CRAAP Test Meets AI-Generated Sources in Ninth-Grade Research
You are the library media specialist at a high school where a ninth-grade ELA teacher has scheduled a three-day research unit in the library. The teacher plans to use a CRAAP test worksheet and a checklist lecture. Last year, 70% of students in this unit rated an AI-generated article about water pollution as credible because it included citations and ended in .org. The new unit asks students to investigate local water quality and use at least three sources, including one data source. You have five sections of 28 students, 45-minute periods, and one library aide. The teacher is open to change but worried about covering the required standards and keeping students on task. Students have laptops but uneven home internet. How do you redesign the library instruction?
1. How would you redesign the three days to teach source evaluation through lateral reading and inquiry rather than a checklist? Include specific activities and timing.
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Use the three days to build a habit, not a checklist. Day 1: a 10-minute model of lateral reading - open the AI-generated article, leave the site, search the author and claim, and compare coverage. Then pairs practice on one source while I circulate. Day 2: inquiry groups evaluate a curated source set that includes the AI article, a government data page, a local news story, and an industry-sponsored page. Students answer three questions: who is behind this, what evidence is offered, and what do other sources say? Day 3: students write a short source justification and peer-review one another's choices. The CRAAP test can be a vocabulary support, but it cannot be the primary method because it rewards surface features like .org and citations, which AI can fake. The teacher's standards are met through corroboration, evidence, and synthesis.
2. How would you assess whether students can evaluate AI-generated and sponsored sources, and how would you collaborate with the teacher on the assessment?
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Assess with a performance task, not a checklist quiz: students submit a source evaluation memo for two sources, including one AI-generated or sponsored source, and explain how they verified a claim. Co-create a rubric with the teacher: lateral reading moves, corroboration, identification of sponsorship or AI generation, use of a data source, and revision after feedback. Give a short pre- and post-exit ticket so the teacher can show growth. Meet with the teacher before Day 1 to align the rubric to the ELA standards, and after Day 3 to review student work and decide what to reteach. This makes assessment part of instruction rather than an add-on.
3. What scaffolds would you build for students with uneven internet access and for those who finish at different rates?
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Build scaffolds for access and pacing: download the source set as a PDF packet and keep printed copies for students with unreliable internet; allow students to use school laptops during class and offer a lunch open-lab. Provide sentence frames for source justification, a partner role for reading aloud, and a curated choice board with audio and video sources. Use the aide to run a small-group station for students who need extra modeling. For early finishers, add an extension: trace one claim to its original study or dataset and report what changed. Plan by knowing which students have accommodations and by keeping the task in class rather than assuming home internet.