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Graphic
Other

Flickr: Critical Thinking Skills Poster

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A downloadable critical thinking skills poster based on the original six levels of Bloom's taxonomy.
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Handout
Other

Eastport Elem. Sc.: Mrs. Donahue's Site: Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion

For Students 4th - 6th Standards
This is a teacher resource for students that focuses on how to separate fact from opinion. Includes questions to ask about a piece of text, examples, and links to online exercises to try.
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: News Debate Battle of the Binge

For Teachers 7th Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text arguing for and against competitive eating contests. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
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Lesson Plan
Other

Channel One: Lesson Plan: How to Spot Fake News

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
A lesson plan explores the problem of fake news sites, featuring a Channel One News video about the issue. What are the best approaches to decoding the real from the fake?
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Unknown Type
E Reading Worksheets

E Reading Worksheets: Fact and Opinion: Reading Test 3

For Students 4th - 6th Standards
A 25-question quiz where students must identify statements as fact or opinion. Results can be printed, saved, or emailed.
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Article
NPR: National Public Radio

Npr: Fake or Real? How to Self Check the News and Get the Facts

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Read a story on Facebook. Read the headline and think it's too good to be true, but it looks like it's from a news site. Experts offer tips to help sniff out fact from fake. One of today's greatest challenges in a media bombarded culture.
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PPT
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Facts

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This lesson clarifies what writers mean when using the term "facts." This tutorial lesson shares a short slideshow with the lesson's content.
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PPT
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Judging and Reacting: Tutorial

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
In this slideshow tutorial, students will review the critical reading techniques of making judgments and forming reactions about what they read. Explanations are given about drawing conclusions, responding to literature, and making...
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Article
Other

Critical Thinking: Basic Questions & Answers

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
An interesting interview with Richard Paul discussing what critical thinking means. There are many insights as to what critical thinking involves and how it should be used in the classroom.
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Article
Other

Becoming a Critic of Your Thinking

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This resource presents an article that explains why it is important to be someone who is a good thinker. Provided are four strategies for critical thinking.
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Activity
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Evaluate the Strength of Evidence [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This resource provides a downloadable worksheet that will assist students after they read a piece of nonfiction. Students will answer guided questions to help them determine the strength of evidence used when supporting a claim....
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Handout
Other

Asa Education: Critical Thinking Skills in Education and Life

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
There are many links and resources on this site dealing with critical thinking. It includes everything from the characteristics of critical thinkers to the logic of critical thinking.
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Activity
Other

Learn the net.com: Evaluating Online Information: Fact or Fiction

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
How can you determine if online information is fact or fiction? Use this online article to become more computer literate in this topic. Includes a video.
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Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Analyze an Argument: Practice 1 (English I Reading)

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Analyze the quality, relevance, and credibility of evidence that supports or opposes an argument.
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Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Make Inferences in Informational/expository Text

For Students 7th - 9th Standards
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] By using different organizational patterns as guides, learn how to make subtle inferences and draw complex conclusions while distinguishing factual claims.
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Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Make Inferences in Informational/expository Texts

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Use different organizational patterns as guides for summarizing and forming an overview of different kinds of expository text while distinguishing factual claims from...
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Unknown Type
Other

Puzz.com's 1001 Best Puzzles: Brain Training Games: Analogies

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
These four self-scoring analogy tests include a number of open ended analogies to challenge your logic skills.
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Article
PBS

Pbs News Hour: Column: Can Librarians Help Solve the Fake News Problem?

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Was it only a matter of time that people would begin buying into any news, even when it was actually fake? This writer felt it was no surprise. Find out why and how a librarian can help educate students how to best vet resources for...
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Unit Plan
Curated OER

Mc Graw Hill: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Think Critically

For Students 5th - 7th Standards
Learn how to think critically by distinguishing between facts, opinions, and reasoned judgments. Practice exercise included.
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Lesson Plan
University of Illinois

University of Illinois Extension: Is It What I Think or What I Know? (Fact or Opinion)

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
This short lesson provides a fairly simple way to teach young learners the difference between fact and opinion.
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Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How to Choose Your News

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Damon Brown gives the inside scoop on how the opinions and facts (and sometimes non-facts) make their way into the news and how the smart reader can tell them apart. [4:48]
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Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How False News Can Spread

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
In previous decades, most news with global reach came from several major newspapers and networks with the resources to gather information directly. The speed with which information spreads now, however, has created the ideal conditions...
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Handout
Other

Radcab: Your Vehicle for Information Evaluation

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
How do you know you are using a trustworthy source when writing a research paper? Use this acronym for easy questions to ask yourself to make sure you have a reliable source. Click on each one for further details.
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Unit Plan
BBC

Bbc Skillswise: Fact or Opinion

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
As part of the BBC's Skillswise unit, this resource covers the basics of separating fact from opinion through a worksheet, a factsheet, and a quiz.