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First Things First! Is my computer screen clean?

Lets make sure! http://www.innocentenglish.c om/pug-licking-screenclean/


IF YOU CANT SEE THE SCREEN WELL USE THE HANDOUTS!

Evaluating Web Sites


Is this web site good?

Is this web site bad?

How can I tell?

Essential Question:
Can you explain why it is necessary to evaluate a website before using it for scientific research?

Lesson Agenda
Students will learn how to evaluate websites using the 5 Ws and to know why this is important to scientific research. New vocabulary will also be mastered.
Listen for these new words: URL, Contributor, Sponsor, Validation, Authenticity, Research

Todays Itinerary:
Introduction Activator Discussion and Demonstration Q&A Independent Work (automated worksheet) Summarizers

Lets See What We Already know!

ACTIVATOR Instructions: In the next three minutes, write as many things as you can think of that might make a website a good choice for school research. Example: 1. It is created by an author who knows a lot about the subject. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

What Could Be Wrong With a Web Site?


Content is not true Content is not factual Content is old Author is not an expert Info is not useful Doesnt note the author Site has the wrong purpose Site is difficult to use Site is sponsored by the wrong people

How can we tell if a web site is factual and current?

Presenting:
The 5 Ws
W W W W W

WHO?
Lets check out this site: WebMD Who wrote the pages? Are they an expert? Is a biography of the author included? How can you find out more about the author? Who are the sponsors if any?

WHAT?
What is the purpose of this site? What makes this site easy to use?

EASY

WHEN?
When was the cite created? When was it last updated?

WHERE?
Where does the information come from?

WHY?
Why is this information useful to me? Why should I use this information? Why is this site better than another?

Lets check another website for validity!


Lets visit New England Weather's website Can you find the answer to all 5 Ws? Is this a good website?

Question and Answer Time!


I will call on everyone either by pulling your name tags out of a bag or lets try thumbs up/thumbs down/thumbs sideways.

List the 5 Ws of website evaluation What is a sponsor? How can you find the author of a site? How can you research the site author?

Where can you look to find out when the site was last updated? How can you spot a bogus web site?

Lets Practice What We Learned! (Independent Class Work)Make believe


YOU DECIDE
Instructions: Use the 5Ws of Website Evaluation to decide if the following websites should be trusted and used for your research. Explore each website and for each website write which Ws you could find and which Ws were missing. Tell whether or not you would use this website.
Example: www.webmd.com

a)Who? Written by a staff of doctors and experts b)What? Site provides medical information to the public c) When? Very current with daily topics and copy written 22052008 d) Where? Info comes from medical review boards and other medical websites e) Why? Lots of easy to use information written by lots of different experts f) Would you use this site for your research? Definitely! g) If not, why not? N/A
1. www.dhmo.org a) Who?_________________ b) What?__________________ c) When?___________________ d) Where?___________________ e) Why?_____________________ f) Would you use this site for your research?____________ g) If not, why not?__________________________________ 2. www.zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ a) Who?_________________ b) What?__________________ c) When?___________________ d) Where?___________________ e) Why?_____________________ f) Would you use this site for your research?____________ g) If not, why not?_____________________________

1. 2. 3. 4.

http://zapatopi.net/afdb/ http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html http://umich.edu/~engtt516/index2.html http://www.twinkiesproject.com

Guess which web site is hiding below? Is it valid?

Lets Summarize What We Learned


Complete the handouts (Circle the answers and complete the sentences ) you have as a review! If you dont finish, we will have more time tomorrow!
I remember all of this stuff. This is easy!!

FIND THE TWO FALSE

Evaluating Websites
Summarizer (Magnificent 7)

STATEMENTS

Instructions: Of the seven statements below, five are true about evaluating websites and two are not. Can you find and circle the 2 false statements? 1. There are 4 ws that we use to decide if a website is a good one to use for school purposes. 2. The what in website evaluation means what is the websites purpose. 3. The when in website evaluation means when the site was created and updated. 4. The who in website evaluation means who has visited the website recently. 5. The where in website evaluation means where they got the information. 6. The why in website evaluation means why is the information useful to me. 7. It is very important that anyone doing research evaluates a website before using it.

Complete the Sentence


Instructions: Finish the sentences below regarding website evaluations using these words: Bogus, address, attractive, Google, research, updated, author, sponsor, information, Technology 1. Another name for a websites URL is its ______________. 2. Students should use at least 3 different websites when doing __________. 3. The date a website is last _____________ is very important to a websites validity. 4. A websites ____________ should be a well respected business, person or organization. 5. Some websites are _____________, and should not be relied upon for information. 6. If you cannot decide where the site got its _____________, you should avoid it. 7. If the websites author is named on the site, you should do a __________search on him/her to learn more about him/her. 8. _______________ web sites should be regularly updated since technology is always improving. 9. An ______________and easy to use website is always better than one that is boring and difficult to get around. 10. If the website does not list an ______________, be careful about using it.

Follow-up Lessons

Quiz Busters Game located at http://www.teachersdirect.co.uk/resources/quiz-busters/quizbusters-game.aspx?game_id=7288

Independent Work on the PC


Meteorological Websites needing validation: http://www.newenglandweather.com/ http://www.wxdude.com/ http://bluehill.org/ http://www.weatherdude.com Take some time to explore these websites, then.. Please open the online form located in the Meteorology folder which comes from: http://www.2learn.ca/evaluating/div2netscheck2.html . This is used to evaluate websites. Please complete one form in the computer for each of the above websites and save in your folder as: Website eval1_your last name Website eval2_your last name Website eval3_your last name Website eval4_your last name

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