From eSchool News, written by Alan November and Brian Mull — There is an overwhelming amount of information today available online to students at the touch of a mouse click. But how do you know if it’s true or accurate? Schools teach students how to read on paper, but few teach Internet literacy.

Arthur Butz, a professor at Northwestern University, uses as an example of Internet illiteracy, the case of a student who wrote a history paper called  “The Historic Myth of Concentration Camps.” The paper, based in information downloaded from various sites, point out that the Nazi regime was actually trying to kill head lice and stamping out Typhus, not killing people! The student accepted what he read as fact. Butz points out that instead of teaching students how to use the Internet, schools tend to block its use. Unwise, says Butz, who outlines some simple steps he has found effective.

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