This thesis reports the results of a school year long
study, 1999-2000 that examines the development of a
curriculum for teaching Navajo/Dine’ high school students
Internet information literacy. Lessons were constructed
through observation of student responses and formal
discussions with teachers over the course of the project.
There are three phases of the study. The initial phase
identifies effective content and delivery modalities. I
established eight principles for teaching Navajo students.
These are: culturally relevant content, wholistic learning,
choice in projects, visual learning, personal relationships
between teachers and students, developing feelings of
competence, teaching essential information to functioning
in dominant society and giving opportunities to work
cooperatively.
The second phase implements the findings of the first.
I developed eight mini-lessons: Thinking about the
assignment, Navigation and browsing on the Internet,
Exploring with the Internet, Note taking and collecting
information, Evaluating resources, Preparing to present,
Reference lists and Evaluating research skills.
A student self-assessment was administered to
participating students during the third phase. The final
report of the study indicates students who participated in
three sets of Internet information literacy lessons
expressed more confidence in their abilities to use the
Internet in their class work than those who had taken one
set of lessons.