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Easily Led by Fact or Faux?: Supply students with a number of websites – legitimate mixed with complete hoax sites. Can they identify the imposters? Applying some of the tools listed in our “skills” section, have students try to identify which sites are not real. The better you can blur the lines between fact and faux, the harder the game becomes.
Trustometer: Give students a “site credibility” ranking system of 1 to 5 (or perhaps 1 to 10 for more advanced evaluators). Give students a series of web sites, each with particular strengths and weaknesses in their credibility. In a group, students must use reasoning and the skills listed above to rank each site and defend their ranking with what they’ve observed. This activity easily yields cross-team debates. The teacher might choose to award “points” to the teams that make the more persuasive argument.
The Tower of Power: Choose a debatable topic – something that will light a fire in your students. Then, find a number of web sites that take the differing stances on that topic (say, 5 anti and 5 pro). Have students rank the web sites, based on credibility: from the most credible to the least credible. Can students wade through their own feelings on a debate to identify which sources are more reliable (as opposed to those that support their personal opinions)? This models the real-world complication of personal bias.
The Art of Truthiness: Have students fact-check real politicians, celebrities and pundits. Show a video, give them a transcript, and put them into teams to try to verify statements made by our leaders and public figures with their own online research. Students can then follow up with a complete evaluation.
Liar, Liar: The goal of this activity is to have students attempt to “sneak” false or unverified information into their speaking or writing. This could take the form of a class debate or perhaps public speeches. Students may call out “liar, liar” when they think they hear nonsense. Students might earn points for calling out the lie. Students might lose points for being wrong about a lie. Students might get points for “getting away” with a lie. Adapt as you see fit for your class.
Written and compiled by Keith Lambert, Education World Associate Contributing Editor
Lambert is an English / Language Arts teacher in Connecticut.
It’s important for students to not only think about the credibility of the web site they are looking at, but also the ethos of the voices on that site. Trusting the integrity of a news source might be one thing, but trusting those being interviewed is quite another. As students are thinking about the sources relied upon by news organizations, they don’t want to simply take their word for it: check the ethos. To get students thinking, you might discuss the differences between some of the following types of information:
1. Statistics or facts from a study or a survey: Studies are done to discover new potential facts…if these facts support your claim, it might be logical to believe you.
2. A quotation from a professional in a relevant field: People who have spent their lives studying your topic…their thoughts and even opinions are more trusted than your own due to their wealth of experience with the issue.
3. Reference to an historical event from an article or other primary source: An article that reports on something that actually happened in time, can be verified, and that event supports your claim.
4. A quotation from a person directly impacted by the topic: People who are involved with the debate in some way or have personal experience can be helpful in supporting your claim.
5. Something just said in an article (likely by a reporter, and the reporter is not a professional in the relevant field you are researching): News reporters are surely supposed to report the facts, not take a side on an issue. But if a claim is being made without referencing credible sources, students will want to be cautious.