Once you find information, become a detective and interview it! Ask these questions:
The Detective Interview:
- “How do you know this?”
- Good answer: “We measured it” or “We watched it happen”
- Not good: “Everyone knows this” or no explanation
- “When did you learn this?”
- For science and technology, newer is usually better
- For history, older sources can be really valuable too
- “Why are you telling me this?”
- Good: To teach you something cool
- Not good: To make you buy something or believe their opinion
- “Is this a fact or what you think?”
- Facts can be proven (like “water freezes at 0°C”)
- Opinions are what people think (like “chocolate is the best flavour”)
- Scientific opinions are what experts think based on evidence, but they might change as we learn more (like “we think there might be life on other planets”)
- “Does this match what I already know?”
- If not, maybe you need to learn more or check if both things can be true
Double-Check Everything:
- Look at more than one place for the same information
- If something sounds too weird to be true, it might not be
- Ask a grown-up you trust if you’re not sure
- Remember that different people can have different opinions, and that’s okay