Wednesday, April 26, 2017

The Power of I DON'T KNOW

You can combine the power of "I don't know" with the power of "yet" to get that great learner attitude: I don't know ... yet.

You can find Heather Wolpert-Gawron's article at Edutopia: The Power of "I Don't Know" and then see Rebecca Zuniga's infographic (full-size) at TeachThought.

I've provided a transcription below. It's a non-linear sort of infographic, but you will find all the text there somewhere or other!


Teachers are no longer the carriers of knowledge, giving it to students and assessing if they can repeat the facts successfully. They are,instead, tasked with teaching students how to find answers.

Changing Attitudes.

It's OK to say I DON'T KNOW. Teach your students how to develop QUESTIONS. It helps to conquer their own confusion.

Online Literacy.

Internet Literacy.

In the Classroom.

Make GOOGLE do the work. Create a time scavenger hunt. Verify the evidence.

"Google doesn't make people stupid. It just does what you ask it to." Think about how to be specific enough to make Google do the work for you. Advanced Search. Keywords. Filter for fair use.

"We need to cultivate a certain excitement in not knowing something."

Group students with a short list of question about a particular topic. They need to work together to develop efficient keyword combinations to make Google do the more accurate searching for them. Make a contest using a Google Document to post answer and citation.

Triangulating Data.

Assembling Keywords into their own question and Google it.

Finding at least three other websites to corroborate the fact.

Embrace Wikipedia and all it can teach, BUT make sure that a student knows the steps to verify what's legit, biased, or even outright false. Main Facts. Data. Keywords.

"Modeling an exciting I-Don't-Know attitude is the brass doorknob that opens the portal to finding answers together!"

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