Humans are surrounded by information. The problem is, we can't always trust it. Information may be purposefully misleading, persuasively biased, or innocently incorrect.

Teachers provide students with content-specific information, and students use that information to build knowledge. They trust that the information teachers and their endorsed resources is accurate. Teaching students to be skeptical consumers of information is critical.

Instead of asking students to recall a bit of information, teachers can present students with a claim and ask students to verify or invalidate the claim by conducting some brief research. This exercises students' critical thinking skills as they apply research tactics and evaluate and analyze the information. Communication skills can be strengthened as well if students are tasked with writing to justify their verification or invalidation of the claim.