Grade 7 — English Language Arts: Internet Literacy: Website Evaluation

Overview

Using class-developed criteria, students evaluate websites. Students develop a multimedia slide show showcasing the best and the worst elements of website design. Students discuss ethical considerations and responsibilities of Internet use.

Activate

In Think-Pair-Share and Think-Pair-Square groupings, students share searching techniques they commonly use to research information, in electronic and print resources (Internet, CDs, encyclopedia, Library OPACs, books). [Plan and Question] Students list techniques and categorize them using a suitable application. They highlight the techniques that are most efficient for them. They post their findings as a chart or concept map in the classroom.

Teacher Tips:
Direct students to think of techniques that work similarly for many kinds of media.
Remind students of acceptable use policy for the Internet [Ethics and Responsibility].
Review Internet 101 for Teachers and Internet FAQs for Students in a discussion. Ask students to fill out an Exit Slip with three things they learned and one they have a question about.

Support files
Internet 101 for Teachers
Internet FAQs for Students

Working in small groups, students complete a Concept Frame or Frayer Plus Concept Builder to identify critical and non-critical attributes of website information. [Collaborate] Students share ideas in a class discussion. Students discuss what constitutes a good website. Record elements of a good website in a class concept map.

Teacher Tips:
Consider the following elements for critical (name of owner/host, date of latest update, unwanted pop-up windows/advertising) and for non-critical (size of text, background colour) attributes for Web page contents.
The intent of this activity is to make students aware of the informational contents of websites. They will no doubt identify mechanical attributes that can also be categorized as critical (navigation bar, speed of download) and non-critical (animation, colour background), however a discussion of mechanical attributes is best kept for an activity around Web design.
Browse the websites in the Links for Teachers section to familiarize yourself with web pages in general and the issue involved in critical evaluation in particular.

Support File:
Frayer Plus Concept Builder. See Success for All Learners, p. 6.113.

Suggestions for Assessment:
Observation: Note student participation in class discussion.
Checklist: Use a checklist to assess students' values and attitudes related to this discussion. [Ethics and Responsibility] 

Acquire

Students visit five or six websites on the same topic. Using an online evaluation form or list of criteria, students rank-order the best and the worst [Gather and Make Sense]. Using a projector and a computer, students share with the class the results of their research by presenting an example of a good site and one of a bad site and explaining their findings based on the evaluation form or list of criteria they used. [Communicate]

Teacher Tips:
Assign different online evaluation forms or list of criteria websites to different groups of students.
Consider limiting students to a few websites that would support a current subject of study.

Apply

Students engage in a class discussion about criteria for assessing the contents of a website [Gather and Make Sense]. Together they create a class rubric, which they will use all year with their Internet searches to validate the sites they use. [Produce to Show Understanding]

Teacher Tip:
Ensure that the rubric includes criteria for accuracy, currency, credibility, validity, reliability, objectivity, fairness and relevance [Gather and Make Sense].

In groups, students search for websites that will best represent each criterion from the class-created rubric. [Collaborate] They create a multimedia presentation titled “The best of…” or another appropriate title to illustrate and communicate the meaning of each criteria [Produce to Show Understanding, Communicate].

Suggestions for Assessment:
Work Sample: View each group’s multimedia presentation to assess the students’ interpretation and understanding of each criteria through the examples they chose.