1st Edition
Fighting Fake News! Teaching Critical Thinking and Media Literacy in a Digital Age Grades 4-6
Educators have long struggled to teach students to be critical consumers of the information that they encounter. This struggle is exacerbated by the amount of information available thanks to the Internet and mobile devices. Students must learn how to determine whether or not the information they are accessing is reputable. Fighting Fake News! focuses on applying critical thinking skills in digital environments while also helping students and teachers to avoid information overload. According to a 2017 Pew Research report, we are now living in a world where 67% of people report that they get their “news” from social media. With the lessons and activities in this book, students will be challenged to look at the media they encounter daily to learn to deepen and extend their media literacy and critical thinking skills. Now more than ever, teachers need the instruction in Fighting Fake News! to teach students how to locate, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate information.
Grades 4-6
Biography
Brian C. Housand, Ph.D., is an associate professor, coordinator of the Academically and Intellectually Gifted Program, and recipient of the Max Ray Joyner Award for Outstanding Teaching is Distance Education at East Carolina University.
Housand puts forth ideas that manage to bridge the gap between theory and practice—and he does it all without underestimating (or pandering to) the teachers or students he imagines using his guide. Without being glib or overly serious, Housand has created a highly accessible, highly useful guide.,VOYA Magazine, 8/16/18
From how to become a more effective critical consumer in processing the wealth of information that arrives daily to understanding how news is reported, spun, and too often abbreviated beyond logic, Fighting Fake News! is packed with examples and activities designed to explain issues in emotional response, accuracy in representation, and communication choices. ,Diane Donovan,Donovan's Literary Services, 9/24/18
In Fighting Fake News!, Dr. Housand designs a program structured to teach students, and maybe even adults, how to determine which news stories are credible, and which are less than reliable. If you are interested in learning how media manipulates people and how to overcome said manipulation, then Fighting Fake News! is the book for you. ,Timothy Esposito,Society for Technical Communication, 11/11/18
