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4 Great Fact Checking Sites for Tweens and Teens

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Looking for ways to help kids find out the truth when it comes to news and current events? Here's a list of four great websites to help kids separate fact from fiction.

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Do you believe everything you read?
How can you tell if something is true or not?
What questions do you need to ask to be sure?
Let's start our journey of discovery together.
Fact or fiction  - Let's find out

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With the advent of the Internet and social media, news is distributed at an incredible rate by an unprecedented number of different media outlets. How do we choose which news to consume? Damon Brown gives the inside scoop on how the opinions and facts (and sometimes non-facts) make their way into the news and how the smart reader can tell them apart.

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The page you are looking for is no longer available. As stated in our communication in January 2018 and subsequent site banners; as of July 31st, 2018 all Free and Classroom Wikis were disabled and are no longer accessible. We thank you for your interest in Wikispaces over the years and wish you all the best with your future endeavours.

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TinEye is an image search and recognition company. We are experts in computer vision, pattern recognition, neural networks, and machine learning.

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How to find quality digital content

Finding information is an important component of digital literacy. Finding digital content that is meaningful is about:

employing various search strategies to help source quality information

using multiple search engines to challenge personal filter bubbles

using written, visual, and audio resources to navigate information in a variety of modes

collecting a range of information that can then be evaluated to meet your requirements.

Planning

Before you begin searching for relevant digital content, consider:

Effective searching for digital content

You find better results using precise keywords and search strategies.

1. Think of keywords from your inquiry question or topic, including synonyms. Dictionaries and a thesaurus are useful for compiling a list of keywords.

2. Look at the question or topic you want information on and choose the most relevant source for your search, for example, search engine(s) and/or online databases.

3. Try using different keywords and search techniques to broaden or narrow your search. Common search techniques for the internet include:

Exclude words from your search: Put - in front of a word you want to leave out. For example, jaguar speed -car.
Search for an exact match: Put a word or phrase inside quotes. For example, "tallest building".
Search within a range of numbers: Put .. between two numbers. For example, camera $50..$100.
Combine searches: Put "OR" between each search query. For example, marathon OR race.
Search for a specific site: Put "site:" in front of a site or domain. For example, site:youtube.com or site:.gov.
Search for related sites: Put "related:" in front of a web address you already know. For example, related:time.com.
- Source: Refine web searches, Google

It's very likely that your search will retrieve a large amount of information so you'll need to develop skills in evaluating and filtering information to suit your purpose.

This guidance provides useful information about effective searching:

Where to search for digital content

The National Library provides a range of quality, curated digital resources, including:

Topic Explorer - provides quality, curated resources on a range of topics that inspire and support inquiry. Each topic set contains a wide range of resources a particular topic area or subject.

Teaching and learning resources - offers a range of free, online teaching and learning resources, tools, and guides to support teaching and learning.

You could also start with:

Open Education resources

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium - digital or otherwise - that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.
- UNESCO

Open Education resources include:

OER commons - allows you to search by subject and level, create lessons and modules.

TEDEd - videos to create customised lessons.

Project Gutenberg - useful for digital copies of classic books.

CK-12 - provides a library of free online resources in versions for teachers and students.

How to evaluate digital content

Evaluating information is an important part of the digital literacy process. To evaluate digital content to ensure it's meaningful:

look critically at information to determine its relevance, suitability and reliability

be critical and sceptical about sources and information to ensure authenticity

check for accuracy, validity and currency as measures of information quality

make sure all information and resources are fit for purpose.

Why evaluate information?

Anyone can put information online and for any number of reasons. Digital content - blogs, wikis, websites, social media - can contain misinformation.

Digital literacy is about being able to identify good quality digital content. Critical evaluation is key to assessing authorship, reliability and authenticity.

Tools for evaluating digital content

The following are examples of tools that are often used to evaluate digital content:

SIFT (the four moves) - SIFT stands for stop, investigate the source, find better coverage, trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context.

5 Ws of website evaluation (pdf, 28KB) - poster showing: who, what, when, where, why.

Evaluating information: applying the CRAAP test - CRAAP stands for currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose.

