This deliberation will have students view short video clips and news articles to analyze the effect of fake news on traditional media outlets, the reasons and incentives for purveyors of “fake news,” and provide students with resources to strengthen their media literacy skills. Students will use this information to develop strategies to identify “fake news” and improve their news literacy.
Fact Finder: Your Foolproof Guide to Media Literacy
Are your students savvy searchers? Can they spot the difference between a straight news article and an opinion piece? Do they recognize bias in their sources … or in themselves?
Tackle these challenges and more using Fact Finder’s 11 flexible, multimedia lesson plans. Eight skill-building lesson plans introduce essential media literacy concepts through engaging explainer videos and colorful infographics that help students revisit, retain and apply the key concepts. The accompanying News or Noise? Media Map provides a collection of examples ready for students to analyze and evaluate with the support of worksheets and discussion prompts. Three reporting lesson plans help students take what they’ve learned and apply it to their own content creation, inspired by the issues that matter to them.
NewsFeed Defenders
NewsFeed Defenders is a challenging online game that engages players with the standards of journalism, showing you how to spot a variety of methods behind the viral deception we all face today. Join a fictional social media site focused on news and information, and meet the challenge to level up from guest user to site admin. This can only be achieved by spotting dubious posts that try to sneak in through hidden ads, viral deception, and false reporting. In addition to maintaining a high-quality site, you are charged with growing traffic while keeping the posts on topic.
Media Literacy: Making Sense of the 24/7 News Cycle
A free press is essential to the success of a democracy. As the media has evolved over time to include radio, television, internet and now smart phones and social media apps, the ability in “being capable to read them” needs examining. This lesson guides students through analysis of social media posts, the definition of terms relevant to the media, and provides tools for identifying quality sources for examination of current political issues. This lesson accompanies the Talking Turkey: Taking the ‘Dis’ Out of Civil Discourse program as well as YLI and American Evolution’s First Freedom Wall. Free registration is required to access the lesson plan.
Understanding Fake News
In this lesson, students learn about the phenomenon of “fake news,” how it spreads quickly on the internet, and how to recognize and distinguish it from other types of information.
Media Literacy Booster Pack
Staying fresh and fluent in today’s media landscape isn’t easy. This collection of resources offers tools to tackle eight pressing challenges, from recognizing bias and propaganda to leveraging your role as a media contributor.
Free registration is required to access this resource.
Evaluating Election Ads
In this activity, students examine some of the techniques political campaigns use in ads to persuade voters, including assertions of fact and appeal to emotion. Students evaluate these techniques over time by comparing and contrasting historic and contemporary political ads.
Fake News – What’s the Big Deal?
Students watch a video in which teens reflect on the concept of fake news, and then discuss their own experiences with misinformation.
The Fundamentals of News
Students learn why news matters and how to distinguish between the different media-related terms they might hear being thrown around.
Source: Can I Trust the Creator?
Students dig into an article to determine whether they can trust the story by investigating its producers and the sources within. In doing so, they gain tools for evaluating news articles outside of class for accuracy and reliability.