Have you heard of the Pacific Northwest tree octopus? It is critically endangered and completely...NOT REAL! This hoax, which started back in 1998, is alive and well and a fantastic way to introduce credibility, accuracy, bias, evidence, and reasoning when researching.
I stumbled across the Pacific Northwest tree octopus hoax while looking for ways to liven up my class discussion on research and source credibility. Every year my middle school students struggle with selecting reliable sources for research projects that offer accurate information, so rather than giving the usual spiel, I decided to lie to my students instead.
Yes, that's right. I lied right to them. But it was for a good cause....
I began by vaguely telling my students that we would be doing some research activities and that I wanted them to look at a website and write down some facts about an endangered animal. (Click here to see the tree octopus website I used.) I tried to make this sound like a real assignment to get them to believe me. The students answered my prepared questions about the Pacific Northwest tree octopus and hilariously, almost all of my students fell for it. Out of seventy or so middle schoolers, only three or four of them questioned me about the existence of the tree octopus!
I was shocked. The setup was perfect...and now all I had to do was reveal the truth. After telling the students to be ready to discuss, I showed them a quick video which revealed the hoax. In the meantime, I was busy videotaping their reactions. Feel free to judge me.
So, after the initial wave of surprise from my students, we held a class discussion about credibility, reliability, accuracy, and evidence for claims. It was a great way to start our topic on research. The following day, I held a lecture on these terms while my students took notes. Then I handed them one of two worksheets with ambiguous figures.
I worded the questions in such a way that led the students to see the pictures the way I suggested, and thus respond to the bias I presented them with. For example, in worksheet A I tell students that the first picture is of a frog, but in worksheet B I tell students that the first picture is a horse. After everyone filled out their worksheets, I had them share their answers with the class. Many of the students were thrown into some confusion about why their peers thought a horse would eat flies and then the lightbulb clicked and they realized I had tricked them once again.
This activity was a perfect segue into the topic of bias in research. We discussed that the way a person views something, can affect how information is shared. So now that my students were thoroughly suspicious of everything I did for the remainder of class, it was time to practice some research skills.
We started by investigating the tree octopus website once more using a credibility checklist I created and discussed the website's lack of evidence to support the claims found in it. We also looked at the importance of using multiple resources, checking the website's domain and author, and looking for bias. Once students felt comfortable with the checklist, we started a more open-ended research activity.
Using a new worksheet, I had students come up with a research question of their choice, find three websites, and determine the reliability, credibility, and accuracy of each. Then, as a class we discussed our results. These research credibility activities were so fun for me, (again, feel free to judge), but I also found my students thoroughly engaged. It took a relatively boring topic and made it interesting and memorable. In fact, I still have students that remind me with a wink, to do my part to save the Northwest Pacific Tree Octopus from extinction.
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