CriticalThinking

Website Wednesday is a regular feature in which we highlight one (or a couple) of sites from the Billions floating around the Intertoobz that just might help you with your Herculean task of educating inquiring minds. Any and all suggestions for future editions are welcome.

Has anyone ever used a hoax website for a classroom lesson? I haven’t taught English 102 for a few semesters, but when I do, one topic we always cover is how to evaluate websites for credibility. I’ve thought about using hoax websites for this, but I just never got around to it. Still, I can see some of these working really well as critical thinking exercises for all kinds of disciplines. A few notable ones I’ve discovered: the movement to save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, Lake Michigan Whale Watching, Dog Island, the wildly popular Belgium Doesn’t Exist, Feline Reactions to Bearded Men, and (my personal favorite) Boilerplate: History of a Victorian Era Robot.

Here’s one teacher’s list of hoax websites and another teacher’s anatomy of a hoax site.

A little silly, but I think there’s definitely some learning waiting to happen here.