This unit explores the various ways information and ideas about climate change are presented through a variety of media. This includes the evaluation of social media posts, research into climate change issues, and an exploration of contemporary art and artists. This was designed and taught in an honors 9th grade English Language Arts Classroom by Dr. Tavia Quaid in response to student interest in climate change and to reinforce key information literacy skills.

This guide walks you through the "Be Internet Awesome" Digital Citizenship games and curriculum created by Google for grades 2-6 (although older students might also enjoy the games). The games are extremely engaging and can be played on their own--or accompanied by their corresponding lessons. The lesson plans provide everything educators need to begin teaching this content in their classrooms

This guide walks you through the Civic Online Reasoning curriculum from the Stanford History Education Group. Their extensive suite of lessons and assessments helps students acquire skills for thinking critically about the information they find online. The target audience is high school but some lessons can be adapted for younger students. 

This guide walks you through the part of the Common Sense website that focuses on K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum. The lesson plans include everything educators need to begin teaching this content in their classrooms and many have accompanying high-quality videos. There are also engaging games for younger students and an interactive social media simulation for older students. Topics include: media balance & well-being, privacy & security, digital footprint & identity, relationships & comunication, cyberbullying, digital drama & hate speech, and news & media literacy. 

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 sequenced collection, curated by Seattle Public School educators, contains openly-licensed Digital Citizenship resources for K-5 educators.  

In this unit students will reflect on their own media environment, understand how cognitive bias and social media algorithms influence that environment, and learn how to investigate new sources and claims online. These activities culminate in a student-led "social science fair" MisinfoNight event where they present their new skills and knowledge to family members to help them become more savvy information consumers. 

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. 

Students will learn the potential costs and benefits of social media, digital consumption, and our relationship with technology as a society in the three-week lesson. This inquiry based unit of study will answer the following questions:

Essential Question: How can we use science fiction’s ability to predict the future to help humanity?

Supportive Questions 1: What predictions of future development has science fiction accurately made in the past? This can include technology, privacy, medicine, social justice, political, environmental, education, and economic.

Supportive Question 2: What predictions for future development in contemporary science fiction are positive for the future of humanity? What factors need to begin in your lifetime to make these predictions reality?

Supportive Question 3: What predictions for future development in contemporary science fiction are negative for the future of humanity? What factors need to begin in your lifetime to stop these negative outcomes?

In this presentation and discussion for high school students, students will learn a simple definition for algorithm and discuss the ways that algorithms shape social media content. Students will question whether the algorithms in their own social media allow them to pursue their interests or limit them. Students will explore ways to adjust settings, privacy and ad preferences to affect the algorithms in the platforms they use. 

This 6 1/2 minute video introduces students to the pros and cons of using Wikipedia as an information source. There's a Google Form that can be used to check for understanding. Created by Lesley James, Media Literacy & Digital Citizenship Program Supervisor, Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

As we move forward in an age of generative Artificial Intelligence, it's more important than ever to ensure students develop positive habits that keep them informed, safe, and responsible when interacting with technology. Beginning with Washington State education standards, our Digital Literacy team curated learning materials for teachers K-12 to integrate into their curriculum. The linked resource provides classroom teachers with standards-aligned resources for teaching digital agency by grade level. Linked resources are a specially curated list of free lessons available to anyone. We have also suggested a content area connection for each lesson to foster integration across the content areas rather than a stand-alone focus on digital agency.   

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.

The goal of this Framework is to organize the complex and interrelated content areas of Media Literacy & Digital Citizenship into manageable chunks. This is just one way to do it since there is no “official” way!The Framework project was initiated by the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Media Literacy & Digital Citizenship Program in 2022. For more information, contact Program Supervisor, Lesley James, lesley.james@k12.wa.us.

This unit engages students in a variety of activities that analyze and reflect on the role of social media in our everyday lives. This includes options for collaborative group work, reading nonfiction articles, a design challenge and presentations to communicate ideas. The unit also includes a formal writing assessment option that aligns with the Common Core State Writing Standards. Activities can be adapted or combined in a variety of ways to support student reflection and analysis. These lessons were piloted in 9th grade English classes but are suitable or a range of secondary students. 

A team of teachers at Centennial Elementary School in Olympia, WA, developed book boxes to share across the school each month centered on identifying feelings and developing empathy for others. Each month one or two picture book titles are paired with a Word of the Month. The media literacy teacher team developed materials, including a presentation slideshow, a video read-aloud, and discussion questions. The principal and teachers share the books with students, facilitating discussions for students to identify their own feelings and develop a toolbox for regulating emotions. Students use a Likert scale, developed by Jennifer LaGarde and Darren Hudgins, to identify emotional responses and develop vocabulary to describe and deal with their feelings. Titles and SEL connections are shared with families through the school newsletter.Centennial Media Literacy Teacher Team:Heather Slater, teacher-librarianJennifer KnightLuci StaffordAdam PearceShannon Ritter, principal