Activity Let Down

Unfortunately I am unable to take my students to an art museum due to school funds.  I am really disappointed!  However, I came up with this really awesome other idea in order for them to still have the same amount of fun and educational experience.  I found some of the same artwork that the students would have been able to see at the museum online.  I used the poster making machine in the graphics lab to make the images larger.  I then posted them all around the room to make our own museum.  I found a virtual field trip online that I could have used my Smart Board for, but instead I thought that my students would enjoy their own museum in the classroom seeing how it would be more hands on and moving than sitting and watching the virtual field trip.  I feel that they sit and listen to teachers speak all day long that they would rather be up moving around and exploring.  Plus when you turn the lights out for videos and other related activities, the students tend to become more tired and not focus.  Although, during the virtual field trip, the students would have the oportunity to have a 3D experience on the different pieces of art rather than the flat visual aid with the posters.  I feel that either the school museum option or the virtual field trip both have their ups and downs so either of them would be a great choice.

"Information Overload"

In today's society with all of the internet access, sometimes there tends to be way to much information out there for students, teachers, and anybody else to view.  Even though many people think that there can never be to much information out there, I personally believe that with all of the information out there, how can we really know what to believe is true.  All of the websites out there for us to see could be full of false information, but also could be full of true facts and statements.  When taking that into consideration, it makes me think that there is to much information out there on the web.  This could cause many people to just search the internet for random information rather than only the specific information they need.  I mean seriously, how much of the information they are skimming is really true, and how much of it is false.  For some people who do not look in detail for specific facts, they could be getting false inaccurate information.  For those who are looking for specific information and facts, most likely will be paying attention to how credible the source really is.  People who pay attention to site credibility are the ones who are not consuming all of the extra unecessary information.  Often students, and occasionally some teachers, are the ones who consume all the false information from not narrowing down their sources.  When students are on information overload and are not paying attention to how credible the sites really are, and in the end it tends to show.  It would be extremely hard to put a stop to all of the extra false information on the web.  However, schools can help out a little bit by having their technology person put blocks on some websites, such as Wikipedia and other sites, which can be altered by any person who feels the need to change or add to the existing information.  Teachers themselves can help put a stop to it as well by having a lesson on website credibility and giving the students a list of websites they can use for projects.  Both of these options will defiantly help put a stop to browsing all of the available websites for information on a certain topic.  Hopefully one day there will be an end to all of the extra information on the website which is not needed.