After viewing the website about saving the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, I contemplated that it promotes critical thinking by forcing the students to critically evaluate the information given. Obviously, they would need to be taught how to evaluate information prior to being asked to do so but there is a great deal of information in the article that they would need to verify and make decisions about. Again, with primary students, it would be challenging, due to lack of background knowledge, for them to know exactly what information to critically evaluate. For example, they wouldn't know about Sasquatch or Bobby Vinton, and some, due to cultural differences, may not even be tipped off, about the validity of the information, by the octopi living in Christmas trees. They would probably be able to comprehend the example of the French model commercial better than the non-fictional nature of this article!
It could be used in the classroom in the following ways:
This could be used as a break out activity for more advanced students to work on while teaching small intervention groups. It could also be used to model how to read critically when doing research. After working with the concept for awhile, you could even have cooperative groups try to create their own articles and have other groups try to evaluate them.
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