Exploding Interest in K-12 Media Literacy Courses

Teaching media literacy in high schools is becoming a popular way to provide students with the tools they need to recognize and mitigate false news narratives. Such courses also can help students learn how to frame news stories (and associated issues) in a way that helps them understand the larger context of identifying who benefits when false information is shared, and why disinformation is generated.

For example, the Lincoln-Way High School District 210 in Illinois offers a media literacy component as part of its high school English classes. They study how false information occurs and how it travels. Other school districts choose to teach media literacy and disinformation recognition as part of their social studies or history classes.

New Jersey took things a step further. The state is poised to become the first to require its state board of education to develop and adopt information literacy curriculum standards for all K-12 students. The bill (S588) passed the state legislature recently and is awaiting a signature from Gov. Phil Murphy. While there’s certain to be politically charged disagreements in New Jersey on what should be taught in such classes, state recognition that there is a problem that needs to be addressed is a positive step forward.

One goal of teaching media literacy is to encourage students to not only see the “message” of a news story, but to also:

• understand its relevance,
• examine whether the conclusion of the story is factually supported with data and sources,
• evaluate whether the person or organization issuing the news holds any authority or special knowledge on a subject,
• encourage a review of whether statements are accurate, and
• understand if the person or group who produced the story has any political or social agenda that is reflected in the content of the story.

Since students often are required to cite sources for their research, media literacy programs can help them determine whether a source should be considered reliable enough to be included as a research reference.

Some schools work to invite local news reporters to visit classes and lead discussion on what makes a news source credible, and why journalists sometimes have to act as filters to screen out false news efforts.

Educators who are interested in promoting media literacy at their schools have a range of media literacy resources to tap into. Some good resources are listed below.

• Common Sense – a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and families and focused on providing the trustworthy information, education, and more. A section of their Website is dedicated to providing news and media literacy resources
• Media Literacy Now – is dedicating students are taught media literacy so that they become confident and competent media consumers and creators
• Because of its name, the Calling Bullshit website might not be a perfect match for school-age kids. But it offers a god online syllabus focused on detecting and defusing false claims.