Media Literacy

RATIONALE & RESEARCH

Media literacy is essential to participating in democratic elections and democratic life. Engaged community members must be able to gather, fact-check, analyze, and utilize information from coverage of current events and candidates and issues, polls, endorsements from groups or individuals, and details about voting procedures and access. Young people should also be encouraged to produce media themselves, both as a tool for learning and a way to expand representation of young people, and young people of color especially, in published media. K-12 schools have an important role to play in teaching media literacy and media creation.

Research tells us:

"A larger proportion of youth get their news online than any other age group, and young people are substantially more likely to get their news online than via other platforms." ("Teaching Controversial Issues in a Time of Polarization”, 2018)
"For high school students, most accessible civic opportunities are often local. Yet young people often feel that their viewpoints are not represented in local media, and relatively few find local news media to be trustworthy." ("Getting Young People to Vote: Seven Tips for the Classroom”, 2019)

LESSON PLANS & RESOURCES

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Media & News Literacy Lesson & Instructional Resources

Core Principles of
Media Literacy Education

Just getting started with media literacy? Ground yourself in a basic understanding of the central goals and methods of teaching about media literacy with this resource, from the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE).
Reference

Where do we Get our News and Why Does it Matter?

This Teaching Idea from Facing History is designed to help students take stock of their media choices, explore media bias, and think about what healthy news habits they want to adopt.
Lesson Plan

Newsfeed Defenders

In this iCivics game and extension materials (designed uniquely for middle and high school audiences), students will fight hidden ads, viral deception, and false reporting as a NewsFeed Defender!
Game, MS/HS

Navigating Today's Information Landscape

Checkology, a series of 14 lessons from the News Literacy Project, shows students how to navigate today’s challenging information landscape. They will learn how to identify credible information, seek out reliable sources, and apply critical thinking skills to separate fact-based content from falsehoods.
Lesson Plans, Reference

Media Moment Mini-Lessons

Access iCivics' library of Media Moment Mini-Lessons, which each combine civic content and news literacy skills. Each mini-lesson includes a content reading, a news literacy highlight, and a one-page news literacy activity; use readings together or separately.
Videos, HS

How to Read the News Like a Fact Checker

This Teaching Idea from Facing History trains students to read online sources laterally, like professional fact checkers do, so that they can better evaluate the credibility of news they see online.
Lesson Plan

Decoding Media Bias

Students will view the We The Voters film “MediOcracy,” and then examine current news stories and how they’re covered by the three main cable news outlets. They will conclude by examining news stories for bias/point of view.
Lesson Plan

Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age

This 11-lesson unit, co-created by Facing History and the News Literacy Project, uses the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO as a case study, for helping students explore the role of journalism in a democratic society and consider how they can become responsible consumers and producers of news and information in the digital age.
Unit Plan, Lesson Plan