Curriculum
Research and Information Fluency: Grades 2-3
Finding Good Sites
Download Student Sheet(s) for printout in PDF format.
Read a Letter to Educators about Internet research and information fluency from CyberSmart!
Overview
Students explore, evaluate, and compare children's informational Web sites, and conclude that people's opinions about the quality and usefulness of sites will vary.
Objectives
- Use a set of criteria to evaluate and compare informational sites
- Conclude that people's opinions about sites will vary
National Educational Technology Standards for Students © 2007
Source: International Society for Technology in Education- Research and Information Fluency
- locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
- process data and report results.
- Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving & Decision-Making
- collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.
Home Connection
Download the Home Connection sheet related to this lesson.
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Materials
- Activity sheets (2, two copies per student)
- Markers or crayons
- Online computer access
Introduce (offline)
- Have students identify a picture book with which they are all familiar.
- Ask: Do you like the pictures in this book? Have students who wish to answer "yes" raise their hands. Then have students answering "no" raise their hands.
- Point out that people can have different ideas about what books, television shows, movies—or even Web sites—they like.
Teach 1 (online)
- Distribute one copy of the activity sheets.
- Take students to www.becybersmart.org or www.cybersmartcurriculum.org, click on Student Links, and then click on the square. Find the title of this lesson, and open its links. Choose a site to explore with the class.
- Have students complete the activity sheet and share their totals. Point out that totals will vary because students may have different ideas about the Web site.
Teach 2 (online)
- Distribute the second copy of the activity sheets.
- Have students link to another site selected for this lesson, explore the site, and complete the activity sheet.
Teach 3 (offline)
- Invite students to report the number of "thumbs up" they awarded the second site. Point out that a site could be awarded from 0-11 points. Ask: How many "thumbs up" should a site get to be called a good site? Answers should be expressed as a number out of a maximum of 11.
- Ask: What does it mean if you gave two points to one site and ten points to another? (It means that the site with ten points is a better site to use than the one with two points.)
- Discuss how rating sites can help decide whether a site is worth revisiting when similar information is needed.
Assess (offline)
The following items assess student mastery of the lesson objectives.
- Ask: How do you use a list of questions to rate a Web site? (Go to the site, answer each question, and total the number of "thumbs up.")
- Ask: How can a site get three "thumbs up" from one student and ten from another? Students should acknowledge that, due to the nature of the questions, opinions will vary from person to person.
Extend (offline)
The following activity can be added for students who completed this lesson in a previous grade.
- Allow students to use a children's search site to find additional informational sites, use the activity sheet to rate the sites, and share their results.
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