Sorry I'm late to respond, Patricia, but I guess I'd like to raise the question: Is fact checking the equivalent of reliability?

Yes facts are one measure of reliability - but there are other serious problems with a source besides finding factual errors. 
  1. What about the argument? 
  2. What about using facts to make a contestable claim? 
  3. What about misrepresenting what the number mean?
Just one offhand example because I've been doing some research on pandemics.  Some facts are there and correct - but this is a case of a distortion of our understanding of certain countries and a disease.
  1. Do a "Find" in the article on China for the word "cholera" and you get "Diseases such as cholera, typhoid and scarlet fever, which were previously rife in China, were nearly eradicated by the campaign." 
  2. Compare that to "The Role of China in the Global Spread of the Current Cholera Pandemic which says that between 1960 and 1990 China "was thus both a sink and source during the pandemic spread of V. cholerae, and needs to be included in reconstructions of the global patterns of spread of cholera.
  3. Indeed under-reporting of cholera is a common problem in countries like China and India according to WHO
  4. So, Wikipedia is under-reporting cholera in countries and, just in case you think it's an omission, see this article specifically about Health in India
  5. Or this Cholera article in Wikipedia
I think when kids are solely on a fact-checking quest, they may misconstrue what we mean by credible / reliable.

best,
Debbie Abilock
NoodleTools/NoodleTeach



On Sun, Mar 13, 2016 at 2:01 PM, Kwidz <kwidz@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
FYI

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Paige Jaeger <paigejaeger@gmail.com>
Date: March 13, 2016 at 9:22:18 AM EDT
To: aaslforum@lists.ala.org
Subject: Re: [aaslforum] Wikipedia assignment
Reply-To: aaslforum@lists.ala.org

'Love this practical "crowd-sourced" lesson!  

One other thought:  Why not frame this in an Essential Question (EQ) such as;  EQ: How can we determine if something is Accurate, Biased, Credible and/or reliable? 

This will give you an opportunity to assess their learning as they may not be able to answer this at the beginning of the lesson, but will be able to at the end.  

Also -- You could layer an element of "real world" and tell them they are being trained for the Snopes community and will have to become a "Fact-checker"  That might bring a fun element to it. 

Enjoy and I commend you for sharing.  Everyone knows our millennial students are hanging out on Wikipedia, anyway. 

--Paige 

Paige Jaeger 
InfoLit4U@Twitter 

Co-author:  Rx for the Common Core; Think Tank Library
Available via ABC Clio, Libraries Unlimited 

On Sat, Mar 12, 2016 at 7:20 AM, Sarles Patricia (18K500) <PSarles@schools.nyc.gov> wrote:
I want to thank EVERYONE for their feedback. Based on feedback both on and off list, both warm and cool, I have re-tweaked the assignment. I really do appreciate the time everyone took to look at my assignment and respond to it. Librarians are wonderful people! Some people felt, why bother with Wikipedia at all since the students are not allowed to use it. It is true, we don't really want students using it, but the reality is that students are most likely going to use it anyway, so why not teach them how to use it critically. Personally (and professionally), I also think it really is a great place to get background information and most especially some of the vocabulary (i.e., keywords) used around that topic.

I have taken several suggestions and compiled them into a single assignment. Some suggestions I will use for a second assignment, e.g., to learn to check the history of an article and the talk feature. However, I must admit that there is more I need to learn myself about Wikipedia beyond just being able to read an article and check the references.

Here is the re-tweaked assignment:

http://collegeresearchskills.pbworks.com/w/page/106074129/Sample%20Wikipedia%20assignment%202

Meanwhile, does anyone have a "finding a keyword" assignment or "subject vs. keyword" assignment they are willing to share?

Thank you again everyone for your kindness and your help.

Patricia



____________________________________________
Patricia Sarles, MA (Anthropology), MLS
Librarian, Lifelong Learner
Jerome Parker Campus Library
100 Essex Drive
Staten Island, NY 10314
718-370-6900 x1322
psarles@schools.nyc.gov
http://jeromeparkercampus.libguides.com/home
http://helpingandkindness.blogspot.com/


When we diminish a child's reading choice, we diminish the child who made that choice. - Donalyn Miller



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