Motives and Methods: Building Resilience to Online Misinformation in Canada

MediaSmarts designed the Motives and Methods research project to better understand how Canadians check and share information online. This study, which included a survey of 5,000 Canadians and interactive focus groups, builds on MediaSmarts' successful Break the Fake (BTF) program. It looks at changes in participants’ fact-checking after watching a BTF video, along with their sharing habits, frequency of fact-checking, and confidence in their skills. Based on our study findings, we provide recommendations for designing effective video interventions that build citizen resilience to misinformation in Canada. This research shows that digital media literacy education works and encourages a wide range of people to check the accuracy of online content, especially before sharing it.

Media Safety Tips: Middle Childhood (6-9 years old)

Media risks

The risks that kids encounter in media fall into four categories:

Content risks, where kids are exposed to or engage with harmful content such as violence, hate, or sexualized media; 

Conduct risks that come from what kids do or how they interact with other users; 

Consumer risks related to money, advertising, and data collection; 

Online Commerce

Kids don’t just see ads in media: more and more, they buy things right on their screens. This section looks at the ways that young people shop online and how they can be manipulated into spending.

Television Newscasts - Lesson

"Television Newscasts" helps students develop a critical awareness of how television news is shaped and manipulated and how they, as audience members may be affected by this.

Outcome Chart - British Columbia - Physical and Health Education Grade 3

This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the BC Physical and Health Education Grade 3 curriculum, with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.

Outcome Chart - Ontario - Mathematics 4

Data

Overall Expectations:

Data literacy: manage, analyse, and use data to make convincing arguments and informed decisions, in various contexts drawn from real life

Specific Expectations:

D1.1 sort sets of data about people or things according to two and three attributes, using tables and logic diagrams, including Venn, Carroll, and tree diagrams, as appropriate

Video Production of a Newscast - Lesson

In this lesson, students will produce a 20 minute news broadcast.

Outcome Chart - British Columbia - Social Studies Grade 8

This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the British Columbia, Grade 8 Social Studies curriculum, with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.

Outcome Chart – Nunavut - Entrepreneurship 12

Strand: Nunavusiutit

Overall Expectations: Module 1: E-Commerce and Venture Planning

Specific Expectations:

Unit 5

Students will identify the technical, security, and business risks involved with implementing e-commerce in a small business (e.g., viruses, hackers, credit card fraud).

Alberta - English Language Arts 1

This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the Alberta, Grade 1 English Language Arts curriculum, with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.