Web Site Evaluation for Elementary School Children

Young children may not be cognitively able to critically evaluate a web site for accuracy and authority, but they are usually capable of recognizing, with help, one for relevancy if the subject matter consists of basic factual information. However, librarians and teachers should bookmark or make links to site they want their young students to use in assignments and projects. It is important to show children that in choosing the sites they will use, their librarian and teacher have evaluated the site for its usefulness based on: who wrote it (authority), why that agency or person is reliable (authority), why its information will help in their assignment (relevancy and accuracy). Librarians and teachers should discuss the importance of evaluating web sites with young children everytime they use bookmarked or linked sites.

A good site for you to use to introduce web evaluation to young students is:

The 5W's of Web Site Evaluation at http://www.frii.com/%7Epmb/tech/internet/webeval.html created by Diane Lauer of the Thompson School District R2-J Media Services in Loveland-Berthoud, CO.

Another resources for upper elementary children to use is:

Kathy Schrock's Critical Evaluation of a Web Site : Elementary School LevelŠ at http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/evalelem.html .

Copyright 2001, Barbara A. Jansen.
Librarian/Technology Coordinator,
St. Andrew's Episcopal High School, Austin, TX.
Lecturer, The Graduate School of Library & Information Science,
The University of Texas at Austin.

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