Jennifer Connell was called the “Worst Aunt Ever” on Twitter after she sued her cousin’s son over a broken wrist. The story, full of misinformation and inaccuracies, went viral. This video and accompanying lesson plan helps students learn how to fact-check a sensational story using a technique called lateral reading.

This lesson is not under an open license; however it is provided free for educational services.

**The resource is published by Common Sense EducationCommon Sense Education has created the Deep Fakes and Democracy lesson plan to educate students on how misinformation influences the Democratic process. Common Sense also has a broader section on Hoaxes and Fakes in its Digital Citizenship Curriculum: https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/hoaxes-and-fakes

Students examine what deepfakes are and consider the deeper civic and ethical implications of deepfake technology. In an age of easy image manipulation, this lesson fosters critical thinking skills that empower students to question how we can mitigate the impact of doctored media content. This lesson plan includes a slide deck and brainstorm sheet for classroom use.

This resource provides a description and links to the original materials for a multi-day unit created by teacher-librarians at Highline Public Schools. The unit shows 9th grade students how to access, analyze, evaluate, and cite information sources.

The information revolution of the 21st century is as significant and transformative as the industrial revolution of the 19th century. In this unit, students – and by proxy their families – will learn about the challenges of our current information landscape and how to navigate them. This unit is split into four modules. These modules can be done sequentially or stand on their own, depending on students’ needs and teachers’ timeframes. In this module (1 of 4), students analyze their own use of online social media platforms and learn how filter bubbles and confirmation bias shape the content of their media environment. 

Identifying Media Bias in News Sources through activites using relevant news sources to answer the following essential question:Why is this important and relevant today?Students are engaging with a growing number of news sources and must develop skills to interpret what they see and hear.Media tells stories with viewpoints and biases that shape our worldviews.Students must become critical consumers of media which is essential for being an informed citizen.

This collection of lessons represent adapted and remixed instructional content for teaching media literacy and specifically civic online reasoning through distance learning. These lessons take students through the steps necessary to source online content, verify evidence presented, and corroborate claims with other sources.

The original lesson plans are the work of Stanford History Education Group, licensed under CC 4.0. Please refer to the full text lesson plans at Stanford History Education Group’s, Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum for specifics regarding background, research findings, and additional curriculum for teaching media literacy in the twenty-first century.

This social media literacy unit introduces students to foundational skills in analyzing images and social media posts. It also reenforces critical thinking questions that can be applied to various forms of media. This unit was taught to 9th grade students but is easily adaptible to a range of secondary classrooms. It was also taught in conjunction with another unit focused on social media platforms and content.

Students will look to multiple sources to verify information they find online and relate this research to the buying of a popular product to research for a scholarly purpose. This lesson is part of a media unit curated at our Digital Citizenship website called "Who Am I Online?"

The students will be able to look to multiple sources to verify information they find online. This lesson is part of a media unit curated at our Digital Citizenship website "Who Am I Online?"

This activity teaches students how to break down different elements of a political cartoon. Students examine how different symbols and images can be combined to convey meaning. Then students analyze a 1902 political cartoon about U.S. expansion overseas and the acquisition of new territories in the Philippines in Cuba. This activity includes a Smartboard Notebook file.

Students analyze James Madison’s notes to understand why delegates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 compromised on equality in order to form a United States government, what steps they later took to create a Bill of Rights, and whose rights were protected and whose were not. Students learn about key efforts to uphold the rights of people in the United States, from the Constitutional Convention in 1787 to examples of participatory journalism today in order to respond to the question: How can we use examples of activism from the past and present to recognize America’s potential for living up to its democratic ideals? Students then analyze artifacts from the Colored Conventions, which was one of the first Black political intellectual movements in the United States to advocate for the rights of people who have been marginalized. Students create an original political pamphlet to raise awareness and inspire action on issues of injustice and inequality today.

Students learn about the efforts of Ida B. Wells and other Black female journalists who used investigative reporting to challenge ideas and people that perpetuated social and political injustices. Students look to Black female journalists today by learning about Natasha S. Alford’s feature stories on race in Puerto Rico, and draw on past and present examples of journalism to help them respond to the unit driving question: How can journalism challenge inequality and injustice? Students use the tenets of investigative reporting to explore the achievements and challenges of the era, then work to shine a light on the possibilities of racial equity by writing and publishing a feature story about an issue of injustice today.