A middle school class is assigned a research project on a leader who has made a significant impact on U.S. Law. Student Sally chooses to research Martin Luther King Jr. Sally has already checked out a few books from the library. She also wants to use the Internet to find additional information for her project. Sally proceeds to type the following URL into her Internet browser: www.martinlutherking.org. Sally reads the information on the Web site and is surprised by what she learns, but she incorporates the information into her report anyway... she doesn't see any reason not to.
Were you shocked by the content on this Web site? Consider a K-12 student such as Sally in the scenario above faced with the content of this Web site. Obviously www.martinlutherking.org is NOT one that is based on factual information, nor is it one that we would want students to use for research. Its contents are not only inappropriate, but filled with malicious slander. While some schools/districts may block this Web site, others may not. Either way, it is probable that most students can access this Web site on a computer not filtered through the district's system.
The issue illustrated in this scenario has to do with her inability to locate an appropriate Web site for her research or to evaluate the reliability of the Web site she found. This set of skills is part of Information Literacy. It is important to teach students skills to navigate the Internet and the information they find so that if/when they encounter Web sites with inappropriate or erroneous information such as that found on www.martinlutherking.org, they can respond appropriately.
Based on the scenario presented in this introduction, what do you think information literacy means?
Go to section 2 for more information about what it means to be information literate.