Classroom Ice Breaker – Round Table with Google as the Topic

Google Debate Rages On!
Ice Breaker Idea – Give us this day our daily Google
I recommend highly this discussion for an ice breaker topic with students in the classroom or faculty development round table sessions. Most everyone knows about Google and has opinions on Google. Start by having participants list the ways they use Google and the Google applications they have tried. Have the participants stand. Ask those to sit down if they use Google more than 10 times a day. Ask the remaining to sit down if they use Google daily. Next, progress down the line of questioning with a few times a week, a couple times a month, now and then. See if any of the participants remain standing. Have them share why they don’t use Google. Keep it light and fun, so no one feels as if they are put on the spot. You can do that same by asking them about their use of Google applications. Open the floor for discussion on Google in education and in our daily lives. Provide resources on using Goggle applications in the classroom. Read the following articles for references and topic ideas:

Is Google Making Us Stupid?
A few months ago we featured the article, Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is doing to our brains, by Nicholas Carr. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google, The Atlantic.Com.
Read the responses in our What Google is Doing to Our Brains in the Web 2.0 Epsilen forum (please join and contribute) and on my Web 2.0 blog entry, “The Big Bad Google Monster” at http://nancywozniak.wordpress.com/from-the-mind-of-woz/the-big-bad-google-monster/
NOTE: Don’t get upset with my use of the term Luddite. I don’t like the label, but for my review of Carr’s article, I made an exception. Here is my opinion on the label Luddite – http://nancywozniak.wordpress.com/from-the-mind-of-woz/visionaries-vs-luddites/

Give Us This Day Our Daily Google: Can you go without googling something for a day?
NPR’s, Sarah Handel remarks about Google in her life, “– it’s just so darn useful, that I tend to think of it as more of a utility, like water and electricity, than a commercial product… “ – http://www.npr.org/blogs/talk/2008/09/i_cant_quit_you_google.html. Here another take on how Google has become part of our daily sustenance by Rob Dubbin of the Colbert Report (warning: might not be an article for K-12).
Can You Go A Day Without Google?
Google marked its 10th birthday on Sunday. In honor of the day, writer Rob Dubbin decided to see if he could go 24 hours without using the search engine. His article
“Just Let Me Check One Last Thing”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/05/AR2008090502654.html
appeared Sunday in the Washington Post.

Blog of the Nation – I Can’t Quit You, Google
All Things Considered, September 7, 2008
It’s not often that a product or service becomes so pervasive that people start using it as a verb. On the 10th anniversary of Google, take a look back on its influence through the lens of popular culture.
Listen to the NPR broadcast at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94392120
and join the read the blog entries at
http://www.npr.org/blogs/talk/2008/09/i_cant_quit_you_google.html

VERY INTERESTING TOPIC!