The World Wide Web is a Big Old Mess

According to my kids anyway! They have no idea how to research on the internet, this was really hit home when I caught one of them taking notes from a webpage made by Jack and Wendy from a local Primary School.  When I asked my student what year she thought they were in; 2 or 4? she said she didn't care.  Typical!

How can I fix this problem? It's way bigger than me, I don't have time to double check every fact I read in 27 animal adaptation reports.  I already talk to the kids about how it is important and that they should care about getting thier facts straight but it's not having much of an effect. 

I think the fix for them, for now is to explicitly teach them how to effectively search the internet.  Maybe if they can find the authentic information they require more easily the won't tempted to copy from a dodgy source.  So far this year I've worked with a few students one on one with their searching techniques, getting them onto Boolify has been helpful and improved individuals.  I'd love to have the time to tell them about the Boolean logic behind this search engine - next year I will make time.

I'm also going to have to work out Google Squared and make better use of Wolframalpha.