Today is rung 4 of 4 on this topic
Judging what's true online
Can do: Checks who published something, when, and whether another source agrees, before believing it.
Why it matters
By eleven most children research online unsupervised. Source-checking is a habit, and habits are built by doing it out loud together.
What it looks like when it's wobbly
Believes the first result, judges credibility by how professional a site looks, and can't tell an advert from an article.
⏱️ Two-minute check
Show any website. "Who made this? How do you know if it's true? Are they selling something?"
Solid looks like: Checks the source and looks for a second one.
The full activity for this topic · 15 minutes
Three Tab Check
- 1Take a real claim — from a video, a friend, or a search result.
- 2Open three tabs and look for the claim in three independent places.
- 3For each, ask: who runs this site, when was it written, what do they want?
- 4Teach the sideways move: leave the page and search for the source itself.
- 5Decide together: true, false, or not enough evidence. The third option is the important one.
If it's too hard
One claim, two sources.
If it's too easy
Find something they believe that turns out to be wrong, and trace where it came from.
Say this
"Who made this page, and what do they want from you? Let's check somewhere else too."