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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.

Alaska content standards learning standard: W.6.7; W.6.8 · 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 Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, 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: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

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

    Which website is most likely to be selling something rather than informing?

    • a public library site
    • a science museum site
    • a site whose main page is a store with “Buy now” buttons
    • an encyclopedia site

  2. Question 2

    You want facts about your town's new park. Which source is best?

    • a joke account
    • an ad for a skate shop
    • a movie review
    • the city's official website

  3. Question 3

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

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

  4. Question 4

    A chatbot lists a book as a source, but you can't find the book anywhere. What may have happened?

    • the book is secret
    • the tool made up the source
    • the library is closed
    • the book is too new to exist

  5. Question 5

    Which is the best way to narrow the topic “space”?

    • Space things
    • How do astronauts exercise in space?
    • Planets and stars and more
    • All about the universe

  6. Question 6

    Two articles disagree about a fact. Which should you trust more?

    • the one with clear evidence from experts
    • the one with more ads
    • the one with more exclamation marks
    • the longer one

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