Today we started out by looking at the website Worldmapper. It was fascinating looking at all of the different maps representing various topics like literacy or AIDS. The maps helped bring the issues to life by having the countries themselves represent the data instead of just a graph or chart. It created a great visual and also worked well for learning some geography. I could see it being a great site for every subject. I am a science teacher and there were several maps that I could use in my classes, including some that represented the amount of science research in each country. I think it could be a great way to start a discussion and I could see creating an assignment where students went to the site and looked at the data. A discussion forum could be used to have the students share what they have found.
We also looked at some websites discussing the results of the supreme court ruling on the healthcare plan. We looked at Rush Limbaugh's website and he presented it as a way for the government to levy unlimited taxes, since now behavior can be taxed. This seems like basic scare tactics. I think he needs the healthcare plan to be really bad so that he can rationalize why we should give up covering kids up to age 25 and not penalize people with preexisting conditions. This whole issue isn't over. At some point we have to decide as a society if healthcare is a privilege or a right. We pay for everyone's healthcare one way or another, so the real point seems to be about who pays and who profits.
In addition we read two articles to see if the data matched the headlines. I have to say I missed the boat on the article that I read. It completely went over my head that the data didn't really relate the father's to the sons in terms of income. I just saw that they looked at two generations and assumed that they were talking about fathers and sons. That's one of the difficult issues in media literacy. How do you stop yourself from assuming things? I guess it just takes more practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment