Goals and Objectives:
Students will heighten their critical navigation skills and learn methods for verifying the validity of a website by using information literacy skills to navigate and explore www.allaboutexplorers.com and use valid search engines to confirm their findings.
Activity Context and Uses:
This activity is created to show young students that not every site on the internet is reliable or factual, no matter how well-maintained or official it may look. This activity is particularly pertinent to younger students doing research on explorers and history, as the site portrays some outlandish information as if it were real and uses false credentials to appear trustworthy to unsuspecting students. Teachers can use this activity to encourage critical thinking and navigation skills, comparison of information on various reference sites, and validation of facts before relying on a certain website.
Procedure:
1. Who are the authors of this website? Do their credentials describe trustworthy experts? Use www.google.com or www.ajforkids.com to search more about their backgrounds and see if your findings match what you find on the website.
2. Read about explorer Jacques Cartier on the website. Compare the explorer's birthplace and birthdate to three other sites that you find on an internet search engine. What do your finding tell you about the facts on allaboutexplorers.com?
3.Use the website to learn about Ferdinand Magellan. What is the difference between how allaboutexplorers.com presents Magellan's great Ocean discovery and the information on http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/m/magellan.shtml ? Find one other search engine resource with this information and compare your findings to the facts on allaboutexplorers.com
