Unit Topic or Theme: An introduction to more effective use of the Internet
Grade: 3-6
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Lesson Topic or Theme: Computer Matching
Lesson Objectives: Students, after participating in the Computer Matching lesson, will be able to:
Instructional Technique: Demonstration, question and answer, group work, discussion.
Instructional Materials: Folders with questions & answers. String or tape to indicate connections between "sites". Map of classroom layout.
Theoretical Perspective: Successful information seeking depends on a student’s ability to clearly understand and articulate the information that is needed. Searching the web, students also need to learn how to ask for the needed information in a way that will yield the best results – they need to understand what the computer "understands." The "Computer Matching" lesson and the "What’s My Question?" lesson that follows it are designed to build in students these two fundamental information literacy skills. The first of these, question formation, is the ability to recognize and articulate the information needs—in other words, to ask good questions. The second information literacy skill is the ability to successfully communicate or translate those questions to the particular information source—in this case the World Wide Web. In the "Computer Matching" lesson, students are taught to consider the different ways a question can be asked, and are introduced to a simplified idea of how computer searching works—computers are good at recognizing words, not ideas. The lesson prepares students for "What’s My Question?" in which they will continue to build question formation skills as they learn the Web searching strategy of query expansion—trying different words and ideas that branch off of the central question.
Procedure:
Preliminary Discussion
The teacher will begin by asking the students if they remember how much information they were able to find on the Internet in the Scavenger Hunt, and to give examples of what they found, what they liked, and what surprised them about what they found. After a brief discussion, the teacher will remind the class that with the Scavenger Hunt, the student’s had a list of Web pages to choose from; in the next lessons they will be learning how to find information on the Internet when they don’t have any Web sites to start with. The teacher should explain that when you don’t have a set of web sites to choose from, you need to type your question into the computer. Today, the students will be learning some differences between people and computers, and how a computer "understands" questions that are asked of it. For example, people understand that you can ask the same question in different ways. Here, the teacher should begin to make a list on the blackboard of the different ways to ask a question and encourage students to add to it.
Example:
The teacher should explain that people can think of different ways to say a question because people can understand what the words mean, so they know that they can use other words that mean the same thing. The teacher should then explain that, unlike people, computers don’t think– they can’t understand the what the question means, they can only find words that match the words you use. When you ask a computer a question, the computer looks for answers that use the same words that you used in the question. On the blackboard the teacher should write the following examples:
| Questions | Answers |
| 1. What does a bird like to eat? | 1. A bird likes to eat birdseed and worms. |
| 2. What are the favorite foods of birds? | 2. A bird’s favorite foods are birdseed and worms. |
The teacher should explain that to a computer, answer 1 matches question 1 because some of the words match. The teacher should ask several students to come up and circle the words that match in the questions and answers (1 in one color, 2 in another color). Then the teacher should ask students to determine if a computer would think that answer 2 matched question 1, and why. After a brief discussion, the teacher can clarify that although a person would know that answer 2 gives the answer to question 1, a computer wouldn’t know, because the words don’t match.
(15 min)
Introductory Activity: Computer Word Matching Simulation
This simulation should be set up like the "Internet simulation." Students are divided into three groups of equal sizes. Groups are assigned to one of three roles.
The teacher explains the roles of the people in each group. The teacher also explains that it does not matter which students are in which groups, because each student will have an opportunity to try each role. When introducing the activity, the teacher can have students practice with the following example:
Step-by-step
The Seekers and Computers take their seats. The teacher gives each Computer a folder of facts, gives each Seeker a worksheet and 4 questions (2 questions asked in 2 different ways), and assigns each Messenger to one Seeker (or two, if the numbers are unbalanced). The teacher makes sure everyone understands his or her tasks.
The simulation begins. Seekers hand questions to Messengers and tell them which sites to go to. Messengers go where directed, following the lines on the floor. Computers receive questions, find matching answers, and send back both questions and answers.
The teacher circulates around the room, clearing up confusion where necessary. It may be desirable to distribute a few extra questions to students that are working quickly, so that Seekers and Computers remain busy.
When a Seeker has completed all of his/her questions, the Messenger disposes of the question/answer slips, turns in the Seeker's worksheet, and takes a seat. The simulation ends when everyone has completed his or her tasks, or when the teacher feels that sufficient time has elapsed. A single simulation, using 4-5 questions per Seeker, takes 7-10 minutes.
The kids would rotate through the "seeker", "messenger" and "computer" positions, until everyone got a chance. At the end, everyone would talk about whether what they got was different depending on what they sent. The teacher should discuss with the class that they could use this knowledge about how computers match words to find more information on the Internet. Because computers look for exact word matches, you sometimes need to try several versions of a question when you’re searching with a computer. When there are different ways to ask something, sometimes you need to try more than one way, and use more than one word. These are fairly complex ideas, and the teacher should allow plenty of time for group discussion and questions.
Closure
The students should complete a "computer matching" and a "people thinking" quiz. In one column of each test are 5 questions (labeled 1-5). In a second column are possible answers (labeled a-h). For the "computer matching" quiz, the students should identify which answers matched which questions. For the "people thinking" quiz, the students should identify which answers answer each question, whether or not the words match.
Adaptations for different learners
Extra time should be spent with groups having difficulty with the matching exercises.Evaluation:
The primary goals for this lesson are to give students a basic understanding of how computer searching works and to build a foundation for question formation and query expansion skills by teaching students to think carefully about the words that they use, and to try more than one version of a question. If the class successfully completes the "computer matching" simulation, and is able to complete the "computer matching" and "people thinking" quizzes, they will have a strong foundation of the skills required for searching the Internet.
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