Critical Evaluation of Websites

Octopi in trees? DHMO, the mystery chemical? Rennets are little rodents chopped up and put in cheese? These articles cracked me up, but the thought behind them is sobering: this is the material that so many of our kids take at face value. This is the content that they'll use in their research papers if we don't teach them how to think and evaluate material critically.

We, as educators, MUST get this one right. We must teach students, from the very youngest to the very oldest, to think critically about the media they consume, especially websites. If they cannot do this, I shudder to think about the future of our nation. This may seem melodramatic, but I honestly believe that critical media consumption is THAT important.

I've always had students evaluate sites and then submit the evaluations to me before using them for research, but this super-specific form is SO much better than what I do! It looks at everything about a site, from the URL tag (generally we guide kids away from .com) to the images to the author and the text layout. Most importantly, it drives students to complete several authenticating/comparison searches to validate the info. This is key, and not difficult to do.

By performing a few simple background searches, students can rule out bogus info. quickly and find reinforcement for good sites. If we can get them to do this up front, while in the information gathering stage, they'll be lightyears ahead when they get to actually researching. Not only will they have ruled out a number of unnecessary sites, but they will find more keywords for better searches, and they'll build their background knowledge to boot. Initially, most students are resistant to this, but if you can tell them a few good stories (or get testimonies from their peers) about students who've fallen prey to bad information, their motivation will increase.

Unfortunately, an open Google search is the default for most kids. They think all information is equal, and they just enter their topic and start clicking, from the top of the list downward, and usually printing before even skimming the text. In short, they let Google do the thinking for them. Don't get me wrong; I love Google, but there are SO many great tools and other options that they don't even know about! If we can convince them that using Google Scholar, specific, varied keywords, and advanced searches will actually SAVE them time, then we'll have won at least one battle.

As to the whole critical thinking and critical media use war, we have to take it in project- and paper-sized steps. Ideally, each building (and ideally each district) needs a scope and sequence for teaching ever-increasing levels of critical media skills. These can SO easily be built into the curriculum as we integrate reading and research across the curriculum. This is one of those places where we need to work smarter, not harder. By combining search and thinking skills into our pet projects, we'll end up with better assessments and better thinkers, all in one!