Just Because It's Out There Doesn't Mean It's Good

Summary

Students go on an Internet treasure hunt to find information about a famous world explorer. They compare information from two different sites to come to a conclusion about whether they can trust all Internet sources.

Objectives

After this lesson, students will

know that some information available on the Internet is not valuable for research.
understand the need to be familiar with a topic before beginning an Internet search for information.

Materials

Preparation

Set up computers (1 per pair of students) with selected Hunt pages already loaded and ready for students to work.
Prepare 1 copy of Treasure Hunt worksheet per pair of students.
Prepare a sign for each team of 4 researchers (to aid in group formation at end of “Treasure Hunt” portion of lesson.

Activities

Time	Activity
5 min	Introduction Find out how many students have used the Internet before. “What is the Internet?” Explain that students will be studying Explorers this year in social studies We have a cool activity on the Internet to get started with Explorers
20 min	Treasure Hunt Assign students randomly to a team researching one of the explorers (4 students per team, divided into two pairs) One pair of students works together at one computer to complete the Hunt on their explorer. Students should select and answer all three of the questions. Teams reconvene as a group of 4 to compare answers and notes. Discuss and answer the “Big Question.”
15 min	Group discussion Whole class discussion of findings and the “Big Question.” Key points to bring out: Not everything on the Internet is useful Be familiar with your topic first by reading books Check facts with other sources
5 min	Preview of future lessons Introduce culminating activity—the next three lessons will provide students with the tools to correct the mistakes they found at the AllAboutExplorers.com site Tools and skills to locate good information Ability to evaluate web sites and other Internet sources