Check out the slides for my May 2022 ATLIS presentation, "Teaching About Conspiracy Theories and Media Literacy"
Description:
Conspiracy theories are popular on social media and influence our local as well as national conversations and politics. How we can constructively teach about conspiracy theories and help students develop their media literacy skills to better evaluate information and sources in our digital world? This session will highlight the "Froot Loop Conspiracy Theories" media literacy unit, taught to 6th graders since fall 2020 at Casady School in Oklahoma City. By focusing on the Apollo Moon landings, students learn how to use and apply the "SIFT" web literacy framework (S = Stop, I = Investigate the source, F = Find trusted coverage, T = Trace to the original) analyzing together several online videos. While this unit is designed for middle school students, it an be adapted for other grades / ages / developmental levels. Access the full unit on lessons.wesfryer.com/lessons/conspiracy-theories.
My 2019-20 Media and Digital Literacy curriculum / lessons / resources for 5th and 6th Graders at Casady School in Oklahoma City (where I serve as the "Technology Integration and Innovation Specialist") is available on mdtech.casady.org. I was the Director of Technology at Casady for 4 years from 2015-2019. More info about me is available on my bio.
If you have questions or comments please reach out via Twitter or my electronic contact form.
Additional Resources:
For more resources about using Twitter lists & other clever, powerful apps and digital tools, check out Wes' workshop resources, "Discovering Useful Ideas."
