Through collaboration with the health teacher, we designed a station rotation incorporating web evaluation skills to assist students in finding quality sources for the class.  We designed this lesson to be implemented at the beginning of each semester’s class before students begin gathering articles and other resources for the class assignments.  *

The following goals or learning targets were created to help design each station.

1. Discover ways that health information is presented on the web.
2. Implement at least two strategies to evaluate websites.
3. Utilize web evaluation rubrics for a greater understanding of the evaluation process.
4. Compare resources from the free web to an online database.

To begin the lesson, I show clips from the video, Online Verification Skills, where two different websites are evaluated.  As a whole class, we have a brief discussion about the video and the importance of finding quality resources for the health class assignments. Students then begin the rotations in small groups.

Station 1

Students choose two articles from the provided selection of articles (we chose to print the articles). Articles include “Google Rolls Out New ‘Fact Check’ Tool Worldwide to Combat Fake News”, “Google Sharpens Search Results for ‘Skin Rash’, ‘Tummy Ache’ and Other Symptoms”, and “Dr. Google is a Liar”.

Using the handout to help guide students, students provided five facts that stood out in the different articles.

Station 2

Students watch a video that discusses various strategies for determining the quality of the resource. Students looked for strategies to help determine quality sources when searching online and included the strategies online.

Station 3

Students use a web evaluation rubric to evaluate three provided websites.  Using the CRAAP test, students evaluated each site with a focus on which site would be the best website to cite in a research paper.  The websites had a nutrition focus for the upcoming unit.  Students ranked the websites and explained the reason for each ranking.

Websites:

The Nutrition Source
ChooseMyPlate
NutritionData

Station 4

To promote the use of library databases, students analyze the search results and format of database articles and compare them to a Google search.  Students then take a look at a controversial topic, Health Care Reform, in the databases to show balance and credibility. The online databases provide various points of view about controversial topics.

*We recognize that many health topics including the Covid vaccine are very controversial and at times emotional.  For this lesson, we focused on the curricular components of the class, nutrition.

Resources

Libguide: Station information and links for each station.
Handout/Guide: Student guide with questions for each station.

Author: Becca Munson

Becca Munson, Librarian, is a National Board Certified Teacher with over 24 years of experience in education. Becca is the Coordinator for Library Systems in the Blue Valley School District. Previously, she was school librarian at Blue Valley West High School. She opened two buildings in Blue Valley and spent some time as an Ed Tech Specialist before returning to libraries. Becca supports over 45 librarians and support staff as they work to fulfill the mission of flexible scheduling, collaboration, and literacy.

Categories: Blog Topics, Student Engagement/ Teaching Models

Tags: website evaluation