Digital Skills for Democracy: Assessing online information to make civic choices
In this activity, students :
- think about the importance of making sure they have trustworthy information before they make a decision on a political or electoral issue
- explore a series of scenarios designed to teach five strategies for verifying information: find the original, verify the source, check other information, read factchecking articles, and turn to places you trust
- reflect on the impact of false and misleading information in politics
Framing the News
In this lesson, students consider the idea that a news source can be “accurate but misleading” through the concept of framing. Students learn about the different ways that news stories may be framed, identify examples of framing in a news story, then find and evaluate examples of framing in news stories on a particular issue.
Writing the News
In this lesson, students will write a news article by developing ‘lede paragraphs’ and by using the ‘inverted pyramid’ model. Once this is done, they will be given time during class to select topics, conduct research, write their articles and proof read and peer edit their own and other’s works.Crime in the News - Lesson
In this lesson students explore the commercial and ethical issues surrounding the reporting of crime in televised newscasts.
Helping kids cope with media coverage of war and traumatic events
The intense media coverage that accompanies traumatic events, such as war, acts of terrorism and natural disasters, can be very disturbing. Certain young people are particularly vulnerable and some can be seriously distressed simply by watching replays of such events.Parents, educators, health practitioners and others who work with kids can help to lessen anxieties arising from the coverage of catastrophic events.