Type of Presentation

Workshop (1 hour and 15 minutes)

Target Audience

K-12

Location

Room 217

Abstract

Can dandelions cure cancer? Is Bill Murray running for President? Was a pizza place in New Jersey running a human trafficking ring? In this age of digital and social media it may be difficult for students to differentiate between authoritative information and fake news.

After a brief presentation on the history of fake news and its prevalence in social media, workshop participants (acting as an early college seminar class) will watch a video about the PizzaGate incident and discuss the phenomenon of fake news, why people create it, and why people share it. Next the class will develop a fake news checklist.

In the next activity, we will break the class into groups, give each group a fake news story, and ask them to evaluate the story’s legitimacy and which indicators point to the story being real or fake. Then a representative of each group will teach the rest of the class about their news story.

At the end of the workshop, we will come back together and discuss the real world consequences of fake news and ways that students can prevent its spread. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of fake news, how to identify it when they see it, and with ideas about how to teach students to spot fake news and avoid it.

Presentation Description

In this age of digital and social media it may be difficult for students to differentiate between authoritative information and fake news. This workshop will give librarians some tools and activities to help students identify fake news, describe its real world effects, and create strategies to avoid it.

Session Goals

Provide librarians with fun, interactive ways to help students identify fake news.

Keywords

Media literacy, fake news, information literacy

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Sep 29th, 10:45 AM Sep 29th, 12:00 PM

You Deserve the Truth: Helping students understand the causes and consequences of fake news

Room 217

Can dandelions cure cancer? Is Bill Murray running for President? Was a pizza place in New Jersey running a human trafficking ring? In this age of digital and social media it may be difficult for students to differentiate between authoritative information and fake news.

After a brief presentation on the history of fake news and its prevalence in social media, workshop participants (acting as an early college seminar class) will watch a video about the PizzaGate incident and discuss the phenomenon of fake news, why people create it, and why people share it. Next the class will develop a fake news checklist.

In the next activity, we will break the class into groups, give each group a fake news story, and ask them to evaluate the story’s legitimacy and which indicators point to the story being real or fake. Then a representative of each group will teach the rest of the class about their news story.

At the end of the workshop, we will come back together and discuss the real world consequences of fake news and ways that students can prevent its spread. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of fake news, how to identify it when they see it, and with ideas about how to teach students to spot fake news and avoid it.