Knowledge Hunt
on School Safety Issues
Intro ·
Questions ·
Links ·
Big Question ·
Conclusion ·
Rubric ·
users' guide
Introduction
Many people claim that we live in an Information Age, where trying to learn amidst the explosion of facts and opinions is like sipping water from a fire hose. If this is true, the Internet must be the world's biggest fire hydrant! Still, just as we need water to survive, scholars need information to learn. Your task in this activity is to answer some key questions on the topic. The Web offers interesting facts and opinions that may not be available anywhere else. To find the truth you may have to read between the lines. If you want an idea of how your learning could be assessed, read this evaluation rubric. Finally, remember, this activity is about thinking and learning, not copying and pasting.
Questions
- What are the three major effects of seeing violence on television?
- What do you need to know about yourself to better control your emotions?
- What do school counselors need to do to help their schools?
- What accounts for 20 percent of all deaths in the 10-24 age group?
- What is one of the most useful findings related to the Secret Service's study of school shooters?
- How many explosive devices were found at Columbine High School three days after the massacre?
- What do people need to do to move through grief?
- What kind of disasters pose a greater chance that children will experience difficulties?
- How is the treatment of Arab-Americans similar to students who wear gothic clothes or trenchcoats?
- What four areas need to be considered before school boards decide to permit the use of metal detectors?
- What seems to be the best explanation for the decrease in guns in New York schools?
- What is the relationship between school size and the number of crimes committed there?
- What are some ways that traditional schooling doesn't take advantage of teenagers' abilities and biology?
- What was the dynamic relationship between Columbine students Rocky Wayne Hoffschneider and Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold?
- Where do the researchers suggest rebelliousness and other teenage behaviors usually blamed on raging hormones really come from?
- Has Columbine really led to copycat crimes?
Web Resources Links
- Airlines, passengers confront racial profiling
- from CNN / travel
- Dissecting Columbine's Cult of the Athlete
- from the Washington Post
- When Teens Turn Violent
- Recognize the Signs Before It's Too Late - by Sharon Lewis
- FAQ on School safety
- from the National Center for Education Statistics
- Districts should proceed cautiously on metal detectors (05/22/00)
- from the New York state School Board News
- How New York got safer schools
- from CNN Interactive
- Are Teens Just Wired That Way?
- from the Washington Post
- Was Columbine The Trigger?
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- Violence on Television
- What do Children Learn? What Can Parents Do?
- Making Peace -- Tips on Managing Conflict
- Tips for Doing it Yourself and Getting Help
- School shootings have high profile but occur infrequently
- from CNN
- Four Tasks of Mourning
- from the William Wendt Center for Loss and Healing
- The Aftermath of the Columbine shooting
- from NewsHour
- Secret Service takes a crack at school violence
- from CNN
- Helping Children After a Disaster
- from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Schools Seen as Out of Sync With Teens
- article from Education Week - May 2, 2001
The Big Question
Out of all the issues involved in the topic of school safety, what are the three - four most important? If you had to identify a few categories for all the information you learned, what would you choose?
Conclusion
People used to think that learning was all about gaining information and memorizing facts. We hope you've learned some important information in this Knowledge Hunt, but more than that, it would be great if you saw ways to use this knowledge to expand your understanding of the topic. If you want to check how you've done, read the evaluation rubric for this activity. Remember, with so much info exploding all around us, finding a nugget of knowledge is not as important as doing something with it. What will you do with your learning?
If you're using this Knowledge Hunt as part of the WebQuest process, you can return to the Background section or move on to Individual Roles.
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