Journal #8 / MI

Ferrell, K. (2011, August). Find the truth about the pacific tree octopus. Learning and Leading WITH TECHNOLOGY, 39(1), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-august-2011.aspx




With the explosion of information on the internet, it is important that children learn that not all information they find on the web is accurate.  There are truths, jokes, slight of hand, accurate, and misinformed sites.  My goddaughter and I were talking about Wikipedia today.  Hannah is entering high school this month and she told me how her teacher had told her never to use Wikipedia for information in research because anyone can edit it.  She is right to a certain extent.  We were discussing the actual timeframe of Billie Holliday's career which I argued could actually be accurately discovered on Wikipedia.  I explained that she was correct about some information that could be found on Wikipedia.  Anything she could find that seems opinionated or theoretical could be quite inaccurate and she probably should never use anything from Wikipedia for a cited reference in research.  However, some straight facts such as dates and numbers are probably okay.


In Find the Truth About the Pacific Tree Octopus, the teacher had built a lesson for his students to realize that not all information on the web is accurate.  They learned how to interpret information by looking at who, what, where, when, and why.  They also learned to double check the URL suffixes.  This is critical thinking skills that need to be understood when attempting to research on the web by search engines.  The lesson learned was quite valuable.  The students need to know that they believe all that they read!


What other ways not specified can help ensure accuracy from internet resources?


It seems that one important way to double check information from the web is to cross reference.  If you find one site with certain information on sea monkeys, don't consider it accurate until you find at least one other site with the same information on sea monkeys.  As the internet expands, and if possible, it is better to have even more than two references to the facts you research.


Even if the students ask who, what, where, when and why, how will they know that the source is accurate?


I supposed asking the who is not enough in itself but if the student can identify the who, then they can research the who.  If the author of the research information is identified as a credible author, or otherwise some kind of authority on the subject then it can by deemed credible.

As a note to end on this subject, I can remember a chain email I got a few years back that claimed that a link could take a picture of you even without a webcam.  The email told you to sit back and smile before you click the link.  Once you click the link, you get a picture of a monkey.  I guess you have to be a monkey to believe everything you get on the internet.