Okay Google...

posted Jan 20, 2016, 9:00 AM by Amy Wix   [ updated 23 hours ago ]

Lot’s of times I have had the meme that says something to the effect  that if a question can be answered by google, we are asking a student  to regurgitate facts and not really use higher level thinking.  Of course,  when I want the meme to add to this blog post, I can’t seem to find it-  not even with the help of Google.  Last weekend was the Eagles Cancer Telethon in Rochester.  As my  family was driving into town we saw the spotlight flashing through  the sky from the event.  An eccentric friend of the family happens to  be the owner of the spotlight, so we had a little inside information.   It is a leftover piece of equipment from WWII.  We were wondering  how the spotlight was used in the war- did it swivel around, or did  someone follow specific aircraft in the night sky?  Apparently, there  was an attachment that collected sound waves that would direct the  light help the military locate the aircraft and guide the light to it.   This led the discussion to us asking which branch of the military  actually used it- the Air Force wasn’t created until after WWII.  My  son, in the back seat says. “Okay Google, when was the US Air Force  established? It says 1947, prior to that the Navy and Army shared the  duties.”  As our drive into town continued, with the help of “Okay,  Google” we learned lots more history about the aircraft and the role it played during WWI and WWII.   This was just one of many such rides for our family.  We often come  across something in our path that gets us to ask a question.  My son,  being part of the generation who has always had technology at his  fingertips, doesn’t want to wait for an answer, he wants to know NOW.   Okay, Google.  This same kind of discussion has happened in my classroom.  We will  be talking about something, a student will ask me a question and my response is sometime. “I’m not sure, we’ll have to investigate…” and  before I have the sentence complete, one of my students has his phone  out and is googling the question.  What a wealth of knowledge our  students have at their fingertips- if we teach them how to ask questions  and we allow them to use it.  It has been years since I have told a  student to “look it up in the dictionary.”   I think it is much better for  them to be able to google the word and find the meaning at the time  they are coming across it- building connections and attaching meaning  hopefully will promote better understanding.