Cover lesson · RE · Year 9 · Intermediate

Evaluating religious websites

DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content

Name: Class: Date:

Cover teacher — you need no subject knowledge

Print: this sheet and the stimulus sheet “Three websites on the Five Pillars of Islam”, one of each per pupil. No computers are needed. Where computers are available, pupils may compare against the official organisation sites listed at the foot of the stimulus sheet.

Run: 5 min — explain that we are judging websites, not judging anybody’s religion · 8 min — read all three extracts · 15 min — complete the evaluation grid · 10 min — complete the corrections table · 8 min — write the recommendation · 4 min — read the corrections aloud so no pupil leaves believing Website B.

Collect: this sheet with the grid, the corrections table and the recommendation completed.

One ground rule to state at the start: we criticise the website, never the believer. A careless webpage is the webpage’s fault.

What you are doing

Three websites claim to explain the Five Pillars of Islam. One is a national Muslim organisation’s education page, one is an anonymous blog and one is a shop. You will score all three against the same criteria, correct the false statements you find, and then recommend one page for a Year 7 pupil to use — with reasons.

You are not deciding whether a religion is true. You are deciding which page tells you accurately what its followers actually do.

Step by step

8 min — Read all three extracts on the stimulus sheet, including the small print above each one about the author and the date.
15 min — Complete the evaluation grid. Score each criterion 0, 1 or 2 and write the evidence that earned the score.
10 min — Complete the corrections table. Website B contains four clear factual errors. Find them and write the accurate version using Website A.
8 min — Write your recommendation for a Year 7 pupil in the space provided.
5 min — Swap and check against the success criteria. Add one criterion your partner missed.

Evaluation grid

Score: 0 = not there at all, 1 = partly, 2 = fully. Then write the evidence.

Criterion	A	B	C	Evidence for your lowest score
A named author with a stated role
A date written or reviewed
Written by, or with, people of that faith
Purpose is to inform, not to sell or to provoke
Claims are precise enough to check
A way to contact them or report an error
Total out of 12

Corrections table

Website B makes four statements that are simply wrong. Quote each one, then write the accurate version.

What Website B says	What is actually the case

Your recommendation

Write 100–150 words to a Year 7 pupil. Name the page you recommend, give two reasons based on your grid, and warn them about one specific problem with each of the other two pages.

Success criteria

I judge each page on author, date, purpose and checkability, not on how nice it looks.
I quote evidence from the page for every low score I give.
I correct all four of Website B’s factual errors accurately, using the reliable page as my source.
I explain why a page that is selling something is a weak source even when parts of it are true.
My recommendation names one specific weakness in each rejected page, not a general complaint.

If you finish early

Website C is factually correct in places. Write 60 words on why “partly correct and trying to sell you a hamper” is still a bad source for homework.
Write the four-line footer you would add to Website B to make it usable: author, role, date reviewed, and how to report an error.
Pick a different faith from the official organisation list on the stimulus sheet. Write the three questions you would ask of any page about it before you trusted a single sentence.