Why do cats purr? How far away is the sun? Why is the sky blue? How does temperature affect mood? A list of questions pop up in everyone's curious minds throughout the day, but what is our go-to method to answer these questions? Google, of course! Google presents a variety of results from academic to opinionated resources. It is often to difficult to distinguish these results and determine which are accurate or even be able to narrow down an answer by reviewing information on multiple sites. But let's be honest, who actually takes the time to page through Google's millions of results? It may take more time to read through articles in databases, but at least the information is reliable. My goal is to find information using only databases, by using different combinations of words in my research question.
My research topic is censorship in education, and I can even broaden that to censorship in the media.
First I used a couple other basic search engines and searched a variety of combinations of the name of my topic. I went to Bing and searched "censorship in schools" and came up with some news sites, blogs, polls and even some ".org" sites. There were about 5.5 million results. Then I searched "freedom of education" and came up with 53 millions results.The resources seemed a bit more reliable than Google! Now using Yahoo I am going to see what results I can come up with. I found a lot of the same sites as I did on Google. I found Wikipedia and Yahoo Answers quite frequently, unless I scrolled down a bit to find some more reliable material. I played around with key words and found some common resources among each search I did.
Next, I searched "censorship in education" in a database, mentioned in Bruce Ballenger's The Curious Reader, called ERIC. My results were from "Censorship Challenges to Books" to "Intellectual Freedom for Young Adolescents" to "Classroom Censorship for Better or Worse" and even "Art Education". There are not as many results as in Google, but the resources are much more effective for pulling information from. The results can be refined by publication date, publication type and education level. In the same database, I searched "censor textbooks" and got many different search results by simply changing a few words. I found a source entitled "Censorship Revisited" from 1998. I think it's good to get some sources from the previous years and also the present to show some comparisons.
I then visited noodletools.com to find some sites that would work best for my topic. This time I decided to go to a government database (USA.gov) to see the laws about censorship. I searched "censorship" because I wanted a general understanding of the laws. My search results brought me to a site called "Federal Communications Commission" and found another site called "National Conference of State Legislature" which was also helpful.
I found some great accurate sources I wouldn't have come across if I limited myself to Google!
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Rough Research Proposal
One of the most difficult tasks student experience is trying to find a good research topic. A topic that is interesting, valid, has accessible information on and something that sparks other ideas. I browsed some topics and, while it was difficult for me to just choose one, I came up with this inquiry question:
Should textbooks and other educational materials be censored for children in schools?
Other questions might include:
What is the effect of social networking on children?
Are children learning bad habits more quickly than in previous generations?
How does this [the above question] affect their education?
How have school curriculums changed with the more frequent use of technology?
My stance will be somewhere in the middle. I think that children shouldn't be completely sheltered from the world, but shouldn't be exposed to things like war and politics that may not be understandable to a nine year old for example. Textbooks shouldn't be censored for high school students because they are getting ready to be independent and go to college in the real world. If they are sheltered from the craziness of the world, then they will not adapt to it easily. Younger children should have an idea of what's going on in the world, too.
I have a younger sister who probably knows more about the real world than I did when I was her age because times are changing. News is easily accessed and is basically everywhere! Technology is a much bigger part of society now and school curriculums are moving more quickly to keep up with the fast-paced world. I think of it in this way: if it is vital to learning and education, then it shouldn't be censored, but if it can be harmful to see/read/listen to then it should be censored.
Should textbooks and other educational materials be censored for children in schools?
Other questions might include:
What is the effect of social networking on children?
Are children learning bad habits more quickly than in previous generations?
How does this [the above question] affect their education?
How have school curriculums changed with the more frequent use of technology?
My stance will be somewhere in the middle. I think that children shouldn't be completely sheltered from the world, but shouldn't be exposed to things like war and politics that may not be understandable to a nine year old for example. Textbooks shouldn't be censored for high school students because they are getting ready to be independent and go to college in the real world. If they are sheltered from the craziness of the world, then they will not adapt to it easily. Younger children should have an idea of what's going on in the world, too.
