The problem of misinformation and disinformation has become a pressing issue in today’s interconnected world. In DRAPER, UT, students are mastering the skills to navigate this complex landscape effectively. More than 300 teachers in the Canyons School District have been trained using the News Literacy Project, a comprehensive initiative designed to equip teachers with the tools to help students process information critically. In her biology class, biology teacher Lacee Kendall has highlighted the challenges students face when encountering information online. “We have an abundance of information,” she said, “and we can get it everywhere,” she emphasized. Students like Maddix Gardiner, who is in their 9th grade honors program, have seen firsthand how the internet powers access to seemingly credible sources, many of which can be misleading. “We have access to information everywhere,” Kendall said, “and we do. But we have to trust people with healthcare?”
Maddix used a specific lesson to illustrate the concept. Last week, she taught her class a lesson on how to differentiate between reliable and unreliable information. As an example, she mentioned a video she saw advising viewers to put mayonnaise on their foreheads to cure a headache. In her class,(requested by Newsp evaluating the information), students were skeptical. “I don’t know anything about mayonnaise,” they said, “but hearing it said implies it’s a way to cure a headache.” “It feels really nice,” she said, “but I don’t know why it would work.”
One of the key lessons of the News Literacy Project is the development of critical thinking skills. In her introductory lesson, Kendall emphasized the importance of lateral reading—a skill where students open multiple tabs on an internet browser simultaneously to research various sources. She highlighted that “most of the time you can tell based on the motive,” she said, “what’s getting out of it. If it doesn’t seem realistic, you can actually check it and see if it’s factual.” For eighth-grade student Sloan Rowe, this led to a curious turn of idea: “I think it’s crazy that so many people believe this stuff,” he said. “My parents definitely support it, but I honestly didn’t know how to evaluate the sources. Now, I use critical thinking to figure things out. I don’t just take everything at face value anymore. I think it’s important to differentiate between credible and fake information.”
The students in Draper are not taking this on its own. Instead, they are using the skills they’ve learned at home to navigate the world around them. They’ve learned to evaluate the credibility of information, to question assumptions, and to think critically in the face of overwhelming data. This is a significant step forward inACA (American College of在学校 Teachers), where these teachers are equipped to help students grow into ethical citizen()”>
Perhaps even more crucial is the ability to process information—which is a skill that students in Draper are beginning to acquire. As they study more about news literacy, they begin to notice patterns of misinformation online that are often more deeply rooted in human psychology than simply a fact or opinion. Meanwhile, eighth-grade students may still rely on popular sources like social media, which can be easily manipulated by the emotions of their audience.
One area where improved critical thinking is marriages of the students’ skills to processing info they’ve learned online, particularly in the context of how media outlets can be influenced by the stakes involved, such as seeking fake media that promises sensational results for a quick win. This is a pressing issue today, thanks to the growing prevalence of fake news on social media and other platforms. The students in Draper, however, have already begun to apply these critical thinking skills to understand and evaluate the sources of this fake news.
The importance of social media in spreading information that is often designed for sensationalism highlights the need for better media literacy. Instead of disseminating facts throughFlatDon’ts, such as social_trim, society needs a more balanced approach to information dissemination. The skills that students in Draper are honing today not only prepare them for the challenges of navigating misinformation but also equipping them to be active participants in a democracy where information can be(boolS)