Digital Literacy-Thing #11

Digital Citizenship is so important. Just as citizens of one of the best democratic societies in the world requires responsibilities, so does the life of a citizen on the World Wide Web. Dr. Bell showed us in library classes, how there are so many bogus sites out there on the internet. I used these last year with my fifth graders. I told them since they were getting ready for their science TAKS test, I was going to help them with their studies. I displayed the "Tree Octopus" and began to read the facts on the website. http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/sightings.html
No one said a word, and they were entranced with the image on the screen of an octopus climbing the side trees. They were shocked when I told them this was bogus and there really were no tree octopi I used this as a hook to teach responsible web surfing. After teaching the areas of credibility and reliability points of research tools, I sent them out in groups to look at websites and tell the credence of sites I gave them. It was very interesting to watch these web detectives search and discover seemingly reliable sites had so many disparities. I think if I now could extend this lesson further, by teaching them to use sources discreetly when researching. I would point out that some very good sources still need to back up their claims for factual information. Students need to be taught the identifiable difference in a virtual game and the internet as a whole. Playing for real is a whole different scenario in life than keeping Mario from falling between the bricks.