Lessons

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Media literacy

Start with metacognition: Understanding confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance is foundational to teaching media literacy. Teaching students how to recognize fake news is pointless unless they understand our strong, universal tendencies to focus on information that bolsters our existing beliefs and to engage in mental gymnastics to align our beliefs with our behavior.
Confirmation bias
- "What Is a Confirmation Bias?" (Article)
- Video on confirmation bias: "Why Do our Brains Love Fake News?" (Sign into your LAUSD Google account before trying to view this video.) This is a kid-friendly video.
Cognitive dissonance

The New York Times: Year-End Roundup, 2016-2017, All Our Lesson Plans, All in One Place

Search by subject to find media lesson plans in your area of interest. You may be able to access this without a subscription. If a subscription is needed, you may access the NYT via your Los Angeles Public Library card (getting a Teacher card for LAPL is highly recommended!). Follow the following path to activate a NYT subscription with your library card:

Go to lapl.org
On the home page, click on "Collections and Resources."
Then select "Research and Homework."
Select "Newspapers" from the resources menu and check whether you are accessing from inside the LAPL or from your home/office.
Under the browse results, click on the letter "N."
Select "New York Times Digital" and follow the prompts for access.
Students can access the New York Times with their own library cards.

Start the Day with Oatmeal

To use The Oatmeal: "You're Not Going to Believe What I'm Going to Tell You" in your class, try this extending activity:
- Ask students to choose ONE of the ideas presented and read the sources referenced beneath. (The links to the sources are under the comic frame which shows the statement).
  - You may have heard that George Washington had wooden teeth.
  - Napoleon Bonaparte was not short.
  - Thomas Crapper did not invent the flush toilet.
  - Houseflies live for about a month.
  - Humans don't explode in a vacuum.
  - There is zero evidence Jesus Christ was born on Dec. 25th.
  - The Pledge of Allegiance was written by a socialist.
  - Six of the seven justices who voted in favor of Roe v. Wade were Republican appointed.
- Then, write how your ideas about the topic changed. Did the sources cited challenge your beliefs? Did you experience the "backfire effect"? Have you seen anyone experience the "backfire effect"?
- Do you think knowing about the "backfire effect" will help when you are presented with information that challenges your ideas?

Science

Climate change ---- Vaccines ---- Evolution ---- Darwinism ---- Flat-Earth ----Moon Landing ----etc.

Resource folder - a small collection of sources
Climate Change-
- A look at the data from the National Climate Assessment website
- Students can analyze the charts and graphs depicted in the Google Slides
- Students can be encouraged to develop questions for further investigations.
- Students can work in groups to dissect the sections found in the National Climate Assessment report.
  - Sample Collaborative Presentation from previous year

Game to Identify Fake News

Play "Factitious" as a whole class. Give students time to play in small groups or individually. Factitious is a Tinder-like fake news identifying game devised by the American University JoLT team. The game uses articles gathered from the internet. See the About section to learn more.

Important concepts taught through the game:

Examining the source
Detecting parody
Detecting "voice" (does the article sound objective?)
Looking for attribution (naming the people quoted in the article)

Google Sites

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