{"id":11824,"date":"2017-02-24T09:02:46","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T13:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/?p=11824"},"modified":"2017-02-24T17:00:10","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T21:00:10","slug":"fighting-fake-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/fighting-fake-news\/","title":{"rendered":"4 resources for fighting fake news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teaching news literacy in the social media age<\/h1>\n

\"digital<\/a>We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the problem of fake news stories and how they might impact our impressions of the world. Imagine: if it’s hard for adults to spot fake news stories, then how hard is it for students?<\/p>\n

Turns out: VERY HARD<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at some resources for helping students determine when a source is truly credible or not.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What’s the problem?<\/h2>\n

A recent study from Stanford University<\/a> (pdf) indicates that middle, high school and college students are easily misled about news and information coming in through various social media channels. According to the study authors, “When it comes to evaluating information that flows through social media channels, [students] are easily duped.”<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

And according to this NPR article<\/a>, more than 80 percent of middle schoolers believe that ‘sponsored content’ are real news stories.<\/p>\n

Why is this a problem?<\/h4>\n

“Michael Lynch, a philosopher who studies technological change, observed that the Internet is \u201cboth the world\u2019s best fact- checker and the world\u2019s best bias confirmer\u2014often at the same time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It’s that second part that’s concerning to many teachers. Our job is to challenge students’ (and our own) biases during the time when student brains are the most open to new perspectives, new ideas and new information. But the social media age has just made that job a little harder.<\/p>\n

So let’s load up on some resources to help you teach your students to find accurate information, manage their social media feeds and make good choices about what to share.<\/p>\n

4 Resources for teaching about fake news<\/h2>\n

1. Analyze fake news stories: what are the tip-offs?<\/h3>\n

PBS Newshour has released this lesson plan geared for students in grades 7-12.<\/a> In it, students explore the benefits and drawbacks of schools blocking access to certain sites as they relate to this issue, and they analyze the most widely shared fake news stories for clues.<\/p>\n

\"fighting<\/a>
Real lesson plan on fake news from PBS Newshour.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Make it real:<\/strong> follow up work with this lesson plan by drafting two lists of 10 news stories talking about your local or state community. In each list, grab a couple true stories from the local newspaper and make up the rest. Give one list as a pre-test and the other after students work through the PBS Newshour lesson plan.<\/p>\n

2. Examine what makes false news so compelling<\/h3>\n

Another great resource comes to us from the School Library Journal. Their Pinterest board <\/a>features many great links and images about helping students learn to recognize fake news. It features gems like this lesson <\/a>and video from TedEd:<\/p>\n