During my internship, I taught grades 4 and 5. I believe that I know those curriculums the best at the moment. The grade 5 English Language Arts Curriculum consists of various indicators that can be reached through educating our students with digital literacy.
CR5.2
View and evaluate, critically, visual and multimedia texts identifying the persuasive techniques including promises, flattery, and comparisons used to influence or persuade an audience.
a) Gather information from a variety of media (e.g., photographs, web sites, maps, diagrams, posters, videos, advertising, double bar graphs, maps, videos).
b) Select and flexibly use appropriate strategies (before, during, and after) to construct meaning when viewing.
e) Recognize point of view and distinguish between fact and opinion.
f) Identify the values underlying visual messages and recognize persuasive techniques and purposes in oral presentations and various media (e.g., promises, dares, flattery, comparisons).
h) Identify how the language, explicit and implicit messages, and visual and multimedia features (e.g., sound, colour, movement) are used to influence the intended audience.
The internet has some wonderful resources to use to teach children about fact vs opinion as well as fake news. I did actually teach a lesson on fake news when discussing social media with students during my internship.
First, we discussed the differences between a fact and an opinion.
- What is a fact?
- What is an opinion?
- How are they similar?
- How are they different? / how can we tell the difference between a fact and an opinion?
Then, we took this quiz online together. Students performed votes by simply raising their hand, and I clicked on the answer that was most voted for.
After reflecting on the quiz we took, I showed students this video about fake news.
After writing down 3 things they had learned from the video, students put their knowledge to the test by completing this fake news quiz together. the voting/answering process was the same as the first quiz, while of course encouraging students to critically think and discuss why they believed their answer was correct. The debriefing of the quiz was the closure to our lesson.
Upon being educated further with digital literacy in this course, as well as reading a few resources, there are a few things that I would take into consideration in adding or creating a new lesson on.
1. Have students complete the second quiz on their own. This requires all students to engage and think critically for themselves. Some students will often look around the room and vote for whatever their friends vote for. Having said this, the voting process could also be done with students' heads down on their desks or their eyes closed.
2. The article, It's Easier To Call a Fact a Fact When It's One You Like, states that through studies that have been performed, people will often vouch for a statement that they agree with and deem it as a fact. ..."confirmation bias is not just a question of people rejecting facts as false — it can involve people rejecting facts as something that could be proven or disproven at all." (Domonoske, 2018). Though we may not notice, our biases play a large roll when it comes to facts and opinions. I believe that this is an important idea to add into future lessons through discussion and examples, say, with candy or a common interest through the students.
Playing with this same idea, there were some wonderful and profound points made in this comic strip. Perhaps in relation to the above idea, this is where these biases originate from.
People have created a home out of many foundational knowledge keys that has built our individual bias.
The home is quite comfortable, meaning that people are happy and confident in many of their beliefs and biases.
People become scared and - most of the time - act with rejection when they are exposed to new concepts and ideas that do not align with their existing beliefs and biases. This is called the backfire affect. I believe that the backfire affect is important to teach to students, because as we make friends and grow older, we will recognize that we do not always have the same beliefs as others. it is important to continue to be mindful and respect other beliefs and biases.
3. "Bring real-world fake news examples that we encounter everyday into the classroom so that students can be challenged to apply their skills and techniques to authentic situations." (Couros & Hildebrandt, 2018). Perhaps I will disregard that sentence in my last point that I wrote 10 minutes ago! Though using interests has its place, the idea of using real-world fake news examples are more relevant and engaging. students in fifth grade also know a lot more than one may think about the real world, I remember when I taught the students about the government and the elections, the students were so engaged with the topic because it was relevant to their lives, especially in their families. Couros and Hildebrandt's article reminded me of how beneficial and engaging using real-world examples can be.