Standard 6: Research

Students will engage in inquiry to acquire, refine, and share knowledge.

11.6.R.3  Students will evaluate the relevance, reliability, and validity of the information gathered.

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

• Students will continue to make judgments about the quality of sources to determine whether to use each source.

• Teachers remind students how to judge the quality of sources.
• Teachers provide opportunities for students to judge sources.
• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback regarding the quality of the sources cited in a research task.

Supporting Resources 

Teacher Insights

• Relevance refers to the source being appropriate to the student’s topic.
• For example, a fact that 75% of students own a cell phone doesn't directly support the statement that cell phones can be used as educational tools, but it does relate to the general topic of cell phones.
• Reliability: A website or text should be produced by a trustworthy source; it refers to the credibility of the source.
• A source containing bias would be unreliable.
• Bias may include: corporate ownership, confirmation bias, sociocultural bias, etc.
• Validity refers to the information’s accuracy and/or the source’s logical conclusions.
• A source that is not valid will contain misinformation. 

Due to recursive nature of the standards, it is essential that teachers are aware of how all objectives within and between strands work together for optimal instruction.