Fact vs. Fiction in a Digital World

One of my favorite websites in the world is dhmo.org, a website dedicated to bringing awareness to the dangers of a very common chemical -- dihydrogen monoxide. This chemical is a key component in acid rain and can cause erosion. It is commonly used by athletes to enhance physical performance. If inhaled in large quantities, it can cause death. In case you didn't realize it right away, dihydrogen monoxide is H20 -- water. The site dhmo.org is a "spoof" site, but many people have been duped by it! It is vitally important for everyone who acquires information to learn how to be critical of the information we read, and that goes for adults as well as kids!

This became evident recently when a study out of Stanford showed that an alarming number of students across many grade levels had difficulty distinguishing fake news from real news online. If you spend any time on social media, you've likely seen stories that make you say, "Come on, that doesn't sound right!" In order to help make sure our students are good digital citizens, we need to help them learn how to distinguish fact from fiction online. Sometimes it's not very easy to do as many websites that are designed for satire look incredibly legitimate, and a reader has to really dig around the site to discover the truth.

There are some simple things we can do to teach kids how to read online content with a critical eye:

• Teach students about bias so they understand that information may not be represented accurately.
• Teach students to look for information on a website about the author or about the site itself.
• Teach students how to break down the parts of a URL to learn more about a website.
• Teach students how to corroborate facts by looking for similar information from other reputable sources.

The amount of information available on the internet is truly overwhelming; often it feels like drinking from a fire hose! But that can't be an excuse for believing and sharing false or inaccurate information. Being critical consumers of information is key to having digitally literate citizens.

Getting information online can feel like this....