California's Velcro Crop Industry

Goal: The goal for this activity is to help young students develop critical thinking skills when surfing the internet. It is hard to do research and to find trusted sources if you are not equipped with the skills to eliminate sources full of misinformation. Students will learn to crosscheck sources to see if a source is credible. Students will find this useful in conducting research papers and other reports that require cited information. This becomes particularly important to those that are doing research on topics of information they previously knew nothing about.

Activity: 

First, assign students to read California's Velcro Crop under Challenge. Then, have students write down what stood out to them and any first thoughts. After, challenge them with the question: Did anything seem strange about the information in the article? Follow it by: Who conducted the research presented in article? And next ask them: Who is the author and what are his qualifications? Students will then decide if this seems like a credible source based on the answers to the previous questions. Lastly, have students look up Velcro and how it is made.