The Close Reading Media Across the Curriculum program provides teachers with a comprehensive approach to fostering critical thinking skills at all grade levels, with particular attention to addressing misinformation, propaganda and hate through teaching students how to apply close reading skills to media.
In this lesson students explore the relationship between athletes and advertising through a number of different activities.
7.0 use library and electronic research tools to collect information on a given topic [GCO 2]
8.0 select and integrate information from various print and electronic sources or from several parts of the same source
[GCO 2]
26.0 work cooperatively with team members to develop and carry out a plan, and troubleshoot problems as they arise [GCO 2]
In this lesson, students play the educational card game #ForYou: A Game About Algorithms and use it as a prompt to learn about and discuss the role that algorithms, data collection, and machine learning play in their lives. After playing, they analyze the game as an example of a serious game and then design their own serious game to communicate some of what they have learned in the lesson.
In this lesson, students learn about the ways in which news coverage of an event or issue can be biased, focusing on the aspects of the medium and industry that can lead to bias. They read an article that examines the coverage of mental illness in the news and then participate in an interactive activity that lets them compose their own article. Finally, students find and analyze a recent news story on a mental health topic and write a letter either praising or critiquing it.
The Northwest Territories has a single curriculum for kindergarten that is based on play-based learning as outlined in the document NWT Right from the Start: Early Childhood Development Framework and Action Plan.
In this lesson, students consider the ways in which misinformation can have an impact on history and politics. After discussing a number of historical examples of misinformation, they examine the ways in which news sources may be biased and use an interactive online game to practice skills in getting more context on a story. Finally, students read a current news story and use what they have learned to find the context they need to understand it.
In this lesson, students consider the ways in which our own biases can prevent us from being objective. They then learn ways to recognize and account for our biases and practice these by playing an interactive online game. Finally, students learn about how public service campaigns can change social norms and create their own PSA to promote ethical sharing of online information.