Computing · Year 3

Active learning ideas

Is This Information True?

Turn your pupils into digital detectives with this crucial topic on evaluating online information.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• National Curriculum for England: Computing KS2 - Be discerning in evaluating digital content

• 20–30 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Think-Pair-Share
• 30 min · Pairs

Website Detectives

Provide pupils with two pre-selected websites about the same topic, one trustworthy (e.g., a museum) and one deliberately fake. In pairs, pupils use a simple checklist to find 'clues' that reveal which site is unreliable, such as spelling mistakes, no author, or sensational claims.

Identify one clue that a website might not be trustworthy.

Facilitation Tip

Use a fictional topic, like the 'tree octopus', to avoid confusion with real-world knowledge.

What to look for

Observe pupils during paired or group activities, listening to their discussions and reasoning for classifying websites as trustworthy or not. Use a simple checklist to note their understanding.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Think-Pair-Share
• 25 min · Small Groups

Fact-Checking Challenge

Present the class with a simple, questionable 'fact' (e.g., 'All spiders have eight eyes'). Pupils use two or three child-safe search engines or pre-approved websites to verify the information and report back on their findings.

Explain why it is important to check information from more than one website.

Facilitation Tip

Provide a worksheet for pupils to record the information they find on each website.

What to look for

Pupils complete a short task where they are shown screenshots of two different websites and must circle the untrustworthy features on one, and explain why the other is more reliable.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Think-Pair-Share
• 20 min · Small Groups

Trustworthy or Not?

Give groups a set of cards, each with a different type of online source (e.g., BBC Newsround, a personal blog, Wikipedia, a school website). The groups must sort the cards on a spectrum from 'most trustworthy' to 'least trustworthy' and be ready to explain their reasoning to the class.

Compare information found on a school website with information found on a personal blog.

Facilitation Tip

Encourage debate and discussion, emphasising that there can be more than one right answer depending on their justification.

What to look for

Provide pupils with a 'Digital Detective Checklist' they can use to evaluate a website. They can tick off features they have checked, such as 'I looked for the author' or 'I checked for spelling mistakes'.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Begin by modelling the process with the whole class. Use a 'think aloud' strategy to evaluate a familiar, trustworthy website, pointing out the features that make it reliable. Then, introduce a fake but convincing website and model how you would question its content. Provide pupils with a simple visual checklist of 'trust clues' to support their independent investigations.

By the end of these activities, your pupils will be able to spot simple clues that a website might not be trustworthy and will understand why checking more than one source is so important.

---

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• If it is on the internet, it must be true.

  Anyone can create a website or post information online, so not everything is accurate. It is important to check who made the information and why.

• A website that looks professional with nice pictures must be trustworthy.

  While a good design can be a positive sign, it does not guarantee the information is true. We must look for other clues like an author, a date, and contact information.

• Wikipedia is always wrong and should never be used.

  Wikipedia can be a good starting point to get general ideas, but because anyone can edit it, you should always check the information on other, more reliable websites.

---

Methods used in this brief

• Think-Pair-Share