Resources for Teachers - Authenticating Information

How to tell fact from fake online: A Reality Check Guide

The internet is like a giant library that catalogues millions of new publications every second. But how do you know if what you’re reading is fiction or non-fiction?

Reality Check

This public awareness program, created in partnership between MediaSmarts and the Facebook Canadian Election Integrity Initiative, focuses on authentication of online information.

So Many Choices!

This lesson introduces the students to the first steps in finding information on the Internet.

Introduction to Online Community Engagement

Students often feel detached from the political arena, and this lesson plan we have designed is to help inspire curiosity and action with your secondary students due to the very real connection between early civic engagement and citizens that are active and engaged with politics for their lifetime.

Students are introduced to civic education through a series of activities which will ask them to work together to engage with their larger communities through curiosity, conversation and creation. Current events happening at the neighbourhood, municipal or federal level will act as starting points for each activity.

Reality Check: News You Can Use

In this lesson, students consider the meanings of the term “fake news” and learn facts about the news industry that will help them recognize legitimate sources of news. They use an educational computer game to learn how to track a news story to its original source before evaluating its reliability, then practice the same skills “in the wild” with actual news stories.