6th Grade Information Literacy Lesson Plan

Topic: evaluating websites

Objectives & Outcomes

• Students will be able to evaluate the credibility and reliability of information found on the internet by assessing the quality and trustworthiness of websites.

Materials

• Computers with internet access
• Examples of websites that provide trustworthy and reliable information

Warm-up

• Ask students to share examples of websites that they often use for research or for gathering information.
• Review the differences between search engines, webpages, and websites.

Direct Instruction

• Introduce the concept of information literacy, including the importance of evaluating sources of information.
• Explain the process of evaluating websites, including looking at the URL, evaluating the content, and considering the credibility of the source.
• Use the handout to guide the discussion and provide examples of the different criteria to consider when evaluating websites.

Guided Practice

• Provide students with a list of several websites on a given topic and have them work in pairs to evaluate each one using the criteria from the handout.
• Have students share their findings with the class and discuss any differences in their evaluations.

Independent Practice

• Have students choose a topic for a project (e.g. researching a famous person, a historical event, etc.).
• Have them create a brochure (e.g. a flyer, a poster, a brochure) that contains information about their topic, and evaluate several websites on their chosen topic as part of the creation process.
• Encourage students to use the criteria from the handout to evaluate the websites, and to explain how their chosen websites helped them to create their brochure.

Closure

• Have students share their brochures with the class and discuss how they used the criteria from the handout to evaluate the websites they used for their project.
• Review the criteria for evaluating websites and discuss any issues or questions that students have about the process.

Assessment

• Observe students during the independent practice and offer feedback on their brochures and their use of criteria to evaluate the websites.
• Collect and grade the brochures as a form of assessment.