Evaluating Websites for Primary Students

Hi Everyone, 

Welcome to Ms. Gogas' webquest. Today, we are going to look at different websites and you are going to help me figure out whether they are real or fake. 

QUESTION: Do you know how you can tell whether our not a website is real or fake?

Notes for Teachers

The teacher or an older student sets up this webquest on the white board, or place that is visible to students. Students can be called on to answer questions, and help through out the investigation. For larger primary classes, the teacher,older student, or teacher-librarian can go through this webquest with a group of students at a time.

Accommodations:

Instructional accommodations are changes in teaching strategies, including styles of presentation, methods of organization, or use of technology and multimedia. This webquest is designed with the Universal Design for Learning in mind, and the use of technology for differentiated instruction and learning.

Environmental accommodations for any students with special needs required in the classroom and/or school environment, such as preferential seating or special lighting.

Connection to the Ontario Curriculum's Science & Technology:

P.g 15 & 16 Detailed Chart

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/scientec18currb.pdf

Connection to the Ontario Curriculum's Language Arts: Media Literacy:

Grade 1 Overall Expectations  p. 45

Grade 2 Overall Expectations p.59

Grade 3 Overall Expectations p. 73

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf

As a class we want to do some research on an animal. Lets choose an animal together.

What animal do you want to research?

_______________________________________

Now before we look up animals on the internet, we need to 'know' how to tell whether or not a website is real or fake. We need to 'evaluate' a website

QUESTION: What does evaluate mean?

Evaluate means to find out the value, or worth of something. Teachers give tests to evaluate what their students have learned. A jewelry store owner appraises, or evaluates a necklace to see how much it is worth. 

Now let's watch this video on evaluating websites:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J41iN5gJt6w align:center]

First you will need to know the meaning of these words: 

Question: Can someone tell us what these words mean?

Reliable

____________

Accurate

_____________

QUESTION: What are some things that you need to look for when you are evaluating a website?

Let's take a look at this website together and see if we can tell whether it is real or fake.

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

Now let's use the information we learned from the video on how to tell if a website is real.

R

E

A

L

Read the url. The 3 letters at the end of the website. Reliable websites usually end is .org, .edu., or .gov.

Examine the site's content. Can you find the author or publisher? Can you tell when the last time the website was updated? Did a teacher share this website with you, or did you find it from the internet yourself?

Ask about the author or publisher? Let's see if we can find who the author is. We can also do a search together for the author to see if this is a real author. Can we find any information on this author?

Links that work. Do all the links on the website work? Let's see what happens when we click on them. 

Here are a few websites that we will look at together in small groups or pairs. I would like you to take out your journal or piece of paper and draw a picture of something that you learned on how to tell if a website is real or fake. Please remember to label it with any helpful words. This will be put up in the classroom, to remind us what to look for.

Note to teachers: For younger grades, students can be paired with an older student (intermediate or junior). Students can also work in groups with the teacher, or teacher-librarian to examine these websites. All students will draw their picture and label it with tips for examining websites.

Here are some websites to examine:

The Burmese Mountain Dog

http://descy.50megs.com/akcj3/bmd.html

Cat Reactions to Men with Beards

http://www.improbable.com/airchives/classical/cat/cat.html

History of the Fisher Price Airplane

http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/fisher/

Buy an Ancestor Online

http://www.fulkerson.org/ancestors/buyanancestor.html

Conclusion:

In your group, find one website that is reliable and accurate about animals. 

Draw 2 things that you learned about animals from your website, and label your drawings.

Created by Mia GS for the use of Primary Grades. 

There are teacher's notes through out the webquest. The teacher can read the questions for the students. If using an interactive board, the students can brainstorm the answers and students or teachers can write down notes as the presentation goes on.