Proper Internet Research

As we all know, the Internet is taking over our students lives! Whether students are using the computer in the classroom or at home, it is important that they know how to use it properly.

I did a lesson the other day on how to properly search the Internet. It is very difficult to know what is a reliable resource and what is not.

Here is what I did!

I handed out an article on Dihydrogen Monoxide. You can get the article from the website http://dhmo.org. This article describes this chemical DHMO and how it is extremely hazardous to us, and it is running rampant throughout the world.

I asked the students to write an article which addresses:

1. What is DHMO?

2. What can it do to our bodies?

3. Where can we find DHMO?

4. Who uses DHMO and what do you think we should do about this situation?

After they wrote the article, I broke the news to the students (I showed a video, but you can simply just tell your students) that DHMO is really just WATER!!

They were shocked!!

I asked them why they thought I had them take the time to write an article that wasn't really true? Eventually through a class discussion we got to the point that you cannot trust everything you read on the Internet. Sometimes a google search will not give you the information you really need.

This is a valuable lesson for these students, as they rely so heavily on the Internet. I think it was a great wake up call!