This lesson plan will give you an understanding of the importance and use of sources and ways to identify which ones are reliable and trustworthy and why it鈥檚 recommended to use more than one.
Learning outcomes
- Young people will be able to consider the viability and trustworthiness of a source
- They鈥檒l question the origin of a source and analyse whether to believe it whole, in part or not at all
- Young people will consider the authenticity of articles and consider their own unconscious bias
Brief overview
When working out what is real news and what is fake this can be helped by considering the source of the news piece.
This lesson helps young people to look at a variety of sources and to consider whether they think they are trustworthy. It also helps them to consider how different sources can be deemed a trustworthy source for some situations, and less trustworthy for others.
For instance, you may trust the prime minister to give an update on the latest government policy and Wayne Rooney for the offside rule, but it鈥檚 unlikely you would reverse the case.
They have to consider their own bias as they choose particular sources.
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Preparation
- Students require pen and paper
- Download prepared slideshow
- Watch the film Knowing Who to Trust, as suggested in the slideshow
- Download exercise 1 - Trust bingo
- Download exercise 2 if you're using computers
- Download exercise 3 if you're not using computers
- Download the helpsheet for students, if required
Click here to download PDF
There is one video Knowing Who to Trust, which considers different sources.
Exercises
- Exercise 1 is a game of trust bingo - finding the best source for a particular story
- Exercise 2 looks at how different sources tell the same story
- Exercise 3 asks young people to tell the same story from different points of view
Click here to download PDF
Click here to download PDF
Click here to download PDF
Knowing who to trust. video
In this video you'll hear from Amol Rajan, the 大象传媒鈥檚 media editor, journalist Mukul Devichand and Rachel Schraer from 大象传媒 Reality Check.
Recognising fake news. video
In this video you'll hear from Amol Rajan, the 大象传媒鈥檚 media editor, and journalists Natalie Miller, Mukul Devichand and Rachel Schraer from 大象传媒 Reality Check.
Checking the story. video
In this video you will hear from 大象传媒 journalists Natalie Miller, Alex Murray and Rachel Schraer from 大象传媒 Reality Check.
Numbers and the tricks they play. video
When you鈥檙e looking at news stories remember that it鈥檚 not just the words you need to take notice of but the numbers too.
Lesson 1: Real versus fake news. video
This lesson will give you a broad understanding of the term 鈥榝ake news鈥 and the skills and techniques to distinguish between what鈥檚 false or fake and what鈥檚 real.
Lesson 3: Social media, images and data. video
This lesson will demonstrate how to spot whether a social media feed is genuine or fake, to consider the manipulation of images and think carefully about how the addition of numbers to a story may not be a clear as it first seems.