RADCAB - your vehicle for information evaluation - RADCAB stands for relevance, appropriateness, detail, currency, authority and bias

Evaluate it - a guide from Community College of Baltimore Library in the USA.

Evaluating resources - a comprehensive guide from Berkeley University in California for both print and digital resources.

Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a 'post-truth' world - a blog post by Joyce Valenza for the School Library Journal.

Using digital content in meaningful ways

When using digital content for teaching and learning, it's important to consider:

Why use digital resources?

Quality digital content can provide rich, varied information for teaching and learning, and be:

Choosing digital resources

When choosing a digital resource focus on whether it:

aligns with learning objectives

matches the curriculum

has learning value and not just a 'nice to have' extra

is appropriate for the students' learning level

is inclusive and accessible

engages learners and promotes effective learning

encourages innovation.

Creating digital content

You can create digital content in any number of formats, including video, audio, Powerpoint presentations, blogs, wikis and animations.

To create meaningful digital content, you need to:

Creating content is not new. Librarians have been creating content for a long time. Within the digital environment, there are now a vast number of tools available. Educators, students and library staff can all be active creators of digital content.

Libraries as content creators - American Libraries magazine.

Why create content

Content creation enables students to:

Tools for content creation

There is an enormous range of content creation tools that support teaching and learning. It is important to actively look for new and better tools all the time.

Use the following websites as starters to find some useful creation tools to use in your library or classroom:

Responsible use - copyright and attribution

When you use any digital content be aware of its copyright and any usage restrictions. These are usually made clear.

If you use digital content created by someone else, it's important that you acknowledge or attribute them in your work. Check if your school has guidelines for responsible use of other people's work.

If you're unsure about how to use digital content responsibly, ask your librarian or refer to:

If you create digital content, you can also licence under Creative Commons to make it available for others to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work. You can require them to attribute you or not.
Creative Commons licences

How to find quality digital content

Finding information is an important component of digital literacy. Finding digital content that is meaningful is about:

employing various search strategies to help source quality information

using multiple search engines to challenge personal filter bubbles

using written, visual, and audio resources to navigate information in a variety of modes

collecting a range of information that can then be evaluated to meet your requirements.

Planning

Before you begin searching for relevant digital content, consider:

Effective searching for digital content

You find better results using precise keywords and search strategies.

1. Think of keywords from your inquiry question or topic, including synonyms. Dictionaries and a thesaurus are useful for compiling a list of keywords.

2. Look at the question or topic you want information on and choose the most relevant source for your search, for example, search engine(s) and/or online databases.

3. Try using different keywords and search techniques to broaden or narrow your search. Common search techniques for the internet include:

Exclude words from your search: Put - in front of a word you want to leave out. For example, jaguar speed -car.
Search for an exact match: Put a word or phrase inside quotes. For example, "tallest building".
Search within a range of numbers: Put .. between two numbers. For example, camera $50..$100.
Combine searches: Put "OR" between each search query. For example, marathon OR race.
Search for a specific site: Put "site:" in front of a site or domain. For example, site:youtube.com or site:.gov.
Search for related sites: Put "related:" in front of a web address you already know. For example, related:time.com.
- Source: Refine web searches, Google

It's very likely that your search will retrieve a large amount of information so you'll need to develop skills in evaluating and filtering information to suit your purpose.

This guidance provides useful information about effective searching:

Where to search for digital content

The National Library provides a range of quality, curated digital resources, including:

Topic Explorer - provides quality, curated resources on a range of topics that inspire and support inquiry. Each topic set contains a wide range of resources a particular topic area or subject.

Teaching and learning resources - offers a range of free, online teaching and learning resources, tools, and guides to support teaching and learning.

You could also start with:

Open Education resources

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium - digital or otherwise - that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.
- UNESCO

Open Education resources include:

OER commons - allows you to search by subject and level, create lessons and modules.

TEDEd - videos to create customised lessons.

Project Gutenberg - useful for digital copies of classic books.

