Teacher Resources
Evaluating Abraham Lincoln Lesson Plan
Grades: 2-3
Objective:
- The
students will be able to critically evaluate websites by viewing
informational sites on Abraham Lincoln and using the 5 W's checklist.
Materials:
Procedure:
Part 1
- As a class, view the homepage to explain the foundation of the lesson. Begin a brief
discussion on using the internet for finding information and how the
information found may not always be reliable.
- Introduce the idea of the 5 W's Evaluation Checklist. Discuss each idea (each W), allowing students to comment and question for clarification.
- Invite the students to view the homepage at their computer with their partner. Have them navigate their way through the homepage to the student page.
- Define the term evaluate and discuss its meaning as a class.
- Inform
the students that before we are able to evaluate websites about Abraham
Lincoln, we will practice by viewing other sites together. Give
the students a few minutes to view Website 1.
- As
a class, go through the 5 W's Evaluation Checklist to evaluate
Website 1. Then, have the students make a decision whether or not
this site is valid. Make sure to discuss the positives and negatives of this site.
- Again, allow the students a few minutes to view Website 2 and Website 3
with their partner. Then, as a class go through the 5 W's to evaluate
the two sites. Have the students make their decision whether or
not each site is valid. Again, discuss both the positives and negatives of each site.
- Closure:
Review the 5 W's Evaluation Checklist. Ask the students to
explain why we cannot trust everything we read, especially on the
internet. Have the students explain how they can tell whether or
the information they find is valid.
Part 2
- If
Part 1 was taught on a previous day, take time to review the 5 W's Evaluation Checklist with the students. Read
through each item and answer questions for clarification.
- Direct the students to the Evaluating Abraham Lincoln page. Read through the directions together. Distribute a packet of three copies of the 5 W's Evaluation Checklist (one per website) to each group.
- Allow
the students enough time to view and evaluate Abraham Lincoln Website
1. When student groups have finished the first evaluation,
discuss their findings. Then, repeat the process for Abraham Lincoln Website 2 and Abraham Lincoln Website 3. Depending on your students, you may allow them to evaluate all three sites before beginning a discussion.
- Have the students complete the assessment.
- Closure: Gather the students and discuss their responses to the assessment questions.
Assessment:
- The students will answer four thought questions based on what they have learned about critically evaluating websites.
Resources
Why We Chose These Sites and What Others Have to Say About Them
This site, created and maintained by the San Diego
Zoo, includes facts about antelopes and is an example of a valid
website. Although this site does not list a specific person as an
author, the San Diego Zoo is a reputable association in which students
can trust. Listed under About Us
you can learn about the awards and honors they have won to confirm
their accountability. We can tell that this site includes current
information because of the copyright date at the bottom of the page.
This site has alot of information that may be overwhelming for
students in second and third grade, however, according to the lesson
plan, this site will be viewed together as a class.
Through the San Diego Zoo website you can view
accreditations as well as awards and honors that the zoo has received.
You can also find out what people are saying about their site
through viewpoints.com.
The Jackalope Conspiracy website is dedicated to
convincing people that the jackalope, a cross between an extinct
pygmy-deer and a species of killer-rabbit, is real. We chose to
include this website in our project because it is very obviously a
website full of false information. The “author” of this website,
although not identified, claims that his “Jackalope Links” lead to
other jackalope sites, but few of them do. The claims made on
this website are pretty ridiculous, and we feel that young elementary
students will be able to easily realize this.
We found this website on various lists of “hoax”
websites, which further proves to us that the information found here is
not valid and believable. The following sites list The Jackalope
Conspiracy as a hoax website:
National Geographic has created a site including
information on the Jack Rabbit. Just like the San Diego Zoo's
site, there is no specific author listed as being the creator of the
information. However, National Geographic is a valid resource
because there are many ways (e-mail, mailing address, phone numbers,
etc...) to get in touch with those responsible for the site.
Also, the site is current, with a 2008 copyright date. Like
the San Diego Zoo site, this site is a bit advanced for the intended
age group of this lesson. According to the lesson plans, the
students will be viewing this site together as a group with their
teacher.
The Life of Abraham Lincoln is an illustrated
timeline of Abraham Lincoln’s life. First graders at the Berwick
Academy in Maine created the information on this site. We chose
to include this website in our critical information literacy project
because it brings into question the idea of evaluating who authors a
website. We want our students to grasp the idea that although the
information on the site may be accurate, the source is not exactly
reliable. We also liked this site because it is easy for our
young students to find and determine that the authors of this site are
first graders.
This website includes a “Read Our Messages”
section that lists reviews/comments that have been sent to the
site. It is interesting to read how many people have actually
used this site as a source of information, being that first graders
authored it.
White House for Kids is a branch off of the official White
House website and includes presidential biographies. At first
glance, the information appears to be accurate and is organized in a
user-friendly and professional manner. Upon further investigation
we discovered that the information was written by fifth grade students.
We want the students to understand that even though they are
accessing information from a reputable website, it is important to
investigate who has written the information.
This is the official White House website that also includes presidential biographies. Although these biographies do
not specifically state the author, there is no evidence that the
information is written by someone other than highly regarded
historians. We thought that it was important to incorporate two
biographies from similar sites in this project in order to decipher
between the two. Our hope is that the students will
recognize even the smallest differences between information that is
trustworthy and information that is questionable.
