In my paper, I stated a Claim, and did
not support it, so I was awarded with the brick. I would like to restate my
claim here and support it if possible, or at least explain how I would support
it. I claimed that: "Sometimes parents, whom have experienced disconnect,
can teach their children the value of disconnect by taking them somewhere like
camping, and taking away electronics, but that generation is dying out, and
parents are taking their children camping less and less." In my first
attempt to support this claim, per usual I started with Google, and typed the
claim into the search bar. There were really no sources with data supporting my
claim. The only websites that popped up were about how to take children
camping, or tips and benefits written by bloggers, or magazine articles. This
could mean that parents these days do have a general interest in taking their
children camping, but once again, I cannot support this claim, because I have
very little evidence, so I continued to look for more information. I then
turned to more academic sources to find information like JSTOR, and Google
scholar. I found several articles that talked about how parents spend time with
their children and how to plan a camping trip at first. After adjusting my
search terms, I found articles about organized camping that actually refuted my
claim. One stated in the abstract that camping has actually increased in the
twentieth century. It talked about how camping is used to sort of re-establish
familiarity with one another and the outdoors and there has been an increase in
camping activities for youth groups and for educational purposes, which makes sense,
but when I was writing my paper I didn't consider this option. I now see the
opposite of my claim is plausible, and supportable. I assumed my claim was
true, but now I see it is in fact not, and I support the claim proposing the
opposite. Below, I have attached some of the sources I found that support my
new claim, and I understand now how important it is to support a claim, or at
least to not assume it is true without first checking the facts.
Sources I found on google:
http://www.michianafamilymagazine.com/The-Family-Magazine-of-Michiana/February-2013/Camping-Tips-for-Parents/
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/09/08/camping-with-kids/
Sources I found on JSTOR
Organized Camping
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
,
Vol. 313, Recreation in the Age of Automation (Sep., 1957), pp. 83-86
How American Children Spend Their Time
Journal of Marriage and Family
,
Vol. 63, No. 2 (May, 2001), pp. 295-308
CONGRATULATIONS! You have earned back those 4 points, plus the extra-credit one I gave you for going first.
ReplyDeleteThere is support for your original claim, but perhaps not definitive proof. The book Last Child in the Woods explores how young people are spending less time outdoors today. Books, by their nature, can cover a topic in great detail (poorly or well).
By casting that "big net" when doing research, you'd want to look for sources such as the ones you found, as well as the book I note. Empirical data--based on numbers, and well designed surveys free of bias--could reveal what is happening with camping.
So could data from, say, state and national parks for overnight stays. Day-trippers would not count :)