Critical thinking skills in taught in lessons where students debunk stories and news
ReadWriteThink's Student Materials use free browser plug-ins to provide high-quality, interactive resources for the K–12 classroom.
More specifically, this part of the site provides online interactive student materials that the children can use to create and apply to their literacy learning. Each activity has a link to an online learning tool along with an explanation of how you might utilize the tool. An example is as follows:
Dan McDowell has created some very powerful Wiki experiences into very impressive lessons
Denise Daniels wrote "Over the years I have used ePALS to build learning connections with other countries or states. We communicate via email, and sometimes digital video depending on the available technology. We have partnered with students from England, New Zealand, Alaska, Florida, and California. At first it is difficult for the students to find common ground to talk about, but when they do the bonds grow quickly! I truly enjoy this experience with my students. They learn so much about other places, and people; how we differ and what we have in common. They share so much in so many ways: one year we made a movie of our school and neighborhood then sent a copy to our English partners. They returned a similar disk of their school and environment. We watched the movie several times because it was so different and yet so similar. Our most difficult challenge for conferencing has been time differences or scheduling conflicts. We also realized that partnering with New Zealand reduced our time because their summer vacation started during our winter!
I do have the parents sign consent forms for both the ePALS email account, and any video taping. I do this every year, so I guess I think it worth it :)"