No, random student, Mrs. Smith's 3rd grade class is not a credible source for your project.

One of the discussions on my AP World History listserve that really resonated with me centered around "the 21st century classroom." The old schoolers were defending lecture and detail while the 21st century teachers were arguing there was no need for teaching students all the details because they can look up whatever they want on the internet at any time. One person commented (paraphrased), "how can you look up what you don't know and evaluate whether you are receiving quality information?" How do you give students enough information to explore without boring them to death? I've been pondering this question for about a year now.

After hearing Alan November speak, reading the assigned articles, and watching the search tutorials, I realize one key to answering my question lies in students receiving better training in conducting searches and evaluating sources. I'd like to figure out a way to incorporate training on evaluating internet sources with evaluating historical sources. I find my students are no better with historical sources than they are with modern day sources.

The Harris and Smith articles along with Beck's website provided several ideas for teaching students how to evaluate sources on the internet. In the past I've avoided trying to teach students this concept because I didn't know where to start. Smith's article, "Testing the Surf: Criteria for Evaluating Internet Information Resources" was very helpful to me as a teacher and graduate student. However, I think the evaluation list might be a bit much for my students. I also don't see my students evaluating the cost of internet access and ability to access (an important factor, but one a bit over their heads). I would definitely use Beck's website, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: or, why its a good idea to evaluate web sources" with my students for her examples of good and bad sites. I'd like to write some fake historical documents for them to evaluate as well. Harris' CARS criteria seems the easiest for students to remember as they search for information on a daily basis. I also liked Harris' acknowledgment that nothing is completely unbiased.