John Anderlik

TCH 237: Playground

Mini-Lesson Activity

Title: ​ Fighting Fake News

Preparation:​ Writing material, notebook, projected image to be used before discussion.

Reflection/What I Was Thinking:

This lesson was somewhat difficult to come up with after conducting my playground. I
was going through different ideas in my head as well as looking up different ideas online, but
they were all closely related to the activity I organized for my peers. I finally thought of
conducting a debate-style activity, but orchestrate it as more of a conversation.
The mini-lesson focuses on the effects of fake news once it spreads through news
channels, websites, social media, etc. Although it’s only a mini-lesson, students will share the
problems/consequences related to sharing fake news as well as identify ways to stop the spread
of it. To begin, students will participate in a quick-write activity to the question projected on the
board (“​What are potential consequences when fake news goes viral? Do you think you
could spot fake news or would you be fooled? Why or why not?”​); quick-writes allow
students to write down their own thoughts before they discuss the topic(s) covered in class.
Students then will complete a short worksheet where they will write down their thoughts on an
image shown in class. Then, I will help students facilitate a discussion based on the dangers of
sharing fake news.
This activity closely builds off of my sandbox as it has students still learning about fake
news. In my sandbox, peers “playgrounded” on three different fake/unreliable websites; this
allowed them to figure out and see why each certain website isn’t real.

Script:
How is everyone doing today? What’s one good thing that has happened today so far?
Wait for 3-4 student responses. ​Great! I need everyone to get out their notebooks and a writing
utensil; we are going to do a quick quick-write.
Quick-write question: What are the potential consequences when fake news goes viral?
Based on the playground from yesterday, do you think you could spot fake news or would you be
fooled? Why or why not?
Potential Student Responses:
That news spreads to hundreds of people making them believe false information.
People won’t believe what’s true and what’s fake; they won’t know who they can/can’t trust.
 I think I can identify fake news based off of our playground from yesterday, especially now
knowing characteristics of a secure website.
I think that there is always the possibility to be fooled by fake news because it’s everywhere.
Okay, finish up the thought or sentence you are on. Once you finish, give me a signal
(pencil down, thumbs up, etc.)​. I need volunteers to share out what you wrote. ​Wait for student
responses. ​Perfect! We are going to move on. In moving on, keep what you wrote down for your
quick-write in the back of your mind. We are doing a mini-lesson today and that information
might be useful to reference. ​Project image on the board. ​Take 1-1.5 minutes to think about this
image and questions related to it and whether it provides strong evidence to the conditions near
the Fukushima plant. ​Wait 1-1.5 minutes while students digest the image. ​I need 3 hands to share
out what they were thinking.
Potential Student Responses about the Image:
The flowers on that plant are funky looking, but we don’t know what the rest of the surrounding
area looks like.
How do we know that this is in a location of nuclear defects?
Just because the flowers aren’t normal looking flowers doesn’t mean that they have a defect
related to nuclear material. It could just be that specific plant that has a defect.
After the students share, we move into the student discussion to better inform them of the
dangers of fake news/see the viewpoints of their peers. Students will break into groups of 4-5 to
discuss the questions below. After they have discussed in their small groups, I will prompt them
to come back as a whole group to share everyone’s thoughts.
What will you do next time you see fake news? Every time? What are three ways you can
verify articles and images to avoid being fooled by fake news?
​Potential Responses:
Look to see where I got the information.
Research to see if it is actually true using the techniques and thinking skills that we
learned.
Look to see who posted it, where they posted it, whether it is common knowledge or not,
and if it is too good to be true.
What can companies like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter do to stop users
from spreading fake news? What can ordinary people do? What do you think would
work, especially with younger users?
Potential Responses:
The companies can regulate or search through what news enters their sites.
Everyday people can help stop fake news by not spreading it on social media; think
before you share it.
Fukushima Plant Image:

Adapted from:
http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2016/12/Fake-news-lesson-plan.pdf