Lesson: Break the Fake: Becoming a Fact-Checker
In this lesson, students learn how to determine if information found online is credible. Students start by considering a series of statements that prompt students to think about how they encounter and share information online and how they react when they see information that may be false. Students then watch four videos that correspond to four handouts about verifying information. They then consider scenarios involving social media posts to help determine the most effective strategies for reacting to misinformation in different situations. Finally, students are given an assignment that requires them to fact-check a claim and create a video about the process. Students are encouraged to use the MediaSmarts Digital Story Maker platform to create their videos.
Grade range: 9
Time Frame
| One class period (75 minutes) | Two or three class periods (150-225 minutes) | Extended Unit | |
| Activities |
Introduction Four Steps to Fact-Checking Correcting Misinformation
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Introduction Four Steps to Fact-Checking Correcting Misinformation
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Introduction
Four Steps to Fact-Checking Correcting Misinformation Assessment Activity: Fact-Checking Video |
Preparation:
- Make sure that you are able to show the embedded videos or that students are able to access the links.
- Make sure that students are able to access the interactive activities.
- Make sure that students can access the Digital Story Maker and the Teen Fact-Checking Network website.
- If you choose to have students to make on-camera videos instead of digital stories, consult the website Alternativeto.net for examples of video editing apps and programs they can explore.
Note: “Becoming a fact-checker” is an online exercise designed to help students determine the validity of information that is presented to them on the Internet. Teachers should check the links that are provided for the activities to ensure they are functioning correctly.
Although we have endeavoured to link only to sites suitable for secondary students, there is always the possibility of encountering potentially offensive materials on, or through, some sites.
A printable version of this lesson is available on the MediaSmarts website.
Learning Outcomes
Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…
Digital media are networked:
- Anyone can publish digital media content
Digital media are shareable and persistent:
- We are all authors and broadcasters as well as consumers of digital media
Interactions through digital media can have a real impact:
- Others rely on us to share good information and correct misinformation
- We can contribute to a better information environment
Key questions:
- How do our choices about online information affect others?
- How can we verify information we see online?
- When is it important to correct or debunk misinformation when we see it?
Essential knowledge: Students will know…
- Finding and verifying: Fact-checking strategies
- Community engagement: Methods of correcting misinformation
Performance tasks: Students will be able to…
- Access: Find essential information online
- Use: Use fact-checking tools and digital storytelling tools
- Understand: Analyze a claim and identify its veracity
- Engage: Verify or correct a claim that is circulating online
Student-friendly outcomes:
- We will learn fact-checking strategies, methods for correcting misinformation, and how everyone can publish and share digital content.
- We will think about how our choices online affect others, how to verify information, and when it is important to correct or debunk misinformation.
- We will find reliable information, use fact-checking and digital storytelling tools, analyze the truth of online claims, and take action to verify or correct information when needed.
Curriculum Connections
Strand A: Literacy Connections and Applications
A1. Transferable Skills
A1.1 Receptive and Expressive Communication
analyze and explain how transferable skills can be used to support communication in various cultural, social, linguistic, and domain-specific contexts, and apply them when reading, listening to, viewing, and creating texts of various forms
A1.2 Student Agency and Engagement
evaluate and explain how transferable skills help them to express their voice, be engaged in their learning, and implement a plan to develop their capabilities and potential
A2. Digital Media Literacy
A2.1 Digital Citizenship
evaluate and explain their rights and responsibilities when interacting online with appropriate permission, and make decisions that contribute positively to the development of their digital identity and those of their communities
A2.2 Online Safety, Well-Being, and Etiquette
conduct research, considering accuracy, credibility, and perspectives, with a focus on misinformation, disinformation, and curated information, to construct knowledge, create texts, and demonstrate learning, while respecting legal and ethical considerations
A2.5 Media, Audience, and Production
demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships between the form, message, and context of texts, the intended and unintended audience, and the purpose for production
A3. Applications, Connections and Contributions
A3.1 Cross-Curricular and Integrated Learning
analyze and explain how the knowledge and skills developed in this course support learning in various subject areas and in everyday life, and describe how they enhance understanding and communication
Strand C: Comprehension (Understanding and Responding to Texts)
C1. Knowledge about Texts
C1.2 Text Forms and Genres
analyze and compare the characteristics of various text forms and genres, including cultural text forms, and provide evidence to explain how they help communicate meaning
C1.6 Point of View
analyze the narrator’s point of view, including limited, omniscient, or unreliable, in a variety of texts, explain how it is communicated, and suggest alternative points of view, giving reasons
C3. Critical Thinking in Literacy
C3.2 Making Inferences
make local and global inferences, using explicit and implicit evidence, to explain and support their interpretations about various complex texts
C3.3 Analyzing Texts
analyze complex texts, including literary and informational texts, by assessing the credibility, reliability, and significance of information and formulating conclusions
C3.5 Perspectives Within Texts
analyze explicit and implicit perspectives communicated in various texts, evaluate any evidence that could show bias in these perspectives, and suggest ways to avoid any such bias
Strand D: Composition (Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts)
D1. Developing Ideas and Organizing Content
D1.2 Developing Ideas
generate and develop ideas and details about challenging topics, such as topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to other subject areas, using a variety of strategies, and drawing on various resources, including their own lived experiences
D1.3 Research
gather and synthesize information and content relevant to a topic, using a variety of textual sources and appropriate strategies; evaluate the currency, quality, bias, and accuracy of information; verify the reliability of sources; and check copyright and cite the sources for all content created by others
D1.4 Organizing Content
classify and sequence ideas and collected information, selecting effective strategies and tools, and identify and organize relevant content, evaluating the choices of text form, genre, and medium, and considering alternatives
D2 Creating Texts
D2.1 Producing Drafts
draft complex texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, persuasive, expository, and informational texts, citing sources, and use a variety of appropriate media, tools, and strategies to transform information and communicate ideas
D2.4 Point of View and Perspective
explain the explicit and implicit points of view, perspectives, and bias conveyed in their texts, evaluate how various audiences might respond, and suggest ways to acknowledge other perspectives
D3 Publishing, Presenting and Reflecting
D3.1 Producing Final Texts
produce final texts using appropriate techniques and tools, including digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect
D3.2 Publishing and Presenting Texts
publish and present texts they have created, using various media and tools, and evaluate how their choices helped them communicate their intended message