Important keywords: source, trustworthy, reliable, evaluate, verify

What do I have to do?

In this project you are going to research the life of a celebrity – somebody famous in music, sport, film, art, politics, comedy or other area. Besides learning more, the task aims to get you thinking critically.

Think of yourself as wearing a pair of glasses that improves your ability to judge fact from opinion, and read between the lines. These critical thinking glasses help you to read into what is said, and not said; in other words, where the information is trying to get you to think a particular way, that you may not even be aware of.

Task 1 – Use any mind mapping tool (i.e. Google drawing, Popplet, Padlet, Coggle) to brainstorm a celebrity or famous person you admire or would like to meet. Copy in a picture, label them by their real name (and stage or celebrity name, birthday, age, the country they live in and where they were born).

Task 2 – Around the picture, brainstorm as much as you know about the celebrity (or think you know), including what you have heard and read, your own beliefs and views, and any experiences you connect with them.

Task 3 – Pause now and think about the information you have already. Highlight in red everything you know to be a fact, that is, you could back up your claims (the statements you have made). Then, highlight in blue any information that is mainly opinion, or your beliefs and feelings. Although they are real and personal to you, not everyone would share your views, feelings, beliefs, or claims.

Task 4 – Does your brainstorm support more ‘blue’ (opinion) than ‘red’ (fact)?

Task 5 – To make your claims in ‘red’ more trustworthy, they need to be verifiable. Have a good read of this support document to help understand some of the words that will be used to check your information.

Task 6 – Find a trustworthy source on the internet to support your claims highlighted in red. The source is the author, publisher or provider of the information. For example: the source of my claim that Taika Waititi won an Oscar can be verified from the Oscar site as well as from RNZ .

Task 7 – Do a general search online to find out more about your celebrity. Fill in your brainstorm or mind map with pictures and claims. Try to be more aware about where your information is coming from. Remember to fill in the source name and website address underneath each claim.

Task 8 – In order to do a check on your work, we want you to compare and contrast two sources in this google doc template.

Task 9 – On your compare and contrast doc, add a screenshot of your brainstorm. In the last row of the compare and contrast table, make sure you complete your summary.

Task 10 – Share your learning by blog post or by having a learning conversation with someone at home, or share with your teacher what you have learnt by doing this project.