“The Internet is one of the primary information sources of the modern era, making it a necessity for learners to understand how to participate and navigate the networked world.”~NCTE
The reality of a digital age is undeniable, children from their early formative years are now exposed to the internet, they are found on the Web either watching ‘Coco Melon’ on YouTube or surfing an assignment on the net.
My cousin’s three -year old son, is more fully aware of the Internet than I was at 18. This has placed quite a task on parents and teachers to ensure that these little ones don’t get hurt on the Internet or be misled by biased information intended to cause misconceptions about subject matters. With the advent of unlimited access to digital tools and advanced technology, dealing with fake news has become trickier and more difficult to tackle, Deep fakes have also rendered tools like RADCAP, CRAAP, and CARS incapable of meandering through the Web and fishing out fake news.
Developing Critical Literacies: What We Need to Know in a “Fake News” World
According to the NCTE digital literacy framework, learners need opportunities within the curriculum to author multimodal stories to examine power, savvy and civic-minded citizens.
So I am left to ponder how to incorporate this into my curriculum in a way that would be fun and educative at the same time.
And this is what I came up with.
Make it fun and interactive– Children as we all know do have a short attention span, and teaching them digital literacy without games and quizzes would be like walking on muddy water. I realized over time that they tend to retain memories of subjects they had fun learning more, maybe because their adrenaline is heightened and the channels of their heart are open. So, in other to make my class lively I will incorporate fun tools like SPOT the troll, Brake the fake, and fake news headlines into the class activity. These tools will enable the children on their own to spot fake news and improve their literacy.
Use visuals and multimedia – Visuals are powerful tools for retention and learning.
Mr & Miss Holmes– So how about we create a Mr. & Miss Sherlock Holmes class group that will encourage students to participate in groups as undercover detectives to spot and analyze Fake news? that’s great right?.
Use relatable examples – I will introduce real-world fake news examples that we encounter every day in the classroom so that students can be challenged to apply their skills and techniques to authentic situations, so when they are faced with it in real life, like superheroes, they know just what to do to save the day.
https://www.edcan.ca/articles/teach-students-identify-fake-news/