In an age where we can find information from more sources than ever before, pupils may not consider, unless they are asked to, where all this information comes from. How do people actually know things? How do people who write books and websites find the information to put in them? How do you know whether what you read on a website or in a book is true? How do you know who put a particular website together? These are crucial questions which are all part of information literacy - the awareness of where information comes from and how much we can trust it.

The objective of this unit is to make pupils aware of the need to assess the value of information and the importance of getting information from more than one source to check its veracity.

This unit draws the distinction between primary and secondary sources of information and helps pupils to assess the reliability of their sources.

Books, magazines, websites, newspapers and people are all examined for their reliability as sources of information. Pupils are carefully guided through making value judgements about each source and are introduced to the concept of the subjectivity of a person's or writer's viewpoint.

Research for a history project is used as a context in which to learn about primary and secondary sources of information and their relative value. Learners are shown ways of questioning the veracity of their sources and how much weight to attach to each - artefacts, buildings and written material, photographs and memories are all subjected to questioning.

There are tips for evaluating sources of information in order to be able to produce the most reliable outcomes from research. Pupils are urged to consult several sources to find a consensus.

Extension

• Use short newspaper articles from different newspapers about a sports event. Are they the same? Are there differences in the point of view? What are they agreed on?
• Ask pupils to bring in photographs of themselves at home, school or on holiday. Put the children in pairs or groups where they look at the photographs in turn and guess something about the situation. How accurate were their guesses?
• Pre-select some children's websites such as the excellent 'Wildkids' http://www.wildkids.org.uk site or this site about pondlife http://web.ukonline.co.uk/conker/pond-dip. How can the accuracy of this information be checked? What are the questions can you ask or the things can you do to evaluate the accuracy of this information?