How to Check If Something Is True for kids

Two Places

How to Check If Something Is True: How can you tell if something is true?

Not all that you read is true. A good reader always checks.

First, ask who says it and how they know. A good source says where its facts came from.

Next, check a second place. A true fact is in more than one good place.

Ask why a thing was made. Is it to teach you, or to sell you something?

A fact is something you can check. An opinion is what a person thinks.

Some tales fool many people. In 1917 two cousins in England took pictures. They seemed to show tiny fairies.

Many people said the pictures were real. So did experts at a camera company.

In 1983 the two women said the fairies were fakes. They were paper cut-outs held up with hat pins.

In 1912 a skull and jaw were found in England. People said it was an early human relative.

But it was a fake. It was a human skull with an orangutan jaw. In 1953 scientists tested the bones and found out.

It fooled scientists for about 40 years. Some were respected scientists. They were fooled too.

So ask who says it. Ask how they know. Look in a second place.

Words to know