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"Teachers - especially in the elementary grades  -need to develop a shared vocabulary around the skill of searching. They need to make sure their students learn some basic search strategies and keep applying them until they become almost automatic."

Within this site you will find lesson ideas, examples, and downloads for mathematics that embrace active learning, constructivism, and project-based learning while remaining true to the standards. The initial focus will be for grades 5 and up, but teachers of younger students may be able to find some uses or inspiration from the site. Higher level thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, and creativity are encouraged as well as technology skills and social learning. The scope of this site is mathematics, but many lessons lend themselves to interdisciplinary activities also.

What if every student (and educator) was a good online researcher?  I know, you don't have the time to teach information fluency skills.  What if you could get a significant advance is skills with just a 2 -3  hour time commitment?  Here's a great Prezi 'fly by" of the new Information Investigator 3.1 online self paced class.  Watch the presentation carefully to find the link to a free code to take the class for evaluation purposes. 

Tips for refining your Google searches

I've been researching and writing about Information Fluency since the turn of the century. My work is published on the 21st Century Information Fluency Portal: http://21cif.imsa.edu You'll find modular online learning content including games, micromodules and assessments on the portal. (Free for all educators.) I include information fluency training in all of my online classes. I introduce power searching and website investigation to the graduate students studying in the E-Learning and Online Teaching Certificate Program at UW-Stout ( http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/elearningcertificate.html ) because I believe that Information Fluency is a foundation skill for all online teachers and learners.

Web search can be a remarkable tool for students, and a bit of instruction in how to search for academic sources will help your students become critical thinkers and independent learners. With the materials on this site, you can help your students become skilled searchers- whether they're just starting out with search, or ready for more advanced training.

In this webinar we will look at some of the useful techniques and skills for searching effectively using Google. We will also be looking at some of Google's other useful services, including Images, Books, Scholar, Maps and Translate.  

first book, Google Docs for Kids, focuses on word processing skills through ​instruction, guided practice and assessments.  Click on my Google Docs for Kids page for information about this book. The other books in the series are expected to be available Spring 2013.

Teaching digital literacy, information literacy, citizenship literacy via journalism lessons and resources for 7-12 grade students. I like the combination of writing journalism with the deep thinking skills needed for information fluency.

Vermont educators/students take National Ed. Tech Standards for students--who will be tested on these skills--and create "verbal pictures" for each grade level on a wiki

A blog about search, search skills, teaching search, learning how to search, learning how to use Google effectively, learning how to do research. It also covers a good deal of sensemaking and information foraging.

We've heard many ingenious ways that teachers have used Google Docs in the classroom. Here are just a few: * Promote group collaboration and creativity by having your students record their group projects together in a single doc. * Keep track of grades, attendance, or any other data you can think of using an easily accessible, always available spreadsheet. * Facilitate writing as a process by encouraging students to write in a document shared with you. You can check up on their work at any time, provide insight and help using the comments feature, and understand better each students strengths. * Create quizzes and tests using spreadsheets forms, your students' timestamped answers will arrive neatly ordered in a spreadsheet. * Encourage collaborative presentation skills by asking your students to work together on a shared presentation, then present it to the class. * Collaborate on a document with fellow teachers to help you all track the status and success of students you share. * Maintain, update and share lesson plans over time in a single document. * Track and organize cumulative project data in a single spreadsheet, accessible to any collaborator at any time.

More consensus for the leap forward...

Interview and chapter from Dr. David Barr, founder of the 21st Century Information Fluency Project. This Google book article from Joyce Valenza & Reva Basch's book Super Searchers Go to school reaveal some of David's thinking about the knowledge, skills and dispositions for successful searching. Anyone who knows David Barr recognizes his amazing understanding of 21st century information systems. This is a gem. Don't miss it.

Keep students connected to your curriculum from home and back. Posting assignments and lessons online can help students catch up or review if they are absent from school. And giving students "all the time" and "at anytime" access to the learning helps with time budgeting and life long learning skills.

via Cheryl Davis

"Pre-university students ages 13 to 17 are invited to take part in Google Code-in, our contest introducing young minds to the world of open source. With a wide variety of bite-sized tasks, it's easy for beginners to jump in and get started no matter what skills you have. Mentors from our participating organizations are available to lend a helping hand as you learn what it's like to work on an open source project. Want to work with a real open source software organization while earning cool prizes? Try your hand at Google Code-in. The contest begins on December 7th."