Recent posts for Alecia Magnifico
Media literacy and the future of the web
Lately, there has been significant discussion over the future of the world wide web. From talk of governments who censor information that they deem culturally dangerous to net neutrality, it is unclear what form the internet of the future might take or who might be exerting control over it. In addition, the growth and change of the internet is not (yet) well understood, something the BBC discusses in this article about a new research collaboration between MIT and the University of Southampton, UK – the Web Science Research Initiative:
“The Web Science Research Initiative will chart out a research agenda aimed at understanding the scientific, technical and social challenges underlying the growth of the web.
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Science.net 2006 a hit!
We have just completed another summer version of the Science.net epistemic game. Twelve middle school students (grades 6-8) formed our staff of science reporters and wrote stories on important science stories from local researchers’ efforts to find a vaccine for the avian flu to invasive zebra mussels in Lake Michigan to new breakthroughs in ethanol fuel. Each one of our reporters learned about many scientific breakthroughs that are not only new and exciting, but also important in their home communities and around the world.
We had a wonderful summer – a big thank you for playing to all of our young reporters and their families!
This fall, we have been excited to hear that many of our reporters have done additional research into their story topics, and that they continue to read the newspaper more regularly!
Watch this space for more specific results from this summer’s game…
Virtual science education?
This recent article in the New York Times (20 October 2006, free registration required) discusses virtual science education – science classes that take place completely online, without a lab component:
Internet-based educators are seeking to convince the [College Board], and the public, that their virtual laboratories are educationally sound, pointing out that their students earn high scores on the A.P. exams. They also say online laboratories are often the only way advanced science can be taught in isolated rural schools or impoverished urban ones. Online schooling, which was all but nonexistent at the elementary and secondary level a decade ago, is today one of the fastest-growing educational sectors, with some half-million course enrollments nationwide.
While I’m in complete support of giving kids who live in districts without AP sciences the opportunity to take similar classes, the real question for me is what do kids who take any type of AP science courses learn?
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Academic disciplines & professional practices
While the culture of schools might have us believe that people can gain “general literacy” with respect to reading and writing, modes of communication diverge wildly. Can most everyday citizens understand the intricacies of legal documents or read medical journals easily? Can most parents pick up their teenagers’ AIM slang easily?
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Project data
Writing Beyond the Curriculum draws on written and verbal data from different Journalism.net versions. To date, my analysis has focused primarily on news stories written by and interviews with young reporters who participated in Science.net or Wisconsin Science Journal.
I am interested in how the writing of these young journalists changes as they write and edit their stories, and how they think differently about information when they look through the eyes of a journalist.
