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Health Source Credibility Checklist

Run the Health Source Credibility Checklist MicroSim Fullscreen

You can embed this MicroSim in your own course website with this iframe:

<iframe src="./main.html" width="100%" height="494px" scrolling="no"></iframe>

About this MicroSim

Health Source Credibility Checklist is an interactive MicroSim for this health-education textbook.

Students identify the five characteristics of a valid health information source (expertise-based, evidence-based, transparent funding, regularly updated, no product-selling conflict) and exemplify each with a realistic source type.

Use the controls in the panel below the drawing to interact with the model, then talk through what changed and why. The MicroSim is width-responsive and can be embedded in any course page with the iframe shown above.

Bloom's Taxonomy level: Understand (L2) — identify, summarize, exemplify

Lesson Plan

Audience

This MicroSim is designed for Grades 6-8. For the K-3 bands the teacher typically drives the activity on a shared screen; older students can explore the MicroSim independently.

Learning Objective

Students identify the five characteristics of a valid health information source (expertise-based, evidence-based, transparent funding, regularly updated, no product-selling conflict) and exemplify each with a realistic source type.

This activity targets Bloom's Understand (L2) (identify, summarize, exemplify).

Suggested Use (about 10 minutes)

  1. Warm up (2 min). Ask students what they already know about the topic and let one volunteer describe what they see on the screen.
  2. Model it (3 min). Demonstrate the interaction once, thinking aloud so students hear the reasoning behind each choice.
  3. Guided practice (3 min). Invite students to try the interaction and to predict what will happen before they act.
  4. Discuss (2 min). Ask why the result came out the way it did, connecting the on-screen result back to the learning objective above.

Check for Understanding

Have each student (or pair) explain their result in one sentence, using the vocabulary from this chapter. Look for reasoning that matches the Understand-level objective rather than a lucky guess.

Specification

The full specification below was extracted from Chapter 11: Health Influences and Information Literacy.

Type: infographic
**sim-id:** health-source-credibility-checklist<br/>
**Library:** p5.js<br/>
**Status:** Specified

Bloom Taxonomy: Understand (L2)
Bloom Taxonomy Verb: identify, summarize, exemplify

Learning objective: Students identify the five characteristics of a valid health information source (expertise-based, evidence-based, transparent funding, regularly updated, no product-selling conflict) and exemplify each with a realistic source type.

Layout: Five labeled checklist cards, one per characteristic, each with a short icon; below, six example source cards (e.g., "A government public health agency page," "An influencer's paid product post," "A hospital patient-education page," "A blog selling a supplement it also recommends").

Interactive controls: Learner clicks an example source card, then clicks each checklist characteristic it does or does not meet; a running score panel shows how many characteristics that source meets; clicking a "Reveal Verdict" button shows a short explanation of whether the source is generally valid, generally not valid, or mixed, and why.

Default parameters: No source pre-selected; checklist criteria always visible at the top.

Instructional Rationale: An Understand-level objective calls for concrete worked examples rather than animation; a checklist-and-verdict structure lets learners see the specific criteria applied step by step to real source types before making a judgment.

Implementation notes: p5.js. Responsive canvas that stacks checklist cards above example cards on narrow screens.

References