TeachersFirst's Resources related to Source Reliability/Checking Sources
As educators, we must teach our students how to make sure the resources they are using are reliable. This collection includes information and resources related to checking sources and determining if a source is reliable and credible. We have included resources for all grades. Remember, our "In the Classroom" suggestions give you ideas about using these tools in your classroom.
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RumorGuard - News Literacy Project
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): digital citizenship (88), evaluating sources (27), internet safety (113), journalism (72), media literacy (103), news (227), Online Learning (42), Research (84)
In the Classroom
Share RumorGuard with students during digital citizenship and online safety lessons to help students understand how misinformation is shared and provide them with tools for analyzing online information. Engage students in your lessons using RumorGuard by choosing different topics on this page and news stories, then ask students to determine if the information is real or fake. Next, use a simple polling tool such as Poll Maker, reviewed here, to create and share quick true/false polls. Extend and enhance learning by asking students to become fact-checkers of any online information using the model found on Rumor Guard. Create a template on Google Slides, reviewed here, or Microsoft PowerPoint Online, reviewed here, modeling the process used on RumorGuard to determine the authenticity of the information.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Deceptive Detective - Common Sense
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): bias (26), computers (109), evaluating sources (27), internet safety (113), journalism (72), media literacy (103), news (227), social media (54), STEM (269)
In the Classroom
Print this poster to display in your classroom or computer lab after discussing the information with your students. Use Padlet, reviewed here, to break down the questions found on the poster and share student findings. For example, begin by evaluating a website together as a class. Create a column on your Padlet for each question, then add students' responses in the appropriate column. As students become proficient at evaluating online resources, ask them to use Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to create infographics sharing the validity of websites and online news resources based upon the questions found on the Deceptive Detective poster. Extend learning by asking students to become the instructor through the use of podcasts. Use Buzzsprout, reviewed here, to create bi-weekly or monthly student-created podcasts sharing tips for evaluating websites, how to recognize fake news sources or suggestions for useful resources for student use.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OK2Ask: Facts Are Facts...Aren't They? - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12Can your students tell...more
Can your students tell facts from fiction? Do your digital natives suffer from "digital naivety"? They may be fluent enough with technology to create and post their own work but may not be aware that not everyone who posts online is credible. Teaching students to sift through multiple sets of information allows them to learn the difference between propaganda, advertising, and factual reporting. This is a skill that students need in order to be truly digitally literate. Join us to learn strategies to help your students determine if information is reliable. As a result of this session, teachers will: 1. Explore tools and strategies for teaching media literacy; 2. Learn strategies that promote critical examination of online resources; and 3. Plan a learning activity that fosters digital literacy. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.
tag(s): evaluating sources (27), media literacy (103), professional development (404)
In the Classroom
The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teachers' Guide to Cranky Uncle - John Cook
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), digital citizenship (88), evaluating sources (27), game based learning (179), internet safety (113), media literacy (103), social media (54)
In the Classroom
Add this game to your toolkit of lessons and activities when teaching Internet safety and media literacy skills. The Teachers' Guide already includes many ideas on integrating the game into classroom lessons and includes using technology to enhance and extend learning. Use these ideas as a starting point to build student engagement and help them understand the real-world applications for the information found in the game. For example, use the suggested Padlet, reviewed here, activity to compile quiz questions as suggested in Activity 5. After completing that activity, have students create their own videos, fake social media posts, or news articles that contain misinformation and create quiz questions for their peers to complete. Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, is an excellent tool for students to use when creating websites, flyers, and infographics. As a final project, and to extend learning, have students share what they learned with others by producing podcasts using Buzzsprout, reviewed here, or digital books for younger students using Book Creator, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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NewsFeed Defenders - FactCheck.org
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): evaluating sources (27), journalism (72), media literacy (103), news (227)
In the Classroom
Include the NewsFeed Defenders game and lesson as part of your broader unit of teaching about online safety and media literacy. Engage studets by using Padlet, reviewed here, to share materials. Include links to videos, articles, and other materials for students to access. Ask them to add comments sharing their insights and information learned. Help students identify online disinformation by collaborating with Fiskkit, reviewed here. Change out paper and pen by sharing the URL of an article to discuss within Fiskkit, then have students highlight any area to discuss the information within the article. Enhance learning by encouraging students to teach others about media literacy using an online book tool like Book Creator, reviewed here. Book Creator can be used for a variety of assignments in any classroom that is integrating technology as an enhancement, modification, or transformation. Have students design and share a book that includes tips for spotting disinformation or bias using specific examples, including text, videos, and images, along with examples of factual, non-biased information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Checkology - The News Literacy Project
