[LM_NET] HIT: Evaluating Websites - Elem.

[Kris Cobb <KrisC@DKE.K12.IN.US>]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to send lists of websites to use for 
evaluation of good/poor/bogus sites to use with 6th grade students.  I finally got 
a lesson put together using the information you sent... so thanks!  Here are the 
results.

Saw your post on LM_Net.  This isn't exactly what you want, but I've used
these two sites to encourage students to examine sites carefully -
www.mypyramid.org and www.mypyramid.gov 

One of my favorite "unreliable" sites comes from idiotica.com.  I
> happened upon their "facts about beluga whales" site: 
> http://www.idiotica.com/encyclopedia/content/Beluga.htm 
> In fact, this is a great site for demonstrating proper search technique:
>  if you enter "facts about beluga whales" in the google search box, the
> way some kids do when they're filling out a worksheet for a project, the
> number one return is this fake website.  And it even has the word
> "encyclopedia" in the URL...

 If you do a google search on "octopus" you will come up with the second
> hit as 'Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus".  It is a beautiful
> fictitious website.  It gets kids every time!


When I teach the lesson I use these sites:
>  Site by students: (this site does not necessarily contain bad
> information, but was made by students. I explain that there are plenty
> of sites made by experts. This site can be used for an overview of the
> topic, but I wouldn't take research information from it.)
> http://www.harlingen.isd.tenet.edu/coakhist/amrev.html#YT 


Phony: These sites are hoaxes (there is no person named Jacopo Di
> Poggibonsi and the google site is an April fools day joke (see at the
> bottom of the page)
>  http://www.umich.edu/~engtt516/index2.html 
> http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html 


Conflicting information with other sources: (in the middle of the first
> page it says that it took Leonhardo ten years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.
> Other sites say that he painted Mona Lisa between 1503 and 1506. Not
> likely it took 10 years to paint the lips alone. It may be true, but why
> waste the time trying to figure it out!)
> 
> http://www.lairweb.org.nz/leonardo/ 

> 
> Links to their other "about" sites can be found here:
> http://www.idiotica.com/cranium/encyclopedia/ 


Here is the site for the webquest:

http://www.southfayette.org/schools/ms/library/webquest/index.htm 

Kris Cobb
Library Media Specialist
Riverdale Elem.
St. Joe, IN
krisc@dke.k12.in.us
> 

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