Bogus Web Sites
Today’s mini research lesson for Ms. Scribner’s 8-3 Social Studies students was about Bogus websites and how to use Google for Advanced Searching techniques.
I started out by discussing ways for them to think about how they should evaluate websites, including:
- Authority: Is there an author? Are there credentials for the author?
- Accuracy: How accurate is the site? Are there mistakes?
- Objectivity: Does the site show bias? Does it “lean” in one direction?
- Currency: Is the site up to date? When was it last updated?
We talked about domain names (.com, .edu, .org, .gov) and how they could be helpful in determining whether or not the site is useful for their research. In addition, I showed them the “~” symbol to look for in determining site ownership, with the “~” symbol indicating a personal web page.
Next, I showed them the “Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus” website, and asked them to look through it for Authority, Accuracy, etc., reminding them they couldn’t trust everything on the internet. We scrolled through the site which showed “facts” such as the Endangered Tree Octopus being able to take dollar bills from one’s hand, reach into bird’s nests for eggs, change colors with its moods, and have a natural enemy in the Sasquatch. Sadly, despite all of these facts, almost 3/4 of the classes believed the website was true and that the Tree Octopus did exist.
These results matched that of a 2007 survey of 7th graders taken with this site, in which 24 out of 25 believed the site to be true. Today’s sessions showed a very similar percentage among 8th graders. To me, this is a very important fact as it shows there is much work to be done to convince today’s generation of students that what is online is NOT always true and they have to take the time to READ what is out there and EVALUATE it. Too many students are not taking the time to think about what they read online, and today’s results prove this 2007 survey of high performing 7th graders is continued with 8th graders. These results prove how important it is for all students to have access to school librarians who will teach them these 21st century skills, which include understanding content of online information.
There were a few students who were not fooled, and who tried convincing the others saying “an octopus doesn’t live in a tree, how could an octopus take money out of your hand?,” and “isn’t a Sasquatch not real?” A heated debate took place in one Block, with a student insisting that perhaps the tree octopus hadn’t been discovered yet, or maybe if we read every single page on the site (we’d only gone through 2 of the 4 pages) that we’d find it really existed. I challenged him to go home and read the rest of the website and to let me know tomorrow what he found out about its accuracy.
I hope today’s lesson gave “food for thought” to the students and, as a result, they will think more about what’s online. A Tree Octopus gave them a good dose of internet reality today.
Tree Octopus
Photo from “Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus” website: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
