Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts
Level: Kindergarten to Grade 2
Lesson Length: 20-30 minutes, plus time for optional assessment/evaluation and extension activities
Subject Area: English Language Arts, Visual Arts, Ethics and Religious Culture
Lesson Link: https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/break-fake-what’s-frame
If anyone still doubts that youth need to learn how to evaluate online information, those doubts should have been dispelled by a recent hoax perpetrated by the group called the Yes Men. This group, which has a history of staging fake press conferences, decided to draw attention to Canada's position at the Copenhagen conference on climate change by creating a number of fake Web sites purporting to be, among others, the Copenhagen summit site, the Wall Street Journal, and Environment Canada's site. While it didn't take long for Environment Canada to make a statement exposing the hoax, by that time many journalists had reported the story as fact and the story had been widely distributed by wire services.
Sometimes a single search can Break the Fake if a professional fact-checker has already done the work for you.
Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts
Level: Grades 3-5
Lesson Length: 45 minutes, plus time for the assessment/evaluation task
Subject Area: English Language Arts, Visual Arts,
Lesson Link: https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/break-fake-what’s-real-online
Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts
Level: Secondary Cycle Two
Lesson Length: 1-1.5 hours, plus time to do and present the assessment/evaluation activity
Subject Area: English Language Arts, Visual Arts, Ethnic and Religious Culture
Lesson Link: https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/reality-check-news-you-can-use
Quebec Competencies Chart - News Journalism Across the Media: Introduction
To make a custom search engine you will need to be logged in to a Google account. (If you don’t already have one, go to accounts.google.com to sign up.) You don’t have to be logged in to Google to use it. As well, anyone can use a custom search engine once it’s been created, so a whole class can use search engines made with a single account.
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?
The Workshop facilitator guide has been developed to support facilitators who are presenting the Break the Fake, and includes background information about the workshop, advice on preparing and presenting the workshop, a supporting script, Frequently Asked Questions and handouts for participants.
