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Fact-Checking Using the CRAAP Test, SIFT Method, or SMART Check
Details
Activity Description
Preparation
- Check the website to ensure it is not blocked at your site.
- Read through the lesson plan.
- Print and make copies of any handouts.
How-To
Go through the UChicago Library Evaluating Resources and Misinformation site. You may decide you want to use only one of the three methods presented.
More Ways
A second excellent site is Illinois State University Milner Library Determine Credibility. They go through How Information is Created, Fact Check with SIFT-Fake or Fact? --This webpage gives examples from the media to examine,Try it Out!, As CRAAP Questions, How to Spot Fake News, Five C's of Critical Consuming, Evaluate Images, Deep Fakes. The site has worksheets, videos, infographics, walks you through with examples and an acitivity to Try Using SIFT and Learn More
Program Areas
- ABE: Adult Basic Education
- ESL: English as a Second Language
- ASE: High School Equivalency Preparation
- ASE: High School Diploma
- CTE: Career Technical Education
Levels
- Intermediate
- High
- Intermediate Low
- Intermediate High
- Advanced
Lesson Plan
Where do you get your news? Student pairs share their ideas then gather with the class. Make a list on the board.
How do you know the news is reliable? Student pairs discuss and then share their ideas with the class. Write ideas on the boarrd. We are going to investigate ways to evaluate whether the news we read is accurate or false.
Share the website, Evaluating Resources and Misinformation
Navigate to demonstrate how to find the various tests: The SIFT Method, CRAAP Test, and SMART Check. Go over the Infographic, How to Spot Fake News. Student pairs discuss what they have seen and what stands out to them. Which method sounded the most interesting? Gather as a class to discuss the sites/options.
You can use stories the students mentioned in the warm-up or stories current on social media, or prior to class go to Politifact and select stories for students to investigate.
In pairs, students select one of the methods, The SIFT Method, CRAAP Test, or The SMART Check. You can assign stories for them to investigate applying the principles presented with the method they used.
Student pairs write a summary of what they discovered. The name of the method, the story investigated, how they applied the method, what they learned, and the accuracy of the story. Use the table in Documents. Students can answer online or on a printed copy.
To practice writing skills, student pairs can exchange/share their summary with another pair. They go over each other's summaries looking for ways to improve. Students revise their summaries and share them with the teacher.
Take one of the unused stories either from the board, from social media or one that is currently on the news. Have student pairs evaluate the story using whatever method they want. This can be a discussion or students can use the Fact-Checking worksheet again.
Gather as a class to discuss what was learned.
Discuss first as pairs or small groups, then as a class, how will you use what you learned about fake news and ways to evaluate information from now on?
Periodicaly, have students bring in stories they hear and discuss their credibility as a class.
Documents
- Fact-Checking.docx - Fact-Checking
Subjects
- Language Arts - Reading
- Analysis
- Inference and Interpretation
- Language Arts - Writing
- Language Facility
- Organization of Ideas
- Writing Conventions
- Reading
- Critical Thinking/Decision Making
- Writing
- Paragraph Skills
CTE Anchor Standards
- Anchor Standard 3: Career Planning and Management - Speaking and Listening Standard: Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.
- Anchor Standard 4: Technology - Writing Standard: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments and information.