Using web-based tools to support source work and inquiry in social studies

Abstract

The project built on and extended previous research about the ways social studies teachers and students use technology tools to analyze, interpret, and evaluate information. Project research focused on the ways learners think about source reliability and utility, make inferences, evaluate claims and evidence, mobilize existing knowledge to understand information, and synthesize their findings.<br><br>The project utilized an existing set of web-based tools, the Critical Web Reader (CWR), to better understand the kinds of skills and knowledge necessary to work Internet information sources and how this work can be leveraged to support skill development and subject matter understanding in social studies education. The CWR provided teachers and students in the project with analytical, interpretive, and evaluative "lenses" to scaffold work with online sources and to support the six target skills in the Social Studies curriculum (making inferences, evaluating reliability, evaluating utility, evaluating claims, comparing and contrasting sources, and constructing evidence-based explanations).