Website Evaluation Lesson

Introduction

This lesson's objective is to learn to evaluate websites. There are three sites for each topic. Some of the sites are better than others.

http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
http://www.50states.com/
http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html

Task:

Each group of students will be given a topic by the teachers to research. A web evaluation checklist or alternate Checklist will be filled-out for each site. After all groups have completed the task, each group will present their findings to the whole class. The lesson will end with a class discussion on what was learned about evaluating websites.

Process:

Find links to the topic categories below under Resources. Click on the topic assigned to your group by the teacher. Evaluate the site using the web evaluation checklist or alternate checklist criteria. Then, fill in the summary sheet. Next, decide as a group how you will present your findings to the whole class.

Resources

Below you will find websites grouped by topic. Each group of students has been assigned a topic. Select the topic and evaluate each website using the Website Evaluation Checklist given to you by the teacher. One sheet for each website.

Tornadoes	Endangered Animals	Aluminum Foil	Children's Literature
Vacation Spots	Mythology	Smoking	Minnesota
Cocker Spaniel	Beef	Oto Native Americans

Conclusion

You have completed the activity. You will now be able to better evaluate the quality of the information found on websites. Be a critical consumer of information and always check the reliability of any information found on the Internet. Anyone can create and upload a website and that makes your job more difficult. Books found in your Media Center have been carefully selected by the Media Specialist and proofread my many people before the book was ever published so they can be trusted more than web pages. The advantage of the Internet is the ease of finding the information for which you search, so just be a good evaluator.

Evaluation:

Lesson Plan

Groups will be evaluated using the following rubric:

	1 Point	2 Points	3 Points
Group Cooperation	Group worked well together some of the time.	Group worked well together most of the time.	Group worked well together all of the time.
Group Presentation to Class	Presentation was not organized.	Presentation was somewhat organized	Presentation was well organized
Over-all Effort	Minimal effort	Good effort	Excellent effort

Created by Beth Agar, Tim Kruger, and Barb Jones
Spring 2003 Updated: April 17, 2008