The Dog Island Activity!

 Statement/Goals: The ultimate goal of this activity is for students to recognize what deems a website reliable versus not. As the technological age grows and students become more in touch with the World Wide Web, it is important that they know how to safely access accurate information on the internet. After this activity, students will be able to verify the validity of a website and determine whether or not it is to be trusted.

Context: 6th grade technology classroom evaluating whether or not The Dog Island is a good place to send their dogs. They are simultaneously studying how to find trustworthy websites online.

Procedure: Teacher will begin their lesson with the question "do you think I should send my dog to The Dog Island?" And showing their students the website. They will begin to explore on their own and the teacher will ask the follow up question "would you send your dogs here?" Some students may begin to ask questions like "is it safe?" or "how much is it?". The students will then be instructed to begin their research and come up with their own conclusions. We will then discuss as a class.

Activity: Student will work in small groups to answer the following questions about The Dog Island website. http://www.thedogisland.com/directions.html 

1. What is the domain on this website? What is something important to note about websites with this domain? Would you say websites with this kind of domain are credible or not credible?

2. If you send your dog to The Dog Island, how much does it cost? What makes this suspicious?

3. Click on "Directions" and read about how to get to The Dog Island Office. Do you think this is a real office?

4. Keep exploring the website and come up with one more reason why this website may not be so trustworthy.

Come back for a class discussion on our conclusions!