TedEd Lesson: Why People Fall for Misinformation—Joseph Isaac

TedEd Lesson: Why People Fall for Misinformation—Joseph Isaac

Written by: Cindy L. Otis
Description: In 1901, David Hänig published research that led to what we know today as the taste map: an illustration that divides the tongue into four separate areas. It has since been published in textbooks and newspapers. There is just one problem: the map is wrong. So how do misconceptions like this spread, and what makes a fake fact so easy to believe? Joseph Isaac dives into the world of misinformation. Lesson includes Joseph Isaac’s video, Why People Fall for Misinformation, multiple choice and open answer questions, more information, and discussion topics. 
 

A Teacher’s Guide to True or False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Fake News

A Teacher’s Guide to True or False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Fake News

Written by: Cindy L. Otis
Description: Intended to support classroom instruction; provides activities and questions for before, during, and after reading True or False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Fake News by Cindy L. Otis. Standards listed throughout the guide are aligned with the Common Core State Standards for grade eight, but activities and questions can be applied to multiple grade levels. 
 

Fighting Fake News: Tools and Strategies for Teaching Media Literacy (June 2019)

Fighting Fake News: Tools and Strategies for Teaching Media Literacy (June 2019)

Written by: Jennifer LaGarde and Darren Hudgins
ISBN-13: 978-1564848079
ISBN-10: 1564848078
Audience: K-12 educators and media literacy specialists

Description: Based on the book, Fact vs. Fiction: Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in the Age of Fake News by Jennifer LaGarde and Darren Hudgins, this six-page laminated reference guide offers educators resources and strategies to define, detect and combat “fake news,” including links to fact-checking sites and lesson plans. The guide also features models for evaluating news stories with links to resources on how to include lessons on fake news in curricula; links to fake news self-assessments, including a digital component to help readers evaluate their skills in detecting and managing fake news; and an infographic with mobile media literacy tips. Guide is 8.5″ x 11″ with 3 laminated panels, 6 pages total. 

Information Literacy Toolkit

Information Literacy Toolkit

By Jennifer LaGarde and Darren Hudgins

Description: Toolkit provides the highest quality professional support from Jennifer LaGarde and Darren Hudgins, Bring Me A Book’s Literacy Champions and coauthors of Fact vs. Fiction: Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in the Age of Fake News and Developing Digital Detectives: Essential Lessons for Discerning Fact From Fiction in the ‘Fake News’ Era.

Toolkit available at:
https://www.bringmeabook.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BMAB_TOOLKIT_LaGarde_Hudgins-v2-1.pdf

Infographic: Beyond Fake News—10 Types of Misleading News

Infographic: Beyond Fake News—10 Types of Misleading News

By EAVI

Description: The Beyond Fake News infographic identifies the 10 types of potentially misleading news, aimed to help in the fight against misinformation and disinformation. It was created to be used in class with real-world examples to spark classroom debate and reflection on the constructions of media. EAVI is currently updating the infographic and will share it on the website once completed.

For Infographic and additional resources, visit:
https://eavi.eu/infographic-beyond-fake-news-10-types-of-misleading-news-17-languages/ 

The chart is offered in these 17 languages: Albanian, Catalaan, Dutch, French, Greek, German, Italian, Japanese, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. For these versions, click here.

True or False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Fake News (2020)

True or False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Fake News (2020)

Written by: Cindy L. Otis
Published by: Feiwel & Friends
ISBN-13: 978-1250239495
ISBN-10: 1250239494
Audience: Preteens and teens


Description: “Fake news” is a term you’ve probably heard a lot in the last few years, but it’s not a new phenomenon. From the ancient Egyptians to the French Revolution to Jack the Ripper and the founding fathers, fake news has been around as long as human civilization. But that doesn’t mean that we should just give up on the idea of finding the truth.
In True or False, former CIA analyst Cindy Otis takes readers through the history and impact of fake news over the centuries, sharing stories from the past and insights that readers today can gain from them. Then, she shares lessons learned in over a decade working for the CIA, including actionable tips on how to spot fake news, how to make sense of the information we receive each day, and, perhaps most importantly, how to understand and see past our own information biases, so that we can think critically about important issues and put events happening around us into context.

Related Books

The Nantucket Sea Monster (2017)

Do you believe everything you read in the newspaper? Early in August 1937, a news flash came: a sea monster had been spotted lurking off the shore of Nantucket Island. Historically, the Massachusetts...

