Is It Fake?

Lesson 1
Learn
 Key Information

What is bias?

Bias is an unbalanced opinion, often expressed

with the intent of changing the opinion of
others.

These phrases:
“I believe” “In my opinion”

indicate bias and an unbalanced argument.

 Unplugged Activity

Is the information fact or bias?

Text 1
The hurricane hit Florida at 5pm and
caused significant damage to the area. It
has been recorded as a Category 3
Hurricane.
Text 2
The hurricane hit Florida at 5pm and
caused significant damage to the area. I
believe it is the worst hurricane that’s
happened for a long time.
Quick Reflection:
Is a biased opinion reliable?
 Key Information

What are the clues about a website’s reliability?

Websites are created by whoever purchased the hosting space on

the WWW.

Fake news means made up news stories published as fact.

Not everything on the WWW is accurate! Before

you use a website, you should check if it is
reliable.
 Key Information

How would these things help you identify

if a website was reliable?

domain
keywords

URL

author
date
appearance
 Key Information

What are the clues about a website’s reliability?

Web address. Are there Are there any broken

URL Hyperlinks
misspelled words? links?

A biased opinion in the The origin, e.g. ‘.gov’ =

keywords domain
title and text. government site.

Name: can ownership be When it was posted. Is it

author date
verified? up-to-date?

The look of the website. Is it

appearance
unprofessional?
 Compare and Contrast

Can you tell if this website is real or fake?

Visit the website about the ‘Endangered

Guinea Worm’.

Is it a reliable website?
Quick Reflection:
Consider the websites you use and
see on social media. Are they
reliable? How do you know?

Q1
Which use of language
shows bias?
a. “Data proves that …”
b. “The witnesses’ opinion is …”
c. “The video shows …”
Checks for Understanding
Q2
Why should you check a
website’s reliability?
a. You can look at anything on the
WWW.
b. To use opinions in your work.
c. To ensure you use fact-based
websites.
 Checks for Understanding

A1 A2

Which use of language Why should you check a

shows bias? website’s reliability?

b. “The witnesses’ opinion is …” c. To ensure you use fact-based

websites.
 Keywords

bias reliable
The opinion of one applied to Trustworthy; information
the text to show an unbalanced that can be used as a basis
opinion to sway others. for research.

unreliable fact
Untrustworthy; information that A key piece of data that has
should not be used within been corroborated as true.
research.
Code a program that keeps
count and alerts when
unreliable aspects are found

Do
 Blocks

1
Click ‘ADD DEVICE’
Select device(s) from list

2
Turn on the Buzzer
Connect the micro:bit battery

3 Click ‘CONNECT’

Select device(s) from the list

4 Click ‘Pair’
 1 2 3 4 5 6 Let’s Build

Code a program that keeps count and alerts when

unreliable aspects are found

‘count’
1 2 3 4 5 6 Let’s Build

From
‘General’

From
‘Math’

From
‘Variables’
 1 2 3 4 5 6 Let’s Build

From
‘Functions’
1 2 3 4 5 6 Let’s Build

From
‘General’

From ‘Buzzer’
‘Actions’
 1 2 3 4 5 6 Let’s Build

From
‘Variables’

From
‘micro:bit’
‘Actions’
From
‘Buzzer’
‘Actions’
1 2 3 4 5 6 Let’s Build

From
‘micro:bit’
‘Events’

From
‘Variables’

From
‘Functions’
 Let’s Build

Test your program!

 Let’s Build

This ensures the count

starts at ‘0’.

This is the
function.
This ensures that when the ‘A’
button is pressed, the function is
activated and the variable increases
by ‘1’.
Quick Reflection:
What happens if you remove the
‘change [count] by (1)’ block?
Mission Control have sent me links to websites to
check for reliability.
I need a system that alerts me and stops when
there are three unreliable aspects on a site.
Plan out the steps for my program in your Mission
Journal for the program to work.
Code a program that will count the number of
unreliable aspects found and output an alert to
stop Sam exploring further
 Challenge

Code a program that will

count the number of
unreliable aspects found and
output an alert to stop Sam
exploring further

Challenge
 micro:bit Test

Can you help me check my Cyber Scanner is

working correctly before we build the rest of
the program?
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Challenge

Code a program that will count the number of unreliable aspects

found and output an alert to stop Sam exploring further

First, duplicate the ‘startAlert’ function.

‘2’ will automatically be added to the new

function name.
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Challenge

Duplicate the ‘startAlert2’ function.

‘3’ will automatically be added to the new

function name.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Challenge

From
‘General’

From
‘micro:bit’
‘Actions’
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Challenge

This is adding to blocks already

on the workspace from Let’s
Build!

From
‘Logic’
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Challenge

Click the settings icon, then drag 1 ‘else’ block left

and 1 ‘else if’ block right.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Challenge

From ‘Logic’:

From ‘Math’
From
‘Variables’
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Challenge

Transfer to ‘do’
section

a
Drag out the blocks below
the ‘startAlert’ block.

b Snap the ‘startAlert’ block

into the ‘do’ section.

Drag all blocks back in.

c
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Challenge

Every time the ‘A’ button is

pressed, ‘count’ increases by ‘1’.
The logic block activates the
three functions depending on
whether the count is 1, 2 or 3.

From
‘Functions’
Challenge: Test your program

Put your program to

the test with a real
website!
 Challenge: Test your program

These are the three

functions.
Can you narrate how
they work?

Quick Reflection:
Does your program look the same as mine? Follow the
flowchart on the next slide!
 Completed Challenge

YES
Did your NO
program
look the
same?

YES Did it NO
work?
Great!
Could it have been
done another way?

Great! Look through and

How did you do it check what needs to
different? be debugged.
 Debug

The program does not stop after the third

unreliable aspect is found.

How can I debug it?

 Debug

From ‘General’.

Experiment with the

position of this
block.
Quick Reflection:
What was the effect of having the
‘stop program’ block in different
positions?
 Checks for Understanding

Q1 Q2

How many separate parts Which would you not look

of the program are there? at to check the reliability
of a website?

a. 3 a. The font type and size

b. 5 b. The URL
c. 6 c. The date
 Checks for Understanding

A1 A2
How many separate parts Which would you not look
of the program are there? at to check the reliability
of a website?

a. The font type and size

c. 6
 Extend: Chili Challenges

Experiment further with Experiment with a color Experiment with adding a

the alert. Can you create for the alerts. Can you function to explain the
different outputs for make the physical blocks alert system. Can you add
alerts 1, 2 and 3? change color for different instructions at the start of
alerts? the program?

Great work explorers!

Reflect
 Reflect

Awesome job! Together we’ve managed

to program an alert to inform me when
three unreliable aspects have been found
on a site.

Now I’ll be able to quickly identify if

information is bias or fact.

Can you help me complete my Mission Journal and report back

to Mission Control?
 Reflect
How are you
doing?

I can demonstrate what bias is and

how to identify it.

I can identify how to determine an

unreliable website.

I can plan and code a program that

keeps count, alerts and stops after
three.
Cyber Mission
complete!