Legit-O-Meter

• Preparation

  Learning Progression

  In this lesson, learners will:

  1. Discuss and define credibility, bias, and fake news
  2. Evaluate news sources on the web using guided materials
  3. Rate news sources for credibility
  4. Reflect on their learning

  Scaffolding and Resources

  The following webinar includes links to articles and resources about fake news and education. This can be a good starting place if you are looking to learn more about fake news and misinformation. Educator Innovator - Media Literacy Tools to Comprehend and Critique Fake News.

  The skills in this lesson build upon a number of Mozilla’s Web Literacy outcomes. For ideas on how to further delve into and build upon Web Literacy skills, see Mozilla’s Web Literacy Framework.

  For more information on how fake news works and its funding models, see A Field Guide to Fake News

  This lesson encourages learners to develop and use their skim reading skills. Sam Wineburg, a Stanford professor, highlights the idea of reading "horizontally," or looking at an article's context while deploying skim reading skills. You can learn more about this concept in an NPR interview with Sam Wineburg

  Preparation Instructions and Tips

  Select a topic and a batch of articles for learners to engage with in the lesson

  • Use a pre-populated batch from the Legit-O-Meter article batches guide
  • Or create your own batch using the following criteria

  Article Selection Guidelines

  1. Pick a topic – Try to select an issue that has been covered in a variety of information outlets. An issue that is debated, can work well for this exercise. Depending on your needs and situation, you can also use more humorous or neutral topics to run the lesson for the first time, and then introduce more complex or controversial topics as your learners progress.
  2. Select your articles – Try to select a range of articles from various information outlets. And remember, you can contact your school or local public library if you need help selecting sources.

  Use the following criteria to help you get select your own blend of articles for this activity.

  1. Reputable sources – Use sources like newspapers, magazines, or television outlets that are generally well regarded.
  • Tip – Try for a blend of national and local news sources
  • Tip – Look for variety in terms of who wrote the article (a professional journalist, a scholar, etc.), publication outlet (a local magazine, a national newspaper), and overall point of view or bias
  • To find reputable sources aimed at teens, try the Smithsonian Tween Tribune, Teen Vogue, or PBS NewsHour Extra.
  2. Fake News sources – Use sources that publish false and/or misleading information
  • Tip- Use resources like Snopes and PolitiFact to find fake news sites and stories. If you plan to use a site like PolitiFact with learners, take a few minutes to demonstrate how the site is organized.
  3. Opinion sources – Use sources like editorials, personal essays, or personal blogs. Op-eds from reputable outlets work well here.
  4. Satirical sources – Try finding your topic on the Onion
  5. Media sources - Consider including video or audio news stories from sources like the BBC, NPR, or PBS NewsHour

  Facilitation Tips: Preparing the Activity

  • This lesson includes a main activity and an additional, optional activity. The optional activity is more advanced and can work as an activity for a separate follow-up class, as an activity extension for a longer class period (such as a 90 minute class period), or as an additional activity if learners complete the first activity quickly.
  • This lesson can be repeated with different topics, different types of articles, and different degrees of complexity. You can conduct this lesson with a more humorous or neutral topics and then repeat the lesson with more complex topics and types of articles as your learners progress in their skills.
  • Think carefully about your theme and the selected articles.
  • Try completing the Legit-O-Meter worksheets on your own first.
  • Instructors can customize this activity by determining how many articles each group is assigned, or by having learners complete this activity individually rather than in groups depending on class size.
  • Facilitation tip: have all your learners read the same article to start. You can then repeat the activity and have different groups read different types of articles and share and compare their findings.
  • Instructors can also customize this activity to best fit the reading and writing level of their learners, such as by selecting a smaller number of shorter articles.

  Facilitation Tips: Running the Activity

  • Facilitation suggestion - assign groups one fake news example and one more reputable example so they can contrast the two.
  • Encourage learners to read aloud to one another as they work through their assigned article or articles.
  • Encourage learners to use their skim reading skills.
  • This lesson can work well as a group activity that can encourage collaboration, discussion, and teamwork.

