How Can Teachers Teach Digital Literacy in Mathematics?

Teaching Digital Literacy to Students 

I am in the Secondary Education program with a major in Mathematics and a minor in General Science. It was difficult to brainstorm ideas surrounding digital literacy since the requirement of the internet will not be as present in my future classroom as in others. So, I will be talking both in a general sense and in a specific-to-my-subject sense. 

In a General Sense 

To me, teaching digital literacy would be done better in an English or History class since those classes will require students to do their research, or more time on the internet, surrounding many topics. According to Peter Pappas, middle and high school students have a long way to go when it comes to being digitally literate. That is why, in my opinion, it would be better to teach students about the concept of digital literacy as early as possible. This way, they will have an easier time navigating through the misinformation and disinformation that are being spread all over the internet.

Teaching young students how to research and find factual resources, through classes like History and English, is vital to learn about digital literacy, as well as critical thinking.

Everybody has their own implicit and confirmation biases. Learning digital literacy will also teach how to separate facts and biases when researching a plethora of information. People tend to look for information that will validate what we already know or feel. Along with that, people tend to believe the information provided to them by the people they trust, such as their family or friends, even if the information given was false. Through digital literacy, students can use critical thinking skills to determine whether information is factual. 

In a Specific-to-My-Subject Sense 

When I become a teacher, I will be teaching high school students. The things I will be saying in this section will be applied more to elementary teachers teaching mathematics. Teaching math in elementary school is all about teaching the basics, like adding and subtracting, but math is more than just that. It is also about collecting data and interpreting that data. That is why I think software like Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint and Google Sheets and Slides are good tools to use for this. In math, teachers can ask their students to collect data and information surrounding topics of mathematics. Students should use more than two, or three, sources that provide more proof that the information they are collecting is factual. After that, they can visualize their information however they want using Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.

This activity can be done individually or in groups, but being in groups may also help with digital literacy and critical thinking skills as they have the aid of other people’s opinions and perspectives. This activity incorporates mathematics into both critical thinking and digital literacy. Students use their digital literacy skills to separate disinformation/misinformation from facts and use their critical thinking skills to find more resources that prove or disprove the information they found. 

In terms of the NCTE Framework, I feel like I already tackled many of their goals as I discussed both digital literacy and critical thinking skills.