With billions of options to choose from, how can people determine which online sources are reliable? Using an informative resource, pupils first discuss and evaluate a sample search result handout. Next, partners create a checklist for...

Responsible decision making relies on the ability to a recognize, analyze, and evaluate claims. The worksheets and activities in this 32-page packet teach learners how to distinguish among opinions, reasoned arguments, facts, and logical...

Focus on research skills, specifically identifying key words and concepts on a specific topic and evaluating information for relevance and authority. This is part of a multi-step instructional activity on Ancient Rome; however, it is...

Using the online catalog, researchers locate and record on a citation template specific sources for their research paper. A library specialist models searching strategies while the teacher introduces the research paper process. Daily...

How do careers in the arts contribute to America's gross domestic product? Use an informative infographic that details the economic details of careers in the core arts, including design services, performing arts, and arts education, to...

Explore how gaming might make the world a better place. To dissect the statement, scholars watch video clips about the benefits of video games. While listening, pupils make notes in their researcher's notebooks, attempting to discern the...

Reading the news is fun, and that's a fact! With the lesson plan, scholars differentiate between fact and opinion as they read editorial articles. They complete a worksheet to analyze the information before writing their own editorials...

Here is an excellent set of five short lessons and activities intended to help learners not only gain an understand of current issues in Africa, but build critical thinking, synthesis, analysis, expository writing, research, and...

Agriculture and water—it's a fine balance. So how exactly do industry and agriculture currently manage water? Pupils consider the question as they continue reading excerpts from Charles Fishman's The Big Thirst and adding notes to their...

Teach young researchers how best to choose sources. This PowerPoint presentation underscores the need for accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage.

A lesson plan instills the importance of locating reliable sources. Scholars are challenged to locate digital sources, analyze their reliability, search for any bias, and identify frequently found problems that make a source unusable. 

Grab any two topics, some index cards, and a couple of kids, and you're ready to compare and contrast! The resource provides instructions for this method and three graphic organizers in addition to or in place of the index cards.

Class groups investigate the economic and political implications of a country's policies on genetically modified foods, craft a position paper detailing that policy, and share their findings with the class. Armed with this...

Young journalists investigate the various ways to share news about a disaster and evaluate the pros and cons of each of these types of news. Individuals then select two different forms of media reports of a recent disaster. Using the...

When it comes to comparing texts, it's apples to oranges. As part two of the mid-unit assessment, learners compare and contrast two texts about the Internet and brain health. While reading, scholars use a Venn diagram to compare two...

To conclude their case study of media coverage of the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, class members consider the role of citizen watchdogs in a democratic society, develop strategies for combating...

Bystander or upstander and advocate? Three lessons have high schoolers investigating data about bullying and school safety. Participants then learn how to take a stand against bullying and use what they have learned to create a PSA to...

The Internet is known as the information superhighway, but sometimes it's hard to know when to hit the brakes on unreliable sources. Using a well-rounded lesson plan, pupils read and summarize articles about the gender pay gap and...

As young consumers of media, it is important for high schoolers to explore concepts of bias and prejudice, and how they may be present in media. After discussing ideological messages that media can contain, individuals complete a warm-up...

Your class is getting ready for its first big research project. While they know how to use the Internet, do they know how to find academic information? Do they know how to find credible sources? Give them this packet and bring them to...

Watch out for clever advertisements! Using the lesson, scholars learn how to identify online ads and respond to them critically. They then use what they've learned to develop a list of strategies to evaluate web pages.

High school juniors learn how to construct a strong argument by crafting a claim and using neutral language backed by evidence from reliable sources. To do so, they learn to evaluate sources and evidence to support claims. They then...

Hook your class into an exploration of and discussion about violence in video games with a cute animal clip and a video game trailer. After a quick discussion about how media can affect mood, class members read a related article and...

What is the difference between a bystander and an upstander? A collaborative project created through digital media helps the class understand that they can participate in an online community respectfully and responsibly. They consider...