English
Teaching Resource

Break the Fake: What’s real online?

By Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts Last updated 2024/05/27

Description

This tailored instructional content guides educators in facilitating a lesson where students confront the challenges of discerning genuine from false online information. Through structured steps, students learn to verify online content and then creatively synthesize their understanding by designing a poster that underscores the importance of critically evaluating digital information. The lesson’s outcomes encompass acquiring practical online verification skills, fortified by a grasp of media literacy tenets like media as constructs and unique aesthetic qualities per medium. Additionally, essential digital literacy concepts are covered, including the networked and shareable nature of digital media, their real-world impact, and the role of tools in shaping digital experiences. Students culminate the lesson by producing a media text, consolidating their skills and awareness within a dynamic digital landscape.

Curriculum Connection

A1. Transferable Skills A2. Digital Media Literacy
This lesson seamlessly aligns with the Ontario Language Curriculum, providing educators a valuable resource for guiding students. It empowers students to navigate the complexities of online information authenticity, building transferable communication skills within diverse cultural, social, linguistic, and domain-specific contexts (A1.1). As students learn the crucial steps of verifying online information, they also delve into research and information literacy, acquiring the ability to assess, gather, and utilize information while considering multiple perspectives (A2.3).
Grade(s): 3 4 5
Topic(s): ComprehensionMultimodal Literacy

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