Digital Citizenship
Using the Internet: Evaluating Online Information
Using good strategies will narrow a search but there will still be many websites to choose from. How do you decide? Knowing how to evaluate websites and information will help you make good choices.
When you are visiting a website, be cautious because anybody can publish anything on the Internet and a lot of it is not true.
To decide whether information is true, ask yourself:
- Who made this website? Factual information should be provided by experts on the subject and should list trustworthy sources of information.
- What is their motive? They may be trying to sell you something or they may have opinions they want you to agree with.
- Is it correct? Check multiple trusted sources and compare to other websites and information resources such as books and databases.
Activity for K-3rd : Click here to read the NetSmartzKids eBook Webster's Gecko Goof
Activities for 4th-12th:
1) Learn more by visiting any of these sites:
- Social Media Test Drive: News in Social Media
- How to Judge Online Information
- Practice Evaluating A Webpage
- eBook: Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers
- Not So Fast Campaign
- If you have permission, install the free Informable app on your phone.
2) Click on the images to visit each website below & decide if they are trustworthy or not:
TIP: You can use Google Fact Check Explorer to check if information is true. Always check multiple trustworthy sources.
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Common Sense Education:
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News & Media Literacy lessons for every grade level
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Check for Understanding:
- Why do you need to carefully evaluate information?
- Do you think that anyone should be allowed to put anything they want online? Explain your opinion.