Beyond the Scroll: Battling Misinformation
Written by: Stevie Frank
WIth the election season in full swing, the importance of fact-checking has never been more important. Navigating the world of misinformation is a topic we all as educators agree is critical, but how do we do it? Tim Arnold and I start to tackle this question in our 3 part webinar series! We dive into some of the most critical issues facing our classrooms today: misinformation, media literacy, and the importance of critical thinking.
In our quick 10 minute, 3 part webinar series, you’ll learn about a very important non-for-profit company called News Literacy Project. Their mission and vision is to create informed citizens and ultimately voters to become democracy’s watchdogs. This may seem like a daunting task; however, the platform and resources they created are phenomenal!
Here’s a sneak peek into each of our three 10-minute sessions that will not only spark your curiosity but also give you actionable insights you can start using in your classroom tomorrow!
“Rumor Has It: Navigating the World of Misinformation”
The first session in the series, Rumor Has It, is all about getting students excited to uncover the truth. Follow Tim as he demos how to navigate the website Rumor Guard, created by the News Literacy Project, as he shares current, real-world examples of misinformation. Rumor Guard does a fantastic job of breaking down trending falsehoods, explaining why they’re either true or false, and offering visual examples to help students understand the process. What makes this website the most appealing is how timely the events are. The site changes daily to represent real-world scenarios that students in your very class already may have seen in their doom scrolling.
“How do we help students sift through the noise and form well-rounded, fact-based opinions?”
“Campaigns & Clickbait: Critical Thinking in Election Coverage”
Next up, we dive into the frenzy of election season in Campaigns & Clickbait. Election time is notorious for an influx of not only information but also misleading, biased, or flat-out false content. How do we help students sift through the noise and form well-rounded, fact-based opinions? This session gives educators background information on the News Literacy Project and resources to help support teaching these critical concepts.
“The Checkology Advantage: Empowering Critical Thinkers”
Finally, we wrap up with The Checkology Advantage, a free tool from The News Literacy Project. In this session, we give a live demo of the powerful Checkology platform, an online tool designed to teach students the ins and outs of media literacy. Checkology hosts dozens of lessons. A few to showcase are focus algorithms, biases, and how news is constructed, this tool will help students become more discerning about what they consume online.
For more information: visit newslit.org.
Resources
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