Secondary Students

Questioning Fake News

• 10 Questions for Fake News Detection - From the News Literacy Project:
• Factitious - From JOLT (Innovation in Journalism through Game Design), "a game that tests your news sense." Learn more about Factitious through this NPR article.
• One Gut Check and Four Steps Students Can Apply to Fact Check Information - NPR's Anya Komenetz pulls from work of researcher/author Mike Caufield, who recommends:
  • "Check for previous work: Look around to see if someone else has already fact-checked the claim or provided a synthesis of research. [Some places to look: Wikipedia, Snopes, Politifact and NPR’s own Fact Check website.]
  • Go upstream to the source: Most web content is not original. Get to the original source to understand the trustworthiness of the information. Is it a reputable scientific journal? Is there an original news media account from a well-known outlet? If that’s not immediately apparent, then move to step 3.
  • Read laterally: Once you get to the source of a claim, read what other people say about the source (publication, author, etc.). The truth is in the network.
  • Circle back: If you get lost, or hit dead ends or find yourself going down a rabbit hole, back up and start over."
• How Does Fake News Become News? - From Teaching Tolerance

Downloadable Classroom Posters - Common Sense Education & ISTE