What Makes A Reliable Source -- Part 1
Below is a fun lesson to use with students about determining what makes a source "reliable", but first...
If it's on the Internet, it must be true? Right? Have your students check out Dog Island. Or have them Google-search Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed (at her request). They can even check out artifacts from the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum here. It's all on the Internet-- so it must be true!
Before you begin teaching how to check the reliability of a website (or any other source), try this quick activity on what makes someone "reliable" in the first place:
A. Distribute the following scenario to your students:
There has been a serious plane crash in which a light plane clipped the right wing of a jumbo jet. A federal government commission has been set up to investigate the accident. As a clerk for the investigative committee, it is your job to sift through a list of those who wish to appear before the committee to give evidence and to decide which ones should be called to give reliable data to the government commission.
Below is a list of witnesses and (in some cases) the location of the witnesses at the time of the accident. I would like you to circle the names of those sources whom you believe could supply the most reliable data; circle EIGHT of the sources. Beside each name on the list, give reasons why you chose the circled names and did not choose the ones not circled.
B. Then provide this list of possible witnesses:
1. Captain of the jet's flight crew
2. Pilot of the small plane (who bailed out prior to impact)
3. Steward on the jet who was in the galley preparing food at the time of impact
4. Passenger #1 (who was sitting on the left front side of the jet)
5. Passenge #2 (who was sitting over the left wing)
6. Air traffic controller
7. Airline official in the terminal
8. Manufacturer of the light plane
9. Widow of a man who was killed in the crash
10. Representative of the aircraft insurance company
11. Federal Aviation Administration official who inspected both aircraft after the crash
12. Pathologist who performed autopsies on those killed in the accident
13. Farmer who was plowing his field below the site of the crash
14. Steward on the jet who was in the cockpit at the time of the crash
15. Film crew from a local TV company who shot film of the crash from their helicopter
C. Have students work individually or in pairs. The key to the entire lesson is that students must document WHY they circled (or did not circle) names as possible witnesses.
D. When students (or pairs of students) are ready, have them discuss which EIGHT of the possible witnesses were selected. Be sure to have them explain WHY they picked or did not pick someone. The important part here is not the answer -- but the reasoning! If "better" persons are on the list as possible witnesses, what makes them "better."
As they compare/debate their answers and explain their reasons "why," have the students formulate a list as to who/what makes a reliable source. Here are some of the characteristics (among others) that they will propose:
* First Hand Knowledge (a participant)
* Direct Observation (a witness)
* Expertise -- one skilled in the area
* Unemotional Information (the person has no vested interest in outcomes)
* Timely Information
* Factual Information -- not opinionated
* Corroborated Evidence (especially when corrobrated by others with expertise)
* A Reputation for Truthfulness & Accuracy
Once your students have worked through and discussed this activity, you now have shared background knowledge and vocabulary as to what makes a reliable source.
Next time -- a related exercise on "what makes a reliable source," and how I've followed these activities with a lesson using the poem, "Out, out-" by Robert Frost.
If it's on the Internet, it must be true? Right? Have your students check out Dog Island. Or have them Google-search Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed (at her request). They can even check out artifacts from the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum here. It's all on the Internet-- so it must be true!
Before you begin teaching how to check the reliability of a website (or any other source), try this quick activity on what makes someone "reliable" in the first place:
A. Distribute the following scenario to your students:
There has been a serious plane crash in which a light plane clipped the right wing of a jumbo jet. A federal government commission has been set up to investigate the accident. As a clerk for the investigative committee, it is your job to sift through a list of those who wish to appear before the committee to give evidence and to decide which ones should be called to give reliable data to the government commission.
Below is a list of witnesses and (in some cases) the location of the witnesses at the time of the accident. I would like you to circle the names of those sources whom you believe could supply the most reliable data; circle EIGHT of the sources. Beside each name on the list, give reasons why you chose the circled names and did not choose the ones not circled.
B. Then provide this list of possible witnesses:
1. Captain of the jet's flight crew
2. Pilot of the small plane (who bailed out prior to impact)
3. Steward on the jet who was in the galley preparing food at the time of impact
4. Passenger #1 (who was sitting on the left front side of the jet)
5. Passenge #2 (who was sitting over the left wing)
6. Air traffic controller
7. Airline official in the terminal
8. Manufacturer of the light plane
9. Widow of a man who was killed in the crash
10. Representative of the aircraft insurance company
11. Federal Aviation Administration official who inspected both aircraft after the crash
12. Pathologist who performed autopsies on those killed in the accident
13. Farmer who was plowing his field below the site of the crash
14. Steward on the jet who was in the cockpit at the time of the crash
15. Film crew from a local TV company who shot film of the crash from their helicopter
C. Have students work individually or in pairs. The key to the entire lesson is that students must document WHY they circled (or did not circle) names as possible witnesses.
D. When students (or pairs of students) are ready, have them discuss which EIGHT of the possible witnesses were selected. Be sure to have them explain WHY they picked or did not pick someone. The important part here is not the answer -- but the reasoning! If "better" persons are on the list as possible witnesses, what makes them "better."
As they compare/debate their answers and explain their reasons "why," have the students formulate a list as to who/what makes a reliable source. Here are some of the characteristics (among others) that they will propose:
* First Hand Knowledge (a participant)
* Direct Observation (a witness)
* Expertise -- one skilled in the area
* Unemotional Information (the person has no vested interest in outcomes)
* Timely Information
* Factual Information -- not opinionated
* Corroborated Evidence (especially when corrobrated by others with expertise)
* A Reputation for Truthfulness & Accuracy
Once your students have worked through and discussed this activity, you now have shared background knowledge and vocabulary as to what makes a reliable source.
Next time -- a related exercise on "what makes a reliable source," and how I've followed these activities with a lesson using the poem, "Out, out-" by Robert Frost.
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