Teacher's guide for April Fool's Hotlist

by Janice Cooper

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Introduction

Use this Topic Hotlist to help 7 - 9 students learn about exploring and evaluating the information on Web sites for currency, authority, and accuracy. The goal is to get students openly discussing criteria for evaluation and applying them. Students both younger and older could also benefit from and enjoy this activity, based on the hoax sites you select and the level of the discussion.

'Prank' or Hoax Web sites present us with a humorous opportunity to show students that not all information on the Internet is 'created equal.' It is rife with information that runs the gamut from inadvertent inaccuracy and blatent bias. Prompting students through an evaluation process will model for them why and how to analyze the information they locate on the Web.

On April 1, 'April Foolís Day:'
ï Select one or two sites to view with students, either projected for all to see in an academic theater or on individual units in the computer lab, to elicit their reactions. (The hoax Web sites are listed in very informal categories, so please consider those outside your subject expertise when implementing this hotlist.)
ï Access one of the evaluation tools linked below, to evaluate the site(s) collectively.
ï Prompt students to develop new criteria for evaluating prank or hoax Web sites.
ï As a concluding activity, ask the each pair or group to select a unique 'Hoax or Bias?' site to evaluate using their new evaluation criteria.

Please preview any Web site you use with students for content and functionality, as either may change at any time given the fluid nature of the Internet.

Overview

Main Topic:	April Fool's Hotlist
Subtopics:	Evaluating Web Sites, , ,
Grade Level:	7 - 9
Subject(s):	Interdisciplinary
Learning Goal:	openly exploring a topic

Vision and Reality

If the learning goal were achieved in the most ideal of perfect worlds it would look something like:

-Teacher will use questions to prompt student thinking & discussions.
-Teacher will encourage students to emotively connect with the topic by drawing parallels between activity and real information needs being distorted by mis-information.
-Teacher will try to entice, surprise, and prompt students into new thinking.
-Teacher will present information, mis-information, and process for determining the difference.
-Students will access selected Web sites known to be hoax sites.
-Students will be thinking: reflecting on prior knowledge, applying it to new situations/information resources, and evaluating those resources.
-Students will be conceptualizing evaluation criteria and formulating new evaluation criteria to solve the 'problem' of accessing misinformation on the Internet.
-Students will demonstrate mastery of familiar technologies.
-Students will be working collaboratively in class.

However, what I anticipate probably looks more like:

Based on the Vision set for this activity, the actual reality is more likely to be a basic understanding that information on the Internet should be evaluated . . . and that there's a really funny site at . . . .

The What - If Inventory

To give the activity its best chance at helping students learn, I assembled this list of possible resources:

Technology Resources

An Academic Theater or computer lab, depending on how much time you can commit to the project, the thinking level to which you intend to prompt the students, and the ratio of students to computers.



Internet Potential

Using Web sites that are intentionally, and humorously, mis-information as a tool by which to measure other Web sites is somewhat 'fool-ish,' and therefore perfect for April 1st. After all, isn't humor a function of intelligence?



Possible Collaborations

Students can work collaboratively or individually, again, depending on time, thinking level, and resources.



Special Events

Indubitably, April 1st!



General Resources

The 'Evaluating Web Pages' tutorial linked under 'Evaluation Tools' was written by the librarians at UC Berkeley is thorough, but developed for college students. You might utilize this as a resource for yourself rather than with your MS/HS students.

Kathy Schrock's checklist is, of course, legendary as one of the first and the best evaluation tools.

The NVRHS checklist is based on research into how adolescents interact with information the Internet and is designed to reflect their interests while it prompts them to be critical information consumers.

The Web Research Evaluation Checklist by the University of Louisville has essentially the same purpose that this project does. It features a chart that defines the evaluation criteria and links each to specific hoax sites. In the event of time constraints, this might be a better option. It is, however, written at the college level.



Standards

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning

Thinking and Reasoning Standards
5. Applies basic trouble-shooting and problem-solving techniques
6. Applies decision-making techniques

Technology Standards
2. Knows the characteristics and uses of computer software programs
3. Understands the relationships among science, technology, society, and the individual
Working With Others Standards
4. Displays effective interpersonal communication skills

New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards

Language Arts 3.1.12.G.
9. Distinguish between essential and nonessential information, identifying the use of proper references and propaganda techniques where present.
10. Differentiate between fact and opinion by using complete and accurate information, coherent arguments, and points of view.

Language Arts 3.1.12.H.
1. Select appropriate electronic media for research and evaluate the quality of the information received.
6. Critique the validity and logic of arguments advanced in public documents, their appeal to various audiences, and the extent to which they anticipate and address reader concerns.

Social Studies 6.1.12.A
4. Examine source data within the historical, social, political, geographic, or economic context in which it was created, testing credibility and evaluating bias.

Technology Education 8.1.12.B.
1. Describe the potential and implications of contemporary and emerging computer applications for personal, social, lifelong learning, and workplace needs.
2. Exhibit legal and ethical behaviors when using information and technology, and discuss consequences of misuse.
3. Make informed choices among technology systems, resources, and services in a variety of contexts.

Conclusion

Credits:
The smiling pig graphic was accessed on Google as www.imagestation.com/. ../f9b33092.jpg and was located at dart.fine-art.com/ aqd-asp-im_80635-buy-m.htm. It was also on two other web sites: www.sheboyganfalls.k12.wi.us/.../ cjournal.htm and www.thewebismine.com/. The origin of the graphic was not known by the site operator. If any viewers know the creator of the smiling pig graphic, please contact me at cooper_j@nvnet.org so I can request permission.

My thanks to the creators of the various clever, fun, and just plain whacky 'hoax' Web sites to which I have linked in this 'prank' exercise.

Thank you to The Museum of Hoaxes, which maintains two extensive, annotated Web pages on hoax Web sites at:
ï http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoaxsites.html
ï http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoaxsites2.html

Thank you also to Hoax Busters who lists hoax sites in essential categories on their Web site at http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxCategories.html.

Lesson plans on hoax sites and evaluation:
ï Middle School:
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/fact_fiction.htm
ï College:
http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/hoax/
http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webevaluation/examples.htm

For an in-depth article that defines and links to a variety of Internet misinformation formats, please read: Better Read That Again: Web Hoaxes and Misinformation
by Paul S. Piper, Librarian, Western Washington University at http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/sep00/piper.htm

created by Janice Cooper email: cooper_j@nvnet.org ; jj71688@optonline.net http://web-and-flow.com/members/jcooper/fool/hotlist.htm