Fighting Fake News! Teaching Critical Thinking and Media Literacy in a Digital Age (Apr 1, 2018)

Educators have long struggled to teach students to be critical consumers of the information that they encounter. This struggle is exacerbated by the amount of information available thanks to the...

Fake News (2020)

What is fake news? How can the news be wrong? How do we know if what we’re reading is true or not? The concept of fake news and the media as a whole is discussed as part of the What’s the Issue?...

The Nantucket Sea Monster (2017)

The Nantucket Sea Monster (2017)

Written by: Darcy Pattison
Illustrated by: Peter Willis
Published by: Mims House
ISBN-13: 978-1629440835
ISBN-10: 1629440833
Audience: Kindergarten to 6th grade


Description: Do you believe everything you read in the newspaper? Early in August 1937, a news flash came: a sea monster had been spotted lurking off the shore of Nantucket Island. Historically, the Massachusetts island had served as port for whaling ships. Eyewitnesses swore this wasn’t a whale, but some new, fearsome creature. As eyewitness account piled up, newspaper stories of the sea monster spread quickly. Across the nation, people shivered in fear. Then, footprints were found on a Nantucket beach. Photographs were sent to prominent biologists for their opinion. Discussion swirled about raising a hunting party. On August 18, news spread across the island: the sea monster had been captured. Islanders ran to the beach and couldn’t believe their eyes.
This nonfiction picture book, the 2018 selection for Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts Awards and 2017 Nonfiction Junior Library Guild Selection, is a perfect tool to discuss non-political fake news stories. Includes information about the freedom of the press guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, Thomas Jefferson’s quotes on fake news always being one of the costs of a free press, a historically accurate timeline of actual events, and a vocabulary list defining relevant terms.

Fighting Fake News! Teaching Critical Thinking and Media Literacy in a Digital Age (Apr 1, 2018)

Developing Digital Detectives: Essential Lessons for Discerning Fact From Fiction in the ‘Fake News’ Era (2021)

Written by: Brian C. Housand Ph.D
Illustrated by: Cristina Guitian
Published by: Routledge
ISBN-13: 978-1618217288
ISBN-10: 1618217283
Audience: 4th to 6th grade


Description: Educators have long struggled to teach students to be critical consumers of the information that they encounter. This struggle is exacerbated by the amount of information available thanks to the Internet and mobile devices. Students must learn how to determine whether or not the information they are accessing is reputable. Fighting Fake News! focuses on applying critical thinking skills in digital environments while also helping students and teachers to avoid information overload. According to a 2017 Pew Research report, we are now living in a world where 67% of people report that they get their “news” from social media. With the lessons and activities in this book, students will be challenged to look at the media they encounter daily to learn to deepen and extend their media literacy and critical thinking skills. Now more than ever, teachers need the instruction in Fighting Fake News! to teach students how to locate, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate information.

Fake News (2020)

Fake News (2020)

Written by: Tom Jackson
Illustrated by: Cristina Guitian
Published by: QEB Publishing
Series: What’s the Issue?
ISBN-13: 978-0711250345
ISBN-10: 0711250340
Audience: 4th to 7th grade


Description: What is fake news? How can the news be wrong? How do we know if what we’re reading is true or not? The concept of fake news and the media as a whole is discussed as part of the What’s the Issue? series. What’s the Issue asks “what’s all the fuss about?,” reviewing what is at stake when we think about fake news aimed at helping young people understand this difficult subject and provide them with tools to inform their own opinions on the issue.

Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots (2020)

Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots (2020)

Written by: Michael Rex
Illustrated by: Michael Rex
Published by: Nancy Paulsen Books
ISBN-13: 978-1984816269
ISBN-10: 1984816268
Audience: Kindergarten to 3rd grade


Description: Do you know the difference between a fact and an opinion? It can be a hard thing to understand. Some things are facts—like the number of robots in this book. Other things are opinions—like which robot would make the best friend, or which robot dances best. And sometimes to tell the difference between a fact and an opinion, you need to wait to get more information—that’s because facts can be proven true or false, and opinions are things you feel and believe—but that you can’t prove. In this colorful picture book, young readers are introduced to important distinctions between facts and opinions, and reminded to kindly listen to other’s opinions and stand up for facts.