In an age where kids are technologically advanced, digital media can be a crucial part of our history classrooms. If this proves true, we must teach students how to use online information correctly. Below I have pointed out some essential strategies to improve students’ media searches and their ability to distinguish reliable and unreliable sources. The articles From Digital Native to Digital Expert and How to Help Students Spot Misinformation suggest strategies for teaching students how to fact-check their sources.
First, students should learn to read laterally rather than vertically. We all tend to examine an internet source solely by scrolling down and skimming the page; however, when we teach students to read laterally, they can avoid diving too deep into the website’s content and focus more on its credibility. To begin their investigation, we should encourage students to close down unfamiliar tabs and open up new ones to judge the credibility of the original source.
Second, we must remind students not to fall for the appearance of websites. Students commonly appeal to website layouts, abstracts, references, and specific domains, such as .org. While these can be important aspects of a source, we should communicate to students that a more thorough examination is needed to evaluate the trustworthiness of a source.
Lastly, students should practice restraint by avoiding promiscuous clicking. When students read laterally, we should encourage them to resist unnecessary clicking that would lead them away from their original source.
The articles suggest several other strategies to guide students’ investigation of their digital sources. For example, introducing vocabulary to students, such as location, source, and date, can help students determine its integrity. In addition, teaching students how to open multiple pages within one window by right-clicking will allow them to examine information faster. We can also show students how to conduct tailored searches, such as using quotation marks or keywords to avoid useless results.
Access to digital sources has undoubtedly aided the field of history and the use of research in history classrooms. Therefore, we must teach students how to determine whether a source is reliable. In doing so, students will be more cautious when reading other sources outside the classroom, such as news articles or social media posts.
I really like what you said about telling students a website can look amazing and still be garbage info, I still fall for this one on occasion. While the internet is an amazing tool and can be used for so much learning it is also a cesspool of the worst aspects of our society all clamoring for your attention all the time.
All really wonderful tips in this discussion! As you mentioned in the very beginning of your post, students are very aware in most cases of how to use the internet. In some scenarios, people who are younger than we excel in pointing out inconsistencies with websites that I am not even aware of, so they’re very good at snuffing sketchy websites out. What this whole discussion reminds me of is the equivalent of older generations getting scammed by people who represent themselves as fake bank tellers or grand prize giveaway merchandisers. For us, we’re able to realize that situations like that are fake, but with the case of the internet sometimes even the most genuine information can be misconstrued. I enjoyed how you not only typed out helpful tips for reading through websites but also provided a nice visual that shares the same knowledge. Great analysis!