Activity: Introduction to thinking critically about information
Aims:
To provide participants with a practical task that will demonstrate the skills required in order to:
- Locate information using the web.
- Think critically about information that is found freely available on the web.
Learning Outcomes:
On completion of the task the participants will be able to:
- Identify common pitfalls in evaluating information found freely on the web.
- Compare web sites and discuss their credibility or otherwise.
- Identify a need to develop further skills in the critical appraisal of information.
Method and rationale:
Present participants with a task that incorporates some of the principles of problem-based learning. The task is an authentic problem that will involve the participants in a search for information that is freely available on the web. Having run a search for information, the participants will consider the information found and decide a course of action.
When completing the task, the participants need to feed back the search terms they used and how they constructed their search for information. They should provide a recommendation as required by the task but should also explain why they came to that decision.
Participants to work in groups of four or five and to discuss and debate the problem in order to reach an agreed course of action. Each group to feed back their search terms, decision and reasoning to the rest of the class. Facilitator to bring together common themes and summarise the process.
Facilitator to look for:
- Medical opinion backed up by evidence
- Reliance on personal opinion
- Evidence that participants have looked at more than one we site in order to check out their initial findings.
Note: The task can also be used an assessed task for an individual to submit.
The Task - To spray or not to spray?
The question to consider:
A neighbour knows that you are studying to become a nurse and so asks for your advice. She suffers from arthritis and has heard that it says on the Internet that spraying painful joints with WD40 can provide pain relief. She asks you if you could find out if this is true and advise her whether she should try it.
What you need to do:
Split into groups of four or five people.
Decide what you want to search for on the Internet.
Make a search and decide how you are going to consider the results.
Discuss your findings and reach a collective decision.
Be prepared to feed the following back to the whole class:
- Your Internet search terms
- What action you will recommend to your neighbour.
- Why you came to that decision