Lesson Plan

Where Do You Get Your News?

Grade Level: 6-12

Length: 45-60 minutes

DE Domain: VAR

Students conduct research to evaluate the credibility of news or information on the internet.

The practice of truth-seeking, including making sense of information and evaluating its credibility, is critical to forming sound judgments and making good decisions. This student task encourages students to demonstrate a truth-seeking mindset when presented with convincing information on the internet.

VAR.4 – Recognize, practice, and demonstrate a truth-seeking mindset.

Lesson:

Explain and define truth-seeking for students.

Suggested Discussion Questions:

Truth-seeking helps us to try to see the world as it actually is, rather than as we hope it might be. When we are using a truth-seeking mindset, we ask questions and challenge assumptions—both our own and those of others. We recognize that the information we have might be incorrect or incomplete and we take action to learn more. In this lesson, we will practice using a truth-seeking mindset to understand and evaluate the credibility of the information we read online.

Have students choose an online source of news or information that they respect and visit frequently. This could be a social media account, a tv show or podcast, a newspaper, a website or something else. Then, have students focus on a particular post, infographic, headline/article, or episode from that source.

Students conduct research to investigate the reliability of the information in the piece of media they picked.

 

Suggested research questions:

  • Can you identify the original source of the information presented and if so, what do you know about them?
  • What is the date of when this was written or created (this may be different from when it was posted)? Is it recent?
  • Are there other sources reporting similar information? If yes, what are those sources?
  • Are there other sources reporting a different perspective on the same topic? If yes, what are those sources?
  • What is the purpose of the post/article/episode? To entertain? Educate? Encourage action?
  • Who owns, funds, or hosts the account/website/news source?

After conducting research, students evaluate the source on its degree of credibility. Consider using a simple rating scale like the one below, and have students explain the rationale for their rating.

0 = not enough information to say

1 = not credible

2 = credible

Students write or discuss their takeaways.

 

Suggested discussion or reflection questions:

  • As you learned more about where you get your news and information, did anything surprise you?
  • What in your findings either validated your opinions of this news source or made you update your thinking about it?
  • What advice would you encourage others to consider when reading or sharing a social media post, article, graphic or podcast?

Differentiation:

Research can be completed as an individual, partner, or group task.

News/information topics can be geared towards a specific content area.

If students do not have a go-to source for nes or information, teachers can assign sources that are aimed at younger audiences (i.e. not network news or standard news publications)

Optional extensions:

Read and discuss this blog post about a 2019 Stanford study that found that 96% of high school students erroneously assumed data on a website was accurate and objective without questioning who created it or who was backing it.

Have students conduct an audit of the social media accounts they follow. To consider:

  • What percentage of those accounts deliver information content (about current events, health, politics or government, etc.)?
  • For the accounts that deliver informational content, have students rate how credible they think each account is, using the scale from the lesson.

Collaborate with students to build a “credibility” rubric: what do they think needs to be true for a source to be considered credible?

Stay informed and join our mailing list