CK-12 - provides a library of free online resources in versions for teachers and students.

How to evaluate digital content

Evaluating information is an important part of the digital literacy process. To evaluate digital content to ensure it's meaningful:

look critically at information to determine its relevance, suitability and reliability

be critical and sceptical about sources and information to ensure authenticity

check for accuracy, validity and currency as measures of information quality

make sure all information and resources are fit for purpose.

Why evaluate information?

Anyone can put information online and for any number of reasons. Digital content - blogs, wikis, websites, social media - can contain misinformation.

Digital literacy is about being able to identify good quality digital content. Critical evaluation is key to assessing authorship, reliability and authenticity.

Tools for evaluating digital content

The following are examples of tools that are often used to evaluate digital content:

SIFT (the four moves) - SIFT stands for stop, investigate the source, find better coverage, trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context.

5 Ws of website evaluation (pdf, 28KB) - poster showing: who, what, when, where, why.

Evaluating information: applying the CRAAP test - CRAAP stands for currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose.

RADCAB - your vehicle for information evaluation - RADCAB stands for relevance, appropriateness, detail, currency, authority and bias

Evaluate it - a guide from Community College of Baltimore Library in the USA.

Evaluating resources - a comprehensive guide from Berkeley University in California for both print and digital resources.

Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a 'post-truth' world - a blog post by Joyce Valenza for the School Library Journal.

Using digital content in meaningful ways

When using digital content for teaching and learning, it's important to consider:

Why use digital resources?

Quality digital content can provide rich, varied information for teaching and learning, and be:

Choosing digital resources

When choosing a digital resource focus on whether it:

aligns with learning objectives

matches the curriculum

has learning value and not just a 'nice to have' extra

is appropriate for the students' learning level

is inclusive and accessible

engages learners and promotes effective learning

encourages innovation.

Creating digital content

You can create digital content in any number of formats, including video, audio, Powerpoint presentations, blogs, wikis and animations.

To create meaningful digital content, you need to:

Creating content is not new. Librarians have been creating content for a long time. Within the digital environment, there are now a vast number of tools available. Educators, students and library staff can all be active creators of digital content.

Libraries as content creators - American Libraries magazine.

Why create content

Content creation enables students to:

Tools for content creation

There is an enormous range of content creation tools that support teaching and learning. It is important to actively look for new and better tools all the time.

Use the following websites as starters to find some useful creation tools to use in your library or classroom:

Responsible use - copyright and attribution

When you use any digital content be aware of its copyright and any usage restrictions. These are usually made clear.

If you use digital content created by someone else, it's important that you acknowledge or attribute them in your work. Check if your school has guidelines for responsible use of other people's work.

If you're unsure about how to use digital content responsibly, ask your librarian or refer to:

If you create digital content, you can also licence under Creative Commons to make it available for others to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work. You can require them to attribute you or not.
Creative Commons licences
Find out more

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Digital content - finding, evaluating, using and creating it

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Digital literacy is about finding, evaluating, using, and creating digital content in meaningful and responsible ways. It requires thinking skills and technical abilities. You can use a range of strategies to develop digital literacy in your school.

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Does this website smell funny to you?

Website evaluation can be a new concept for elementary and early middle school students. As they move into eighth grade, the CRAAP Test (pdf) works well for them. Younger students, however, need something simpler. According to Amy Gillespie, "Almost all of my students arrive at my school with one simple rule for choosing online sources: Don't use Wikipedia. But beyond that, they tend to assume that if it's online, it must be true. So in the middle school information skills class, we now teach the FART Test."

The FART Test Evaluation tool for websites:

For specific details on the FART Test evaluation, click here.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/mhroxam, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

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The FART Test and website evaluation - Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange

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Does this website smell funny to you? Website evaluation can be a new concept for elementary and early middle school students. As they move into eighth grade, the CRAAP Test (pdf) works well for them. Younger students, however, need something simpler. According to Amy Gillespie, "Almost all of my students arrive at my school with one ...

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The definitive Internet reference source for researching urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.