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): journalism (72), news (227), newspapers (91), social media (54)
In the Classroom
Integrate these free lessons with your other activities when teaching students how to evaluate and judge online information and other news sources. Consider assigning lessons for students to complete on their own, then come together as a class to discuss the content. Add a link to a lesson on a Padlet, reviewed here, and share with students. Ask them to add comments onto the Padlet including links to additional examples of the featured topic. Ask students to compare and contrast information from two sources using a Venn Diagram. Create a Venn Diagram using resources found at Class Tools, reviewed here. Challenge students to become the reporter and enhance their learning by writing their own news article to post as a blog at Edublog, reviewed here. Ask them to include some misinformation within their blog, and then have other class members find and respond to the shared content. Extend learning by having students become the teacher and share their tips and tricks for evaluating news and creating a digital book for other students using Book Creator, reviewed here. Ask them to include videos sharing their tips, written examples of misinformation, and add their Venn diagram to demonstrate different ways facts are used in articles to mislead readers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Media Literacy Clearinghouse - Frank W Baker
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): advertising (24), evaluating sources (27), journalism (72), media literacy (103)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site as an excellent resource for planning for and teaching about media literacy. Include information from the Clearinghouse using lessons created with Actively Learn , reviewed here. Actively Learn offers tools for creating interactive, critical thinking lessons using materials found on their site and your own while providing you feedback on student responses and learning. As you continue with lessons on media literacy, collaborate with students on how to interpret online information using Fiskkit, reviewed here. Use Fiskkit to replace paper and pencil by sharing the URL of online articles and have students highlight and comment on any areas. Use this in lessons asking students to identify false or misleading information or to highlight areas that provide facts and information to support a claim. As students become familiar with online cues for understanding media, ask them to use Free Online Screen Recorder, reviewed here, to modify classroom technology use by creating a short video tutorial of their own sharing insights and information from an online article.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Engaging Congress - Indiana University
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): branches of government (63), congress (39), DAT device agnostic tool (147), evaluating sources (27), primary sources (118)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free games and materials on this site to use as a supplement to your current resources for teaching history and government. Instead of written notes, strengthen learning by having students use an online tool such as Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers, reviewed here, to create diagrams, mindmaps, and other visual graphic organizers. To compare and contrast information found in different primary sources, create a Venn Diagram. As students prepare to share their findings and summarize their learning, have them modify their learning by creating infographics using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to visually represent facts and information. As a final assessment for your unit using these materials, ask students to form teams to debate different sides of the issues presented. Share their debates as a podcast using Spotify for Podcasters, reviewed here. Spotify for Podcasters is a simple to use podcasting tool offering several free options for creating, hosting, and sharing podcasts. As an alternative, ask other students redefine their learning and to create multimedia presentations using Sway, reviewed here to share text, videos, images, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Primary vs Secondary Sources - The Minnesota Historical Society
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): evaluating sources (27), primary sources (118), Research (84), video (260)
In the Classroom
Share this video with students as they begin any research project. Be sure to add a link to this site on your class website for reference at home. Have students create a simple infographic with examples of both types of resources using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here. Have students upload a photo they have taken of a source and add an explanation about why it fits into a particular category using a tool such as Add Text, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Believe It or Not? - NewseumED
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): evaluating sources (27), media literacy (103), news (227)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lessons, discussion questions, sample articles, and worksheets offered for use in your classroom. Divide students into small groups and assign different discussion questions and activities to each group. Allow all older students to have a voice (and engage their interest) in the small group by using a chat service like Flock, reviewed here. Enhance learning by challenging the small groups to create a slide presentation using the free Microsoft PowerPoint Online, reviewed here, demonstrating information learned. With the online PowerPoint students can add videos, images and documents making them all interactive. Note: with Flock students can also start planning the presentation and keep the plan for 30 days. If you cannot make a field trip to the Newseum for the Gallery Guide Handout, you can do a Google search for Who Controls the News and find many free resources.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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21things4students - Regional Educational Media Center Association of Michigan.
