Below is an example of a critical literacy lesson plan. This can be catered and changed in order to meet the needs of your students as well as across different grades. In addition, it can be altered to have students investigate any website critically, not just the one provided.
Why is it important to evaluate the source and validity of the information found on a website?
Procedure:
1.Have the students brainstorm a list of criteria which make a Web page useful for research. Answers should include title, author, date of creation, date of update, source of information, contact e-mail address, layout of page, ease of use, fast to load, etc.
2. Discuss the 5 W’s of website evaluation (who, what, when, where, why?) and a critical evaluation tool and go over both. Be sure to emphasize the importance of the credibility of the author and the source of the information on the page. Talk about ways to determine if information is correct (e.g. finding the information in a print source, on another Web page, via an expert)
3. Surf to the Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide page (http://descy.50megs.com/descy/webcred/webcred/dhmo.html) and have students, on their own or in small groups, evaluate the information on the page using the critical evaluation tool.
Procedure:
1.Have the students brainstorm a list of criteria which make a Web page useful for research. Answers should include title, author, date of creation, date of update, source of information, contact e-mail address, layout of page, ease of use, fast to load, etc.
2. Discuss the 5 W’s of website evaluation (who, what, when, where, why?) and a critical evaluation tool and go over both. Be sure to emphasize the importance of the credibility of the author and the source of the information on the page. Talk about ways to determine if information is correct (e.g. finding the information in a print source, on another Web page, via an expert)
3. Surf to the Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide page (http://descy.50megs.com/descy/webcred/webcred/dhmo.html) and have students, on their own or in small groups, evaluate the information on the page using the critical evaluation tool.
4.Have the class come back as a group and discuss the pro's and con's of this page. Did anyone know the information was bogus? How could this be determined? Emphasize the fact, with little knowledge of a topic, it is almost impossible to know if the information located is correct.
5.In small groups, have students visit some of the other bogus Web sites listed at the bottom of this page: http://discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/eval.html
6.Have them discuss the methods for finding out if the information is real or bogus.
Assessment:
Have the students create a list of 10 questions to ask themselves when critically evaluating the information they have found.
Have the students write a paragraph explaining why it is important to evaluate the information found on a Web page. Have them include the ways to find out more about the author, the sponsoring agency, or the information itself.
1 comment:
You could launch your unit with a visit to a bogus website and see how many believe there is such a thing as a jungle octopus, for example.
I think this is a fantastic unit idea.
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