What+is+Literacy+in+the+21st+Century?

In science we need to increase our use of digital media in collecting information in the lab. Most science teachers are using technology to research and process research information. Students know how to use these media. We do need to expend more energy teaching students to discern between legitimate and bogus information.

The introduction of this media will not likely increase student understanding. By increasing our use of digital media in collecting lab data we will increase the relevance of the exercise to our students. It will be presented in a way they are more familiar with and more likely to engage in when they leave us and work in a real world setting. Few lab techs still use glass thermometers immersed in beakers recording data every 30 seconds. We now use probes that record continuous streams of data. That data is then fed into a piece of software to produce a readable graphic format. Students are already familiare with processing information through digital media from their use of games, the net and social sites. All of this will make the activities presented in digital formats more familiar to their life experience.