Lesson Plans

Lesson plan: How to teach your students about fake news

Fake news is making news, and it’s a problem.

Not only did a BuzzFeed data analysis find that viral stories falsely claiming that the Pope endorsed Donald Trump and that Hillary Clinton sold weapons to terrorists receive more Facebook attention than the most popular news stories from established news outlets, but a false story about child trafficking in a Washington, D.C. pizza restaurant inspired a North Carolina man to drive 5 hours with a shotgun and other weapons to investigate.

This lesson gives students media literacy skills they need to navigate the media, including how to spot fake news.

Subjects

Social studies, U.S. government, civics, journalism

Estimated Time

One 50-minute class

Grade Level

7-12

Introduction

A recent study by Stanford University found an overwhelming majority of students were not able to tell the difference between so-called fake news and real news. Part of the solution involves providing students with the media literacy skills they need to evaluate sources, including social media. With the help of NewsHour Extra, students will explore the problems with fake news and gain confidence exploring the media that they come across every day.

Essential question

How do you know if a news source is reliable?

Warm up activity

Complete the following PBS NewsHour Extra Daily News Story activity with your students: Did fake news influence the outcome of Election 2016? You may also want to show your class Craig Silverman’s story from Buzzfeed, which is the subject of the NewsHour piece.

Procedure

Note: Given time constraints, you may choose to watch the video, read the text or choose which questions you will address with your students.

Main activity

*Note: If you have any questions or concerns, talk with your technology coordinator or administrator and perhaps think about sending an email home letting parents know you are teaching important media literacy skills. There are many wonderful resources to help teachers learn about media literacy. Here are just a few to check out: The News Literacy Project, NAMLE, Media Education Lab, Project Look Smart and Center for News Literacy.

Extension Activities

Fake news might be a case of history repeating itself. Check out the role fake news has played in U.S. history in this Washington Post piece : Fake News? That’s a very old story.

: Who are some of the people behind fake news? What would make a person want to create a fake news story? This Eastern European teenager says he’s just giving people what they want and making a lot more than the average yearly income of $5,000 in his hometown. Take a look at this NBC News story: Fake news: How a partying Macedonian teen earns thousands publishing lies

We also recommend Full Frontal with Samantha Bee’s piece on ‘Fake News, Real Consequences’ but for more mature high school students. Be sure to preview before you show your class.

By Victoria Pasquantonio, PBS NewsHour education editor and 13-year social studies and English teacher.