EDUC 6816 Website Evaluation: Killer Tornado!

Website to validate:  The fifth grade science curriculum requires a unit on Weather.   After observing (just last week) a teacher assigning groups of students types of “storms” to research and create presentations for the class, I felt this “hoax” site would be relevant.   I would probably use this site as an “ice breaker”, and not tell my students  this site was a hoax (at first). Hopefully, questions would occur and that would lead to lessons on website evaluation.

  Case Analysis of a Historic Killer Tornado Event in Kansas on June 10, 1938.

 How to read a web address:  The authors of this website created a “hoax” site based on “The Wizard of Oz”.  Many students ages (10-11) may not be familiar with this movie, the script nor images.  Therefore, it’s possible some students could “snatch and grab” a few facts from this page and place in a report, without completing a website evaluation.  The site looks credible with upper-level vocabulary (I’m not sure some of the words are real!)

http://www.cimms.ou.edu/~doswell/Conference_papers/SELS96/WoO.html                  

When you look at the website address,  (.edu) refers to higher ed., but there is also a tilde, and person’s name associated with the site.  There is a biography for one of the author’s included, the email address link does not work, nor does the contact the author link work.  The author’s vita lists a timeline that is impossible to achieve, according to the dates.   If you check the cited resources on the page, it does appear that the first resource listed, is a legitimate author on Tornadoes.  The second resource listed, seems to be associated with a trucking company.

Find the publisher of a website:  Using the (whois) site, the site is registered to the University of Oklahoma Engineering Department.  The contact information is listed with telephone numbers, email addresses and physical addresses.

What is the history of a website? The Wayback Machine (archives) does not have this site archived. The domain was activated in 1995, and last updated in 2011. 

Check the links:  Some  links work, but each link that works directs you to another page of information that looks credible, but is filled with bogus information.

Check External Links:  I used altavista.com (links: then pasted website address) and found three External links:  Education World (a web literacy lesson plan), Education World ( Twister! Understanding and Surviving Tornadoes) and yahoo.com.

I’ve learned the importance of knowing how to evaluate a website, and the necessity of teaching our students website literacy activities.  Some websites are difficult, and much research is needed to prove validity.  If educators require students to complete this type of activity, students will be using higher level thinking skills; critiquing, judging, analyzing, synthesizing, and summarizing. Also, website evaluation is using critical media literacy skills to understand where information originates and the purpose of the information.