Cinderella's Castle and Chia Seeds

Did you know that Disney removed Cinderella’s Castle? Did you hear about the TikToker winning a lawsuit against her parents for bringing her into the world without her consent? I bet you didn’t know chia seeds can cure diabetes. I’m curious if you know what these three wild claims all have in common. Would you believe me if I told you they were in the top ten fake news headlines of 2023? You can be reassured that Disney did not remove the iconic castle, and no, a TikTok influencer did not win a lawsuit for nonconsensual birth. While most of these headlines are ridiculous, if someone with diabetes decided to swap out their insulin for daily doses of chia seeds, it could cause serious harm. When we consider that adults often fall victim to fake news stories, it leaves us wondering what implication fake news could have for vulnerable children and young adults. It has never been more important for teachers to weave digital literacy into their classrooms intentionally.

My youngest daughter is in kindergarten and has been navigating the internet on our home computer and a tablet for most of the last year. It feels surreal that we need to start our digital literacy teachings at the earliest elementary level, but the reality is that the online world is rapidly changing, and we need to ensure that even our youngest web surfers are doing so responsibly and safely. I really like the following quote in the 2018 article How do we teach students to identify fake news? written by Dr. Alex Couros and Katia Hildebrandt,

Ultimately, in a world where it is increasingly dangerous to simply trust what we read and see, it is critical that students are taught to approach the world around them with a healthy sense of skepticism to avoid being misled, duped, or scammed.

I have spent most of my classroom experience working with middle years students. This is a critical age for technology access as many of these students own or have access to a mobile device. At this point the Saskatchewan government has not updated the curriculum to reflect a requirement for teaching digital literacy in the mandated outcomes; however, I think teaching digital literacy could be tied into the health curriculum for grades 6-9. Digital literacy could specifically be tied to the health outcomes around healthy decision-making and personal standards. I think the best ways to approach digital literacy in a middle years classroom would be to incorporate the following things:

1.    Encourage Opportunities for them to engage in critical thinking

2.    Teach students how to verify sources- I really liked how the online article, The Smell Test Educators, can counter fake news with information literacy. This article specifically mentions teaching students to ask three questions when they look at information online.

a.    Has the writer or broadcaster verified their information?

b.    Is the writer independent from the topic?

c.     Can the author be contacted?

3.    Educate students on the presence of internet trolls. I found the section on online trolls in the online article, Media Manipulation and Misinformation Online to be very helpful information regarding the evolution of online trolls. This would be great information to incorporate into a middle years classroom. Learning how to spot online trolls would be a useful tool for young adults who are beginning to dip their toes into the world of social media. The below YouTube video focuses on Internet Trolls and presents the information in a way that would be relevant to middle years students.

After navigating the NCTE framework site, I was intrigued by the idea of “Consume, Curate and Create actively across context”. I think it would be effective to generate digital literacy lesson plans based on the points highlighted in each of these three categories. For example, you could have students do a journal documenting their online activities for a period and have them address the following questions:

• Have I considered the author, purpose, and design of the information I am consuming online?

• Have I reviewed various sources to evaluate information as I consider bias and perspective?

• Do I evaluate content I find online before sharing it with others?

Teaching digital literacy in our classrooms needs to be prioritized. Parents and teachers need to pressure the government to ensure digital literacy is prioritized in the next round of curriculum updates. The online world can be overwhelming and incredible all at once; we have the responsibility to ensure our students have the tools and skills to navigate the online world with both a curious and critical mindset.