Misinformation Lessons & Resources
Tools To Help Students Decipher Online AI and Misinformation/Disinformation
Using Lateral Reading Strategies and Recognition of Bias Vulnerabilities
Summary
Navigating The World of Online (Mis)Information (grades 6 to 12) was created by an expert in misinformation and provides lessons that explain practical ways to help students protect themselves and learn to think critically when consuming online content. Information can appear credible when it is not, and as consumers, we need to pay attention to how something we come across online makes us feel. If it grabs our attention, we need to ask why! Then we can choose to critically ignore, switch to lateral reading using a fact-checking approach, and recognize that some sources are much less credible than others. Online information is designed to serve individuals what they have a history of searching for, so relying on a communal web of knowledge and discussing with others to get different perspectives helps us be less vulnerable. It is important to recognize that sources based on personal opinions such as those by influencers and TikTok are less trustworthy than those that follow the rules of credible journalism.
Critical Thinking & Evaluating Information (grades 4 to 12) has lessons that provide an evaluation checklist tool (TRAAP/CRAAP), explain primary and secondary sources, provide practical examples of lateral reading, test ideas using the scientific method, explain the meaning of bias, show the difference between correlation vs causation, and for grades 10-12 there is a research example.