Subscribe

6th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 10 of 12

Check the Source

Credible sources, AI tools and citing

What your child practices

Children practice judging whether a source is credible and accurate, reading laterally, checking text and images made by technology such as chatbots, narrowing research questions and citing sources.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 6.22; 6.R3 · research questions and judging whether a source is credible

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A credible source is written by someone who knows the topic and backs up claims.
  2. Read laterally: leave the page to see what other sources say about it.
  3. Chatbots and other tools can sound sure and still be wrong. Check their facts and cite your sources.

Example: What is lateral reading? Lateral means sideways. You go sideways to other sources to check one. Answer: leaving a page to see what other sources say about it

Check the Source in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 10 of 12 in 6th grade English Language Arts, after Text Forms & Features and before Media Techniques.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A photo online shows a shark swimming on a flooded highway. What should you do before sharing?

    • share it quickly
    • assume it is real because it looks real
    • check whether reliable news sources confirm it
    • add a funny caption

  2. Question 2

    You find a statistic with no source. What should you do?

    • look for where the number came from
    • change the number
    • use it anyway
    • make your own number

  3. Question 3

    What makes a source credible?

    • it has bright pictures
    • it is the first search result
    • it is written by someone with knowledge of the topic and supports its claims
    • it uses lots of exclamation marks

  4. Question 4

    Which author is most credible for an article about bird migration?

    • a scientist who studies birds
    • an actor in a bird movie
    • an anonymous commenter
    • a person selling bird feeders

  5. Question 5

    What is lateral reading?

    • reading only the headings
    • reading sideways
    • reading a page from top to bottom
    • leaving a page to see what other sources say about it

  6. Question 6

    Why can AI-made images be a problem in the news?

    • they are always blurry
    • they cannot be shared
    • they are too small
    • they can show events that never happened

More 6th grade