I have a younger sister who probably knows more about the real world than I did when I was her age because times are changing. News is easily accessed and is basically everywhere! Technology is a much bigger part of society now and school curriculums are moving more quickly to keep up with the fast-paced world. I think of it in this way: if it is vital to learning and education, then it shouldn't be censored, but if it can be harmful to see/read/listen to then it should be censored.
Words Sparking Curiosity
I have been provided with several terms: places, trends, things,
technologies, people, controversies, history, jobs, habits, and hobbies.
Choosing four terms, I have been instructed to write down anything that
comes to mind when I think of that term, no matter how crazy or random
it may be.
PLACES: Amazon, forests, palaces, deserts, poverty, war, religious conflict, middle-east, Paris, boxes, my room, classrooms, libraries, what long term effect does salt have on skin?, the beach, seaweed
THINGS: yo-yo, pencils, health and medicine, flowers, sidewalks, city life, foreign languages, acceptance of foreign customs,black holes, myth versus fact, how much of the ocean has been explored?, what's the truth about the Bermuda Triangle?, How do people become known in the music business?
PEOPLE: Obama, Prime Ministers, terrorism, teachers, lock-downs, globe, the earth, interaction between the continents, allies, inventors, scientists, historians, archaeology, empires, how far away is cancer from being cured?, what science investigations are going on currently?
TRENDS: Twitter, Instagram, Seventeen Magazine, Sheetz, sports, World Cup, violence in sporting games across the world, Facebook, bookstores, caramel, Starbucks, effect of caffeine on teens and children.
The most promising item I found in my list may be "How much of the ocean has been explored?" I can expand from just the ocean to other parts of the world and uninhabited islands. This can spark scientific research as well, and the findings from what is explored can be answers to questions. Some people may be against exploring the unknown, while others may see the many benefits in it.
I have generated a list of questions for this topic:
What percentage of the ocean has been explored?
How many decently-sized islands could be waiting for discovery?
What groups or organizations go out and explore oceans or other parts?
What professions incorporate exploration?
How dangerous could it be?
What precautions should be taken before going out on an expedition?
How does a group determine whether to go out professionally exploring, or not?
What materials are needed?
Are there first aid services nearby?
Could groups go out exploring to search for an answer to a scientific question?
What scientific mysteries require more exploration?
How far are Americans allowed to explore on foreign lands?
How far can they go until they have disobeyed some type of law?
PLACES: Amazon, forests, palaces, deserts, poverty, war, religious conflict, middle-east, Paris, boxes, my room, classrooms, libraries, what long term effect does salt have on skin?, the beach, seaweed
THINGS: yo-yo, pencils, health and medicine, flowers, sidewalks, city life, foreign languages, acceptance of foreign customs,black holes, myth versus fact, how much of the ocean has been explored?, what's the truth about the Bermuda Triangle?, How do people become known in the music business?
PEOPLE: Obama, Prime Ministers, terrorism, teachers, lock-downs, globe, the earth, interaction between the continents, allies, inventors, scientists, historians, archaeology, empires, how far away is cancer from being cured?, what science investigations are going on currently?
TRENDS: Twitter, Instagram, Seventeen Magazine, Sheetz, sports, World Cup, violence in sporting games across the world, Facebook, bookstores, caramel, Starbucks, effect of caffeine on teens and children.
The most promising item I found in my list may be "How much of the ocean has been explored?" I can expand from just the ocean to other parts of the world and uninhabited islands. This can spark scientific research as well, and the findings from what is explored can be answers to questions. Some people may be against exploring the unknown, while others may see the many benefits in it.
I have generated a list of questions for this topic:
What percentage of the ocean has been explored?
How many decently-sized islands could be waiting for discovery?
What groups or organizations go out and explore oceans or other parts?
What professions incorporate exploration?
How dangerous could it be?
What precautions should be taken before going out on an expedition?
How does a group determine whether to go out professionally exploring, or not?
What materials are needed?
Are there first aid services nearby?
Could groups go out exploring to search for an answer to a scientific question?
What scientific mysteries require more exploration?
How far are Americans allowed to explore on foreign lands?
How far can they go until they have disobeyed some type of law?
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