Lesson Plan

Recognize and Understand the Impacts of Biases

Grade Level: 6-12

Length: 60+ minutes

DE Domain: CB

  • Students will learn to recognize and understand impacts of biases on decision-making

This 45-minute lesson deepens high school students’ understanding of cognitive biases through media analysis and collaborative learning. By examining real-world examples of bias in news and media, followed by structured group analysis of bias scenarios, students develop practical skills in identifying multiple types of cognitive biases and their effects on decision-making. The lesson’s emphasis on practical application and peer discussion helps students build awareness of how biases influence both media consumption and personal decision-making, preparing them to recognize and actively resist various forms of cognitive bias in their daily lives.

CB.1- Identify cognitive biases and heuristics and the role they play in our decision-making and our views of the world.

CB.2- Recognize and actively resist overconfidence bias and bias blind spot.

CB.3- Recognize and actively resist hindsight bias.

CB.4- Recognize and actively resist present bias.

CB.5- Recognize and actively resist the framing effect.

CB.6- Recognize and actively resist the availability heuristic.

CB.7- Recognize and actively resist the anchoring effect

CB.8- Recognize and actively resist the tendency to ignore measures of likelihoods and relevant data when making judgments.

CB.9- Recognize and actively resist confirmation bias.

CB.10- Recognize and actively resist the tendency to overemphasize or overextend personal attributes when making judgments.

CB.11- Recognize and actively resist polarized thinking and in-group bias.

Lesson:

Engage:

Setting the Stage (5 minutes)

  • Begin by asking the students: “Have you ever come across a news article or advertisement that made you question its fairness or objectivity?”
  • Engage in a brief class discussion about instances where media content might contain biases and how it can influence perceptions.

Activity (15 minutes)

  • Display a news article, online post, or advertisement on a screen (or provide printed copies if possible).
  • Instruct students to analyze the content and identify any potential biases present in the material.
  • Encourage them to consider language, tone, framing, and the potential impact of biases on the audience’s perception.

Conclude the activity by asking the students to reflect on the potential effects of biases in the media on decision-making.

Apply:

Scenario Activity (20 Minutes)

  1. Organize students into groups of 3-5. Each group will need a piece of chart paper and markers for recording their ideas and one bias scenario.
  2. As a group, students will read their scenario and identify what type(s) of biases they notice. When they record the types of bias they find (on the chart paper), they will also include how they know it’s that type of bias. Ex: This scenario shows groupthink bias because even though John has a good idea, he doesn’t share it because it’s different from what his classmates think.
  3. After 10 minutes of analyzing and discussing their scenarios, have students switch to another group’s paper. They will read the other group’s scenario and thoughts. Switch 3- 4 times so that groups can see several scenarios.

Discussion (5 Minutes)

What types of bias did they identify? Were some easier to spot than others?

  • Optional: students can write a short reflection about their experience with bias. Some guiding questions:
    • Did any of the types of bias stand out to them? Why?
    • Have they ever experienced a situation that involved bias? What was it like?

Reflect:

Journal Entry (5 minutes)

  • Reflect on a recent personal experience, news story, or example from your surroundings where biases might have influenced decision-making.
  • Describe the situation and explain how biases could have affected the decisions made.

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