"Look at the tree octopus!"

Upon viewing these amazing and truely "educational" sites, it is easy to see how students can read anything on the web and believe it.  Many students think of the internet as the one, true source for any question they have.  One big problem is that even with a lot of really good, reliable sites out there, there are many that are just made up and false.  For me, I would teach kids the old way of finding out if something is true.  First of all, I would introduce them to something they may have never seen, a book! (Note: They have seen books, this was just saracasm.)  I would teach them to use other supplies at their disposal.  First, I would teach them to search in their library for other multiple, "credible" resources on what they are looking up.  More than likely if there is not any hard literature on the subject, then it is more than likely false.  Beyond that, you can teach them ways of finding credibility online.  You can teach your students to use powerful tools such and EbscoHost or even go onto National Geographic if is contains anything with animals like the tree octupus.  I would teach the importance of finding multiple sources that are from different resources such as a book, an encyclopedia, a newspaper, a magazine, and then a website.  Also, they could speak to experts or do interviews.  For the octopus, they could call someone from the zoo and for MLK Jr. and the Explorers, they could look in a published history book.  I would teach my students to be well rounded; the more credible sources, the better.