https://nifa.usda.gov/ 

program/4-h-positive-youthdevelopment 

National Institute 

of Food 

and Agriculture 

United States 

Department of 

Agriculture 

lesson plan: activity 3.2 

lesson details introduction 

CRAAP DeCisions 

A FederAl PArtnershiP For steM educAtion 

expeditionary

skills

for life 

 

National Aeronautics 

and Space 

Administration 

age/grade level 

High School 

learner outcoMes 

Youth will learn strategies for 

determining the credibility of 

information. 

success indicators 

Youth will create a research strategy, 

identify research resources, and 

determine if those resources provide 

credible information. 

life skills 

Communication, analyzing information, reasoning skills, decision 

making 

national standards 

21st Century: Information, Media 

and Technology Skills / INFORMATION LITERACY / access and 

evaluate information, use and 

manage information 

21st Century: Learning and Innovation Skills / CRITICAL THINKING 

AND PROBLEM SOLVING / reason 

effectively, use systems thinking, 

make judgments and decisions, and 

solve problems 

21st Century: Learning and Innovation Skills / COMMUNICATION 

AND COLLABORATION / communicate clearly and collaborate with 

others 

prep tiMe 

None 

activity tiMe 

1 hour, 45 minutes (all activities 

combined) 

Materials list 

•	 Paper 

•	 Writing utensils 

•	 Computer with internet access for 

each small group 

suggested space 

Indoors preferred for first activity; 


open space needed for final activity.
 

suggested group size 

Any size 

references 

Teaching Information Literacy Now 

http://www.slj.com/2016/11/ 

industry-news/teaching-media-literacy-now/#_ 

Teaching Teens About Digital Literacy 

Through Programming 

http://publiclibrariesonline. 

org/2013/03/teaching-teensabout-digital-literacy-through-programming/ 

Research and Information Literacy 

http://www.teentech.com/teentechawards/categories/11-16-age-group/ 

research-and-information-literacy/ 

With technology being a critical 

element of our daily lives, it is 

important to become digitally 

literate. This involves understanding how 

you connect with technology and making 

sure that you are able to effectively utilize 

that technology for yourself and to communicate with others. A digitally literate 

person is someone who: 

•	 possesses the variety of skills required to 

find, understand, evaluate, create, and 

communicate information in a wide variety 

of formats; 

•	 is able to use diverse technologies appropriately and effectively to retrieve information, 

interpret results, and judge the quality of 

that information; and 

•	 uses these skills and the appropriate technology to communicate and collaborate 

with peers, family, teams, and others. 

One of the most challenging aspects of being 

digitally literate is determining if the information 

is “good” information. This involves making sure 

that information is factual, accurate, and being 

used in the appropriate context. You can make 

this decision by doing the CRAAP test on any 

information that you find; that is finding out 

about its Currency, Relevance, Accuracy, Authority and Purpose. 

Currency: Is the website up-to-date? Has it 

been updated recently? You can then compare it 

with other information that you find – has the 

situation changed since this website was 

written? This will affect how you use the information. 

.continued next page >> 
page 2

lesson plan: activity 3.2 

CRAAP DeCisions, ContinueD 

expeditionary

skills

for life 

>> continued from previous page 

Relevancy: Does the information help you answer your 

research question/support your project? It’s very easy to 

get sidetracked when searching the internet. Can you 

understand it? It’s no good using information that you do 

not understand. If you are just starting to find out about 

your topic, try simple websites or books first, then more 

advanced ones later. 

Accuracy: Is it correct? You need to check how accurate 

the information you find is. Check your website with 

information from other sources. Once you know that the 

facts are correct, you can think about what the author is 

actually saying about the information. 

Authority: Find out who has written the information. Who 

are they and why have they put the information on the 

internet? Does the person know what they’re talking 

about? This will give you an idea of bias and how balanced 

or one-sided the information might be. Also consider: 

•	 Is the information country specific – does it matter? 

Do you want only American based information? 

•	 Is it a named person, a business, an educational 

website or charity? This will help you make a decision 

about if and how to use it. Different types of people 

have different reasons for sharing information. 

•	 Check out the author using Google scholar to see if 

they have any other publications. 

Purpose: Does the web site aim to inform, sell or entertain? Does it include facts or opinion? Do you think the 

information is impartial? If you decide the information is 

biased, find alternative views on other sites to help you 

make informed judgments. 

While you are probably adept at navigating the digital 

world, the CRAAP test can help you navigate to selecting 

information that is reliable and accurate. This important 

critical thinking skill will help you become a more knowledgeable and wary consumer of information. 

activity instruction 

activity: searching for non-craap 

(60 Minutes) 

Divide the youth into small groups of 3-5 youth per group. 

Have each group determine a topic they would like to 

research. Example topics: rooftop gardening, building a 

submarine, climbing Mt. Everest, forming a musical group, 

or choosing a culinary arts (cooking) school. 

