Trusted sources
Children and young people should look for information that is reliable, accurate and credible. They should use sources that are transparent about their information, cite their evidence, and avoid bias or misinformation. This:
- is essential for learning accurate and reliable information
- develops critical thinking skills
- avoids spreading mis- or disinformation
- supports stronger research, better arguments and more meaningful conversations.
Examples of trusted sources include:
- BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
- National Geographic Kids: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com
- Common Sense Media: https://www.commonsensemedia.org
- Newsround (BBC): https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround
- Kiddle (a search engine for children by Google): https://www.kiddle.co
- Fact Monster: https://www.factmonster.com.
* Note about Wikipedia (https://www.wikipedia.org)
Wikipedia is a fantastic information tool for school pupils because it offers a vast, easily accessible starting point for research on almost any topic. It involves community verification and collaboration to ensure its sources are accurate (although pupils should double check sources where possible).
Don’t rely on AI!
It’s very tempting to rely on AI, especially the AI summaries that appear at the top of Google search results. However, these summaries do not state how they assessed the sources that they draw from. Worse, when researching during the preparation of this document, some Google AI summaries were based on sources that either weren’t related to what we were searching for or were suspect in other ways.
In short, AI currently isn’t fully reliable, and doesn’t help children and young people be sure of what they find. There is no substitute for searching several sources, and critically thinking about what is found.
