My name is Luke Anderson and I am a pre-service teacher currently attending Wartburg College. I recently read an article on the NSTA website discussing how students are learning to better evaluate news sources for scientific purposes, noting biases and political sway when it comes to covering COVID-19. I believe