Grades
6 to 9tag(s): blended learning (37), careers (138), computers (109), consumers (13), cyberbullying (40), digital citizenship (88), digital storytelling (150), evaluating sources (27), game based learning (179), internet safety (113), media literacy (103), organizational skills (86), social media (54), social networking (64), thinking skills (16), webquests (8)
In the Classroom
Use the complete curriculum or selected Quests. Assign students individual Things to complete in school or at home as part of blended learning or flipped classrooms. Have students begin with the Basics and progress through selected skills. Use parts of the site to teach a particular skill to the whole class. Have students complete their work through an electronic portfolio like bulb, reviewed here, that is not included on the site. bulb includes links to some ideas and samples on the on the K-12 page.Comments
Tons of resources for all grades, love it!Ladisha, VA, Grades: 9 - 12
Lots of other links for using technology resources in the classroom.Ruth, AB, Grades: 0 - 12
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NewseumED - NewseumED.org
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): civil rights (197), elections (81), evaluating sources (27), freedom of speech (13), media literacy (103), politics (111), primary sources (118), sept11 (18), terrorism (41), terrorist (12)
In the Classroom
If you teach or even discuss civil rights, the First Amendment and its freedoms and ideals, current events, or the presidential elections be sure to look at the lessons provided here. The lessons will also help you show students how to tell facts from opinions in current events. Use ideas from the lesson plans to supplement your current teaching materials. Enhance learning and challenge small groups of students to create an infographic sharing their learning from the notes they took during a lesson. Use Infogram, reviewed here, to construct the infographic. If you plan on using one of the EdCollections ask students to enhance and extend their learning and develop a multimedia presention using Presentious, reviewed here, or an interactive poster with a tool like Genially, reviewed here, for one of the suggested Extension Activities.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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turnitin - Source Educational Evaluation Rubric (SEER) - turnitin
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): evaluating sources (27), media literacy (103), rubrics (35)
In the Classroom
Share this rubric with middle and high school students with your projector or on an interactive whiteboard. Ask students to suggest a popular site for referencing in papers and projects. Use the rubric together and evaluate the site. Break students into small groups and have them evaluate several sites. Make these sites you have already evaluated, and then have the students evaluate them until you know most students agree on what makes a Highly Creditable site compared to a Creditable or Discreditable site. At the end of the activity give a quick assessment. This way students who do not feel sure about evaluating a site have the opportunity to let you know. Consider using Quizalize, reviewed here, for a more in-depth assessment.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Classroom Materials - Primary Source Sets - Library of Congress
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): 20th century (61), authors (104), black history (129), civil war (135), constitution (87), evaluating sources (27), hispanic (31), history day (39), immigration (65), jefferson (18), lincoln (62), new deal (5), primary sources (118), Research (84), segregation (18), thanksgiving (24), veterans (25), washington (27), westward expansion (38), womens suffrage (44), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
When introducing a new unit, show students photos from the era (on the left menu) and have them describe what they see and what period they think it is. Find plenty of questions and activities (including a blank analysis organizer for students) in the Teacher's Guides. Also look at Library of Congress: for Teachers, reviewed here. Encourage your students to use this tool for projects. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted for reproduction), and then narrate the photo as if it is a news report. Have students create a multimedia presentation using Google Slides, reviewed here. Google Slides allows you to narrate a picture (choose Insert from the top menu, then audio) modifying student learning. Include this site on your class webpage for students and parents to access as a reference.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Historical Thinking Interactive Poster (Secondary) - National History Education Clearinghouse
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): civil rights (197), evaluating sources (27), history day (39), infographics (56), primary sources (118)
In the Classroom
Use your projector or interactive whiteboard and teach your students how to think like a historian. There are some interesting links here for you and your students to investigate. For instance, there are links for exploring the modern civil rights movement, primary sources to look at diary entries from other time periods, examining lithographs, using and reading multiple perspectives, and several more. You may want to go through each quadrant with the entire class, or you might want to assign groups to become "specialists" in a quadrant and have them present it to your class. Challenge the groups to create presentations using Prezi, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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AllSides - John Gable
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): elections (81), evaluating sources (27), media literacy (103), politics (111)
In the Classroom
This is an excellent site to easily find topics presented from various points of view. Use articles with students to demonstrate point of view in writing, bias in media, or for students to use as points for debates. Use an online tool such as Interactive Three Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to create a visual comparison of different points of view.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Historical Thinking Matters - Center for History and New Media
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): critical thinking (111), evaluating sources (27), primary sources (118)
In the Classroom
This site can be used in several different ways. View the introductory movie from the the site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then use some of the teaching strategies to prepare students for an upcoming history lesson. Use the student section with individual or pairs of students in a lab or as a center. Have them use their new skills to review historical documents. Break students into four groups and assign them one of the four student investigations to complete. When done have groups share what they learned with the rest of the class. Challenge students to create a video and share using a site such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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