Searching the Internet is like solving a huge jigsaw puzzle--there are so many web sites out there!

When Searching:

Be Specific

Use Multiple Search Engines

Use Specific, Topic Words

Look for .gov, .org, .edu websites

Finding Correct Information on the Internet

One of the first steps to beginning to find accurate information on the internet is to be able to search effectively; simply typing in a single word will bring up thousands of results that will not all be information that will be beneficial.  Narrowing the search will provide more accurate and helpful information.  The internet provides information on all views of a topic and may be biased one way or another; teaching children that there is biased information on the web is important and even more important is teaching children how to tell when the information being presented isn’t fully correct.  Children must learn that some of the websites that are visually pleasing and easy to navigate are not going to have the best information possible. 

Is the website logical?

“Logical relationship of ideas and information” means that the ideas and information that are presented should make sense, it should be in a logical order and be understandable; “logical reasoning” means being able to discover and prove that the ideas and information are correct.  Critically evaluating websites to find information that is true requires people to look at the information and how it is being presented (does it discuss both sides of the issue? Does it include sources that support the information given? Are there links to the sources?).  It is important to look if there is an author, who the author is and what type of authority they have; also how current the information is and how often it is updated can be an indicator of whether the material is true or false.

 It is important to teach children to be critical readers and researchers.    

Cyberbullying can Happen to Anyone

Here is a story of an occurance of cyberbullying that occured to an unexpecting person.  Cyberbullying: You Can’t Take it Back tells of a boy who created a website where he posted pictures of girls from his school on it.  He had his buddies go on the website and rate the girls and comment on them.  The boy telling the story didn’t think anything of it so he went onto the website and rated and commented on the girls that were on the website.  At school it looked like some of the girls had been crying and it turned out that the boy who had created the page sent it to the entire school to see.  Later the narrator learned that his sister had also been put on the website and was hurt by what had be said about her; his friends had hid it from him because they knew he would get angry.  The boy who had created the website was going to be kicked out of school and it was possible that the narrator might be to because he had contributed to the page.  The narrator wished the he had never said anything about the girls on the website because once something is on the web it can’t be taken back.  Not many people will act and treat people cruelly in person and therefore they should not do it online either.  Make sure that children know that if cyberbullying ever happens to them, they should tell an adult about the situation.     

We need to teach children that the information and images on the internet can’t be trusted and should always be looked at with a critical eye.  No matter how credible the website appears to be and how accurate the information seems we need to always be critical about what we are reading and looking at.  We should always try to make sure that what we are reading is correct information and when it is necessary we should do more research about the topic and check the facts.