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If You Read It On The Internet, It Must Be True!
Media Literacy in the 21st Century

Introduction | Background Knowledge | Activities | Extensions | Standards

Introduction

Students are overwhelmed with information, from television commercials to billboards to news reports to social media. Some of the information comes from the school curriculum, but most comes from sources the teacher or parents do not control. Students must learn to absorb the various media messages, evaluate what they are presented with, and make informed decisions.

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Background Knowledge

Media literacy is the ability to think critically about the information presented through various forms of media.

The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) defines media literacy as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication. This allows students to understand messages, act on them, and create their own.

Media literacy must be taught. How students interact with information at the beginning of the 21st century differs greatly from how their teachers learned to interact with media messages.

When information is presented, it is done so with a purpose. The creator has a voice and embedded values and points of view. The message intends to influence the receiver's values, beliefs, and actions.

Students should be able to do five things to unpack the information:

  1. Determine WHO created the message.
  2. Identify WHAT TECHNIQUES were used to catch attention.
  3. Determine DIFFERENT WAYS the message could be interpreted.
  4. Identify WHAT BELIEFS, EXPERIENCES, and VIEWPOINTS are included and excluded from the message.
  5. Determine WHY the message is being shared.

Learning to think critically about information will prepare students for the future. Media literacy teaches students to look at information critically and empowers them to be deliberate users and creators of information.

Learning to think critically about information will prepare students for the future. Media literacy teaches students to look at information critically and empowers them to be deliberate users and creators of information.

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Activities

Selected List of Books

Web Treasure Hunts

  • Students often use the first website that comes up in a search engine. Encourage them to look deeper with Web Treasure Hunts: All About Explorers (reviewed here). This activity leads students through three questions about famous explorers. Students review fake information on the All About Explorers page and compare the research experience to a real research page. These Treasure Hunts are differentiated and offer a range of experiences, from basic fact-hunting to finding answers through inferences and logic. Printable resources let students complete activities as they research the explorer and the holiday honoring that individual.

Websites for Evaluation

  • Each website listed below is fake; these sites provide resources to help students evaluate websites and use critical thinking skills when using internet resources. For example, have students create a checklist based upon the questions. "Trust It or Question It?" Ask students to provide a checklist of their initial observations, then investigate to determine whether their initial impression is correct, and provide examples of their findings. Use AI chat tools such as Claude (reviewed here) and Google Gemini (reviewed here) to create a document students can use to create and complete a checklist.
  • Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus (reviewed here)
    • Fake websites look credible, providing pictures and facts about this aquatic creature living in the trees of the Pacific Northwest. Will your students be able to identify this as a hoax?
  • Dehydrated Water
    • This fake website centers on a 27-step process! Although it is set up as a business page, students can analyze it to see if it is reliable.
  • Save the Guinea Worm Foundation
    • Will students be outraged by the plight of the guinea worm? This endangered creature is advocated for on this site. This is a single-page hoax, and clicking any of the tabs at the top of the page will take you to a site called Seven Deadly Sins, which is not part of the hoax.
  • Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie
    • This fake site focuses on keeping visitors safe from mind control. It discusses the importance of the mind-control beanie and provides instructions on how to make one.
  • All About Explorers (reviewed here)
    • Of all the fake websites, this one looks the most authentic. A closer examination reveals the false information.
    • Teachers created this site to help students learn how to find information online. It includes five lesson plans, including differentiated treasure hunts that encourage students to fact-check the website.

After exploring fake websites, ask students to create their own fake website by incorporating some of the techniques found through their explorations. Use a free website creation tool such as Adobe Express (reviewed here) or Bolt AI (reviewed here) to create and share their site with the class. Use MagicSchool (reviewed here) to create a rubric for your assignment.

Additional TeachersFirst Reviewed Resources

  • Here is the TeachersFirst special collection of some of the best Media Literacy tools on our site.
  • Here is a complete list of all resources tagged as TeachersFirst-reviewed resources focused on media literacy, including a variety of resources for all classrooms. Use Wakelet (reviewed here) to curate and organize resources for your personal use or to share with students.
  • Here are some resources that you definitely do not want to miss. If you are short on time and do not want to review the entire collections listed above, explore the resources below.

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Extensions

  • Encourage students to create their own research web quests like the ones described above from All About Explorers. Students find a reliable source and a source that is not reliable. They work individually or in small groups to create the activities and questions and then exchange them with a partner or another group.
  • Using a topic that is being studied, provide an assignment or activity that allows the students to become "experts" in the subject. Once they have knowledge and confidence, they should create an unreliable source. Students exchange sources and point out what is not reliable and why. This can be done electronically or with paper and pencil.
  • As a follow-up to students becoming experts, they could play "Two Truths and a Lie"; in this case, the game is played as a whole-class activity, and class members vote on which "fact" is the lie. An alternative activity is a bluffing game in which one student shares up to 4 or 5 "facts" about the individual or subject researched, and the class votes on whether the student was completely truthful or bluffing. This activity could be used with tools such as Mentimeter (reviewed here) or Kahoot (reviewed here).
  • Use the 5-step framework discussed in the introduction as a framework for students to analyze news articles, social media posts, or videos using IdeaBoardz (reviewed here) or FigJam (reviewed here) as part of a collaborative discussion activity.
  • Ask students to create social media posts or newspaper articles, then have their peers evaluate them using the 5-step framework. Share "breaking news" stories using the Breaking News Generator from ClassTools (reviewed here).
  • Award students with digital badges to encourage them to look for deceptive or misleading information in the media. Claude (reviewed here) will create a list of badge titles, such as Digital Detective, Perspective Finder, and Bias Buster. Use Canva for Education (reviewed here) or Adobe Express for Education (reviewed here) to create and share digital images for badges.

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Correlation to Standards

  • AASL National School Library Standards
    • AASL National School Library Standards - Curate Shared Foundation, Think Domain - Learners act on an information need by: 2. Identifying possible sources of information. 3. Making critical choices about information sources to use.
    • AASL National School Library Standards - Curate Shared Foundation, Create Domain - Learners gather information appropriate to the task by: 1. Seeking a variety of sources. 2. Collecting information representing diverse perspectives. 3. Systematically questioning and assessing the validity and accuracy of information.
    • AASL National School Library Standards - Curate Shared Foundation, Grow Domain - Learners select and organize information for a variety of audiences by: 1. Performing ongoing analysis of and reflection on the quality, usefulness, and accuracy of curated resources.
    • AASL National School Library Standards - Engage Shared Foundation, Think Domain - Learners follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information by: 3. Evaluating information for accuracy, validity, social and cultural context, and appropriateness for need.
  • ISTE Standards for Students
    • Empowered Learner 1.1
      • 1.1.c. Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.
    • Digital Citizen 1.2
      • 1.2.c. Demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property.
    • Knowledge Constructor 1.3
      • 1.3.c. Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.
      • 1.3.d. Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories, and pursuing answers and solutions.

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