Real vs. Fake News
Students in 11th and 12th grades will be exposed to a number of social media posts and links to articles in those posts. Through examining the author, user and article, they will learn to find evidence of authentic social media. The articles will be varied from reputable news sources, writers, and others from fake accounts. The purpose of this lesson is to expose students to news articles online and determine their credibility. The lesson is designed to get students thinking about the world around them and how information is circulated online. Ultimately students will learn best practices and effective ways to identify authentic and fake social media.
Lesson Plan
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Open discussion on what makes up real and fake content.
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Read article from Harvard University on spotting fake news and review handout to the left (available for download here).
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Open discussion on the spread on content and consequences of spreading inaccurate information.
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Open or create social media accounts and form groups of three or four. Explore any articles that are available on social media and take notes on handouts.
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Open discussion on your findings
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What did you find interesting on different platforms?
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What genres did you focus on?
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Were there any articles that looked suspicious?
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Break into teams from before and choose one or two stories from this article from Business Insider. Be prepared to share your findings!
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Until the end of class, research more articles from social media and refer to this worksheet on newsworthiness.
Assessment
At the end of the unit, students will do a final presentation on what they took away from the unit and provide examples of what they found. The presentations will be on what they learn about obvious authentic and fake accounts, as well as some that they cannot determine to be reputable sources. There will also be a time to brainstorm with students how to spread authentic news accounts and how to stay vigilant of fake news accounts.
NOTE: ALL students will need to create a social media account for this course. You are permitted to use personal social media accounts. You will be allowed to create fake social media accounts and work in teams!
References:
Gilbert, B. (2019, November 6). The 10 most-viewed fake-news stories on Facebook in 2019 were just revealed in a new report. Business Insider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/most-viewed-fake-news-stories-shared-on-facebook-2019-2019-11
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (2020). How to spot fake news. Retrieved from https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11174
Nagler, C. (2020). 4 tips for spotting a fake news story. Harvard Summer School. Retrieved from https://www.summer.harvard.edu/inside-summer/4-tips-spotting-fake-news-story
PBS Newshour Student Reporting Labs (n.d.). Lesson 1.1: What is newsworthy? Retrieved from https://studentreportinglabs.org/lesson-plans/lesson-1-1-what-is-newsworthy/