Explain that in researching a topic, most people will simply 

type the first things that come into their head into a search 

engine. This approach will only get you so far. Time spent 

as a team thinking about what you want to find out is time 

well spent, and good researchers create a ‘search strategy’ 

where they work out what to search for and where to look 

for it. 

For example: Imagine you were carrying out a project to 

invent a flying car. The obvious words to use when searching for this topic might be flying car. TOP TIP: Carrying out 

a phrase search is a simple way to improve your results. 

You put two or more words into quotation marks so that 

the search engine will look for them together (e.g. “flying 

car”). However, if you only search for flying car you might 

miss other resources where someone has described it 

differently. You can find more resources by using synonyms (similar or related terms). You can use a thesaurus, 

such as Thesaurus.com, to help you find different words. 

Provide these other keywords as an example: 

Flying Car 

Fly Automobile 

Flight Vehicle 

Aviation Motor 

Aerial Motor Car 

Aeronautical Transportation 

Have each group make a list of all the words they want to 

include in their search strategy, and then create a word 

map to show how the terms that they are using link the 

words together. 

continued next page >> 
page 3

lesson plan: activity 3.2 

CRAAP DeCisions, ContinueD 

expeditionary

skills

for life 

>> continued from previous page 

Using a computer or mobile device with internet access, 

each group should begin to create a list of three or four 

useful resources to research for their topic. Under each 

resource, they should indicate what word or combination 

of words were used to locate the resource and which 

search engine was used. Encourage the youth to try the 

same words using different search engines. 

Have each group conduct the CRAAP test for each 

resource they put on their list. Using the results, the group 

should determine if the resource should stay on the list or 

not. 

debrief activity: Quick Questions 

(15 Minutes) 

1.	 Have participants find a partner and stand back-toback (facing away from their partner). 

2.	 Ask a question, and when you say “go” they turn and 

each person answers the question to their partner. 

Give a 1-2 minutes, then a 30 second warnings to end 

conversation. 

3.	 Choose a different partner and stand back-to-back, 

facilitator provides a different question and repeat. 

Example Questions 

•	 What was easy and difficult about creating a search 

strategy in a group setting? 

•	 Did creating a word map help you in creating your 

search strategy? Why or why not? 

•	 Did using multiple search engines make a difference in 

the resources you found? 

•	 Did using the CRAPP test make it easier to determine 

if an item should stay on the resource list? 

applied challenge solution scenarios 

(30 Minutes) 

When you are part of a team, it is important that everyone 

be able to communicate effectively in order to achieve 

their goal. However, if the information being communicated is not accurate or not relevant to the situation, it is 

likely that the goal will not be achieved regardless of how 

well the information was communicated. Invite youth to 

share examples (without naming names) when they were 

given “bad” information and describe any negative consequences that occurred. 

Directions: 

1.	 Divide youth into small groups of 3-5 youth per group. 

2.	 Have the group identify one specific scenario where 

receiving bad information in a team environment 

could result in the team failing to achieve its goal. 

3.	 Have the group identify one way that the person 

providing the information in their scenario could have 

made sure the information was correct. 

4.	 Have the group then identify two questions or strategies that others on the team could have asked or done 

to make sure the information was correct. 

5.	 Have each of the small groups share their solutions 

with everyone. If time allows, encourage the small 

groups to present their information in a performancebased style such as a skit, infomercial, song or cheer. 
activity 3.2: learner assessMent 

These questions are about things you learned during this 

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

Q1 

Q2 

Q3 

activity 3.2: learner assessMent 

These questions are about things you learned during this 

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

Q1 

Q2 

Q3 

activity 3.2: learner assessMent 

These questions are about things you learned during this 

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

Q1 

Q2 

Q3 

activity 3.2 learner assessMent 

These questions are about things you learned during this 

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

expeditionary

skills


expeditionary

for life

skills


for life 

I understand the concept of digital information literacy. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can identify three ways to make sure information is 

accurate. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can explain why it is important to know where your 

information comes from. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I understand the concept of digital information literacy.. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can identify three ways to make sure information is 

accurate. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can explain why it is important to know where your 

information comes from. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

expeditionary

skills


for lifefor life

expeditionary

skills


I understand the concept of digital information literacy. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can identify three ways to make sure information is 

accurate. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can explain why it is important to know where your 

information comes from. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

Q1 I understand the concept of digital information literacy. 

Not at all like me
 

A little like me
 

Somewhat like me
 

A lot like me
 

I can identify three ways to make sure information is 

accurate. 

Not at all like me
 

A little like me
 

Somewhat like me
 

A lot like me
 

I can explain why it is important to know where your 

information comes from. 

Not at all like me
 

A little like me
 

Somewhat like me
 

A lot like me
 

Q2 

Q3