Is That a Fact? Lesson Plan

Authenticating Information

Level: Grade 4 to 8

Duration: 45 minutes, plus time for research

About the author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

This lesson plan is part of the Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum program. Funding provided by the Government of Ontario.

This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Overview

This is the first lesson in the Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum series, though it can also be delivered independently. In it, students learn the difference between facts and opinions, and distinguish between opinions that are entirely subjective and ones that can be supported by facts. They then learn how to construct and evaluate arguments. 

Learning Goals

Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…

  • Media are constructions: Arguments use facts to support opinions
  • Media have social and political implications: Arguments can convince people to change their opinions
  • Each medium has a unique aesthetic form: Arguments can be judged based on whether the supporting facts are true and on whether or not they truly support the opinion

Frequent misconceptions to correct: 

  • To be a fact, something has to be true
  • All opinions are equally true

Essential knowledge: Students will learn that…

  • Finding and Verifying: We often need to research extra questions to find out whether or not a fact supports an opinion 
  • Making and Remixing: Arguments are a media form that follows a particular structure to use facts to support opinions

Key vocabulary: Fact, opinion, argument

Performance tasks: Students will be able to…

  • Access sources of information to research a question
  • Use graphic organizers and other tools to develop a well-supported argument
  • Understand the difference between facts and opinions and what makes an opinion more valid or convincing than another
  • Engage with difficult questions, including by questioning their own thoughts and beliefs

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) is available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

Lesson Kit