The CRAAP Test

When you search for information, you’re going to find lots of it… but is it good information? How can we tell if a source is a source that we would want to take information from? These are questions that our students are having trouble answering. According to this article from NPR reporter, Camila Domonoske, states that "if the children are the future, the future might be very ill-informed." This article by the Huffington Post, states that, "what we have now is not only uninformed but misinformed masses."

In light of all the misleading, biased, and plain wrong information that is out there on the Internet, we need a way to decipher which information is reliable. Thanks to a BMCHSD curriculum writing project from the summer of 2015, we have resources to help us. In comes, the CRAAP test - a clever acronym and a framework for evaluating online resources. See info-graphic below.

Created by Maddie Clybourn

When we do research, websites are useful because they provide easy access to information. However, not all websites are reliable. In order to check for reliability, we must consider, currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose. Otherwise, we might be misinformed.

The video below was curated by our Principal, Mr. Harrington, and shown at a recent faculty meeting. It demonstrates the consequences when we do not use the CRAAP test!