I wanted to share with folks how well this lesson went last spring when I used it. After following the Climate Project's first few lessons and my own introductory slideshow we discussed as a class how to evaluate online information. When we got to page 2 of this lesson, at first the students were ready to take everything they read at face value. I encouraged them to google each of the sources in the lesson. I played dumb and said, I don't know anything about @ClimateAdam or Bjorn Lomborg and the students Googled away,. They were pretty sure that NOAA and the Economist were reliable sources but they double checked those as well. They were surprised to learn that Bjorn Lomborg is a noted climate change disruptor (he claims polar bear numbers are increasing everywhere but that is only true for one small population - https://www.arcticwwf.org/wildlife/polar-bear/polar-bear-population/ ) and that @ClimateAdam is actually an expert. They got really into it and we had a great time!
This is a skill we all will need more and more every day to evaluate any topic, not just climate change. With misinformation machines in all of our hands and the rise of AI, we need students to be evaluating authority all the time.
