 5, students are involved in projects they directly plan and imple- ment. One group of students studying the history of their state decided they might get interesting information by searching the Internet for historical places preserved by cities, historical associations, and other agencies. Each student chose a community of interest and searched the Internet for a site that might relate to it. About 20 percent of the students could not find a site for the community they had selected. They then searched the Internet for electron- ic mail addresses of agencies in that community and used them to request information about the community, its history, and the selected historic place.

Those students who did not find an electronic mail address for an agency in the community they had selected used the Yellow Pages to locate telephone numbers and addresses so that they could write or phone. The teacher encouraged the students to work through the problems they encountered and made some suggestions, but the students organized the different search- es and determined the content for which they searched.

The Internet is a vast, and potentially frustrating, source of materials and opportunities that teachers usually can quickly learn to use at levels 1 to 3. Moving beyond level 3 requires some experience. The teacher should consid- er carrying out one unit that involves students in use at level 4. Once such involvement has occurred, it is impor- tant to use the experience to build opportunities for working at level 4 into other units. The first experience at level 4 might be challenging, frustrating, or disappointing. Both the students and the teacher will need to develop man- agement, scheduling, and cooperative strategies that facilitate level 4 use. Even a disappointing experience is use- ful because it demonstrates what strate- gies need to be revised and may also indicate which topics are suited to a level 4 experience.

Once students and teachers have built a foundation of level 4 experi- ences, they should move on to level 5 . Again, initial level 5 experiences prob- ably will not be smooth. Teachers and students will have to work to build usage strategies and to select appropri- ate activities and topics. Work at levels 4 and 5 requires experimentation over an extensive period. A teacher may work at level 4 for a year or two before trying level 5 . The time span is not important. Reflection on the experience at a particular level and building strate- gies for the best use of the activities at that level are important. The gradual development of expertise among both teachers and students is the goal. It is the exploration, reflection, and building of expertise that make the use of the Internet a valuable part of the instruc- tional program.

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REFERENCES

Harter, P., and N. Gerhke. 1989. Integrating curriculum: Kaleidoscope of alternatives. Educational Horizons 4 1 : 12-1 6.

Jonassen, D. 1995. Supporting communities of learners with technologies: a vision for integrating technology with learning in schools. Educational Technology 35(4): 60-63.

Marker, G. (1996). Social studies and the Internet: developing a school policy. The

Social Studies 89(6): 244-248. Mitchell-Powell, B. 1995. More than just a

pretty interface: Access, content and rele- vance in computer technology. Technolo- gy and Social Studies 7(3): 11-12.

Morrison, D., and J. Collins. 1995. Epis- temic fluency and constructivist learning environments. Educational Technology 35(4): 60-63.

Sunal, C., and M. Haas. 1993. Social stud- ies for the elementary and middle school student. Fort Worth, Tex.: Harcourt Brace

Jovanovich. Sunal, C., D. Sunal, C. Smith, and J. Britt.

1996. Elementary preservice teachers use of the Internet in designing and teaching social studies-based integrated units. Pre- sentation at the annual meeting of the College and University Faculty Assem- bly, National Council for the Social Stud- ies, Washington, D.C.

Wilson, E., and G. Marsh. 1995. Social studies and the Internet revolution. Social Education 59: 198-202.

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