5 Reliability of information
- Pacific Northwest tree octopus, http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]
- All about explorers, http://www.allaboutexplorers.com/
- The dog island, http://www.thedogisland.com/
- Stick insects, http://www.brookview.karoo.net/Stick_Insects/
- Is the Moon made of cheese? http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Is_the_moon_made_of_cheese%3F
- Detecting lies and staying true (upper KS2 only),http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=fXFbQKz3anw&feature=player_embedded#
It is very easy for young children to assume that information found and presented as fact must be true. They need to be taught how to verify information and one of the best ways to do that may be to use spoof or hoax sites.
Look through all of the following websites and choose one to examine closely studying the quality of the information given there. Feed back in the wiki about your chosen website, is the information good? Accurate? Would you use it with children?
Ideas for activities with children
Each child or group of children could contribute a page to a wiki or an e-book about anything that they are really interested in http://myebook.com/. Once the research is finished allow each child to hide a false ‘fact’ in their work and make the wiki or book. Ask pupils to try to find the false facts from each page. Tell them to keep their findings a secret until the end when they can be shared, investigated to see whether or not the chosen facts are true or false and the outcomes discussed.
Reflection
How do you verify information found on the internet?
Can you do something in your lessons to help children start to check the quality or veracity of information found on the internet?
4 Strangers online