Google Lies, Wikipedia Stinks and Siri Doesn’t Even Go Here

Categories: Secondary Literacy , Kits , Literacy , Introduction to Agriculture , Spanish , Agriculture

Students will learn how to determine reliable information sources on the internet to develop fact-based writing about agricultural topics.

Part I: Celebrity Sources
1) Divide students into small groups of 2-3 students, provide each group with a stack of Celebrity Cards with instructions to keep the picture side up with no peeking at the back.

2) Today, we are going to look at determining if a source is credible with regards to agriculture. Each group has a stack of cards face up in front up of them with a picture of a celebrity and a name. You may not know some of them and that’s okay. As a group, you will rank these in order of how trustworthy they would be to use a source for agricultural purposes. Remember do not flip the cards over, leave them face up.

3) After students have finished ranking their celebrity sources, have a couple groups share their order of photos. Then, have groups read the bios located on the back of each card.

4) Ask students how they did now knowing each celebrities biography. Give students time to switch their order if needed.

5) Discussion Questions:
Why did we have to reorder our celebrities after reading their bios?
Why is it hard to determine how trustworthy someone or something is by its appearance?
What’s the best way to determine how trustworthy someone or something is?

6) Similar to the difficulty of determining the trustworthiness of a celebrity by their appearance, the same can be said of determining the validity of a website or resource by appearance. Today, we are going to determine elements we can use to determine if a source is reliable or not.

Part II: Heads Up-TRAPS Style
1) We are going to play a real quick game of heads up in the same groups we were just in.

2)Each group with gets a stack of Heads Up Cards, on the bottom side of the card their is a word, the guesser in your group will hold the card up to their forehead with the word facing out for their other group members to see. Their group members are to describe the word on the card to their teammate and the guesser has to figure out the word, when the guesser says the correct word, he or she will leave the card on the top of the pile and pass the stack to one of the other group members. The group member who just received the stack of cards will put the stack up to their forehead and let the top card that was just used drop to reveal the next card. Then the other groups members will describe the new word to the new guesser. Once you have made it through the entire deck, all group members should raise their hands quietly. The first group through the cards wins. If for some reason, one of the describers accidentally says the word on the card or when your passing it to the new guesses the card and the new card is revealed, you get a point taken away. You may begin!

3) After everyone has finished, reveal the winning and have students return to their desks for a quick review of the words.
What were the words on our cards? (Type, Recent, Author, Purpose and Sources: This is called the TRAPS method and is used to determine the credibility of a source. )
What do these words have to do with finding accurate sources of information?

Part III: TRAPS Gallery Walk
(Tape up the TRAPS Galley Walk papers to the wall spaced throughout the classroom prior to this part of the lesson)
1) As you can see, each part of the TRAPS method is posted on the wall throughout the room with questions. Each of you will rotate around the room to each paper and contribute to the question on each paper. You can start at any one to begin. You have 10 minutes to make your way to each paper, return to your desk when you have finished.

2) After students have finished, review each the sheets with the class.

Part IV: TRAPS Worksheet & Poster
1) Using what we know about the TRAPS method to determine a sites credibility, how do we know if a source has reliable information?

2) Divide students into groups and distribute the TRAPS worksheets. Review Part I on the Worksheet with students.

3) Then, assign each group with a part of the TRAPS method.

4) Students will develop a checklist of 5-10 items related to the TRAPS tips that credible sources possess.
For example: The Author group could use “the author is professionally qualified in the topic area they are speaking about”.

5) After students have received approval from you on their list, have students create a poster with the list for the class to use as a quick and easy guideline to determine a sources credibility. These posters should be displayed in the class for students to use throughout the year when finding sources or have students record the tips from each group in a notebook to be able to refer back to when needed.

Part V: Scavenger Hunt (Black Out Bingo)
Using what we know about reputable internet sources, we are going to have a little competition. I will be passing out a scavenger hunt with questions related to agriculture. It’s your task to use find the answers to each of these questions using a credible source. On the worksheet, fill in the answer to the questions and list the web address from a credible source that you found the answer from. Each person who completes their scavenger hunt in a timely manner will get a treat. (Suggested treat: a piece of candy)
1) Pass out the Scavenger Hunt worksheet, and have student begin.

2) When students have finished and received their treat, choose the student who finished the scavenger hunt first to look over their answers.

3) Pull up each of the websites they found their answer from and have a class discussion on the credibility of the source.

Part VI: Insta-Fact
1) Distribute the Instagram Facts Posting Worksheet to students, using the credible agricultural sites listed on the worksheet, have student choose one to explore making sure each website is explored by at least one student in the class.

2) Have students find one fact from the site and use it to create two Instagram posts on the Insta-fact page.

3) Have students share there posts and agricultural facts learned through exploring credible sites with their classmates.