The Changing Nature of Information

As a chemistry teacher that seeks to use technology to help my students learn I try to keep up with as much instructional technology news as I can. One theme that jumps out at me from recent readings is the changing nature of information and the difficulty that our schools have adapting. Information is changing from facts that are delivered from experts in a very few outlets (newspapers, journals) to a more fluid, evolving dialog that can added to by anyone.

I try to help students understand a world that they will never see. A world of atoms and molecules interacting to make the everyday items around us behave the way that they do. I continually hear and read about the importance of teaching our students the skills they need to evaluate information because it is increasingly not coming from the historically respected sources. Where does the basic content that we teach fit into this? Not all information is fluid and changing. Most of the information I teach is not going to change. The Law of Conservation of Mass is called a law because in recorded human history it has never been violated. It is in the application of this basic content that things begin to become murky. Real world chemistry if often very messy. It never quite works like the general chemistry texts say. Throw in decisions that often have to be based on opinion and it gets murkier still.

How do I strike a balance between helping students learn the basic facts that they need to be informed consumers of information and teaching them the skills they need evaluate and process information? Isn't part of my responsibility to help provide them with a context? There are certainly times that I can teach the two together. There are other times when I can't.

dgsact1