  Vocabulary

  • Bias- To be in favor of or against one person, thing, idea, etc.
  • Credibility- The quality of being trusted or believed in.
  • Fake News- A term generally used to indicate information that is false.
  • Misinformation- A broader term that includes fake news. Misinformation includes information that is false or otherwise misleading, both deliberately and unintentionally. Examples of misinformation can include fake websites that mimic real ones, misleading headlines, satire, false statements, etc.
  • Anonymous source- The identity of the source is kept hidden or secret.

• Introduction

  10 minutes

  Opening Activity - 5 minutes

  • Have learners divide into small groups (3-4 learners)
  • Prompt: What does “credible” mean? How do you decide if information is credible? What things do you look for?
  • Have learners write their thoughts down on paper, or up on a class whiteboard
  • Have groups share out one thing they discussed in their groups

  Opening discussion – 5 minutes

  Discussion questions

  • What is fake news? How is it different from other kinds of news?
  • Why is it important to evaluate information we come across on the web?
  • Why is it important to recognize and understand bias?

  Vocabulary check

  • Make sure your learners understand vocabulary such as bias and credibility
  • Points to highlight - Bias isn’t inherently good or bad, but it is important to recognize it when you see it
  • Fake news comes in many forms and misinformation is a broader way of talking about information that might not be credible or true

  Introduce and explain the criteria on the Legit-O-Meter Worksheet

  • Points to highlight - We’ll learn ways to make sure you’re reading, sharing, and using credible information
  • We’ll learn ways to help you avoid getting fooled by bad information
  • We'll use and strengthen our skim reading skills. Being able to quickly digest information and figure out whether or not it is credible is a skill that people like professional fact checkers use. We'll learn how to read horizontally and take in a lot of information about an article by answering questions and skim reading. You'll look at an article's content and context.

• Online Activity

  30 minutes

  Instructions

  • Have learners remain in their groups
  • See all Mission:Information materials, organized by lesson, in this Mission:Information Google Drive Folder.Please use the links below to make a copy of the online worksheets which are in Google Forms.
  • Legit-O-Meter online worksheets - Worksheet 1 and Worksheet 2. Note that these links will take you to a login screen. Login with a Google account (any Google Education account will work) and then confirm that you wish to make a copy when prompted.
  • Assign learners their article, or articles, for the activity.
  • Learners read their article or articles and work as a group to complete the Legit-O-Meter worksheet online for each of the article or articles they are assigned
  • Facilitation tip: Encourage learners to take turns reading aloud to one another to help facilitate engagement and comprehension. Be sure to provide any leveled resources or adaptive technology necessary for learners who struggle with reading comprehension.

  Online Activity Extension

  30 minutes

  Use this activity for longer class periods, as an optional extension, and/or with more advanced learners.

  • Have learners remain in their groups and work with the same article or batch of articles
  • Introduce learners to the second Legit-O-Meter worksheet which helps learners examine different criteria for their article or articles
  • Learners complete the second Legit-O-Meter worksheet online

• Offline Activity

  30 minutes

  Instructions

  • Have learners remain in their small groups
  • See all Mission:Information materials, organized by lesson, in this Mission:Information Google Drive Folder.
  • Hand out print copies of pre-selected articles on a theme
  • Learners read their article or articles and complete the print version of the Legit-O-Meter worksheet for each article they are assigned
  • For situations without, or with limited, internet or computer access, learners can think about how they would find certain pieces of information on the worksheet and discuss ideas and strategies
  • Facilitation tip: Encourage learners to take turns reading aloud to one another to help facilitate engagement and comprehension. Be sure to provide any leveled resources or adaptive technology necessary for learners who struggle with reading comprehension.

• Reflection and Assessment

  10 minutes

  Closing Discussion

  • Have student groups report out on their article(s) and their findings
  • Discussion prompt: Why would people create fake news?
  • Emphasize that money can play a big role in the creation of fake news.
  • For example, fake news creators can make money from ads on their website. Each time someone clicks an ad, they earn money. The more people view the story, the more money they can make from ads.
  • Digital ad networks can also provide modules for publishers to display content recommendations that can look like news headlines, but are actually ads.
  • Learners individually complete a brief reflection prompt on the activity.

  Reflection questions for learners

  • Why do we take the time to evaluate news sources?
  • How do you feel about your evaluation skills after today’s activity? Do you think you can identify fake news when you see it?
  Next activity→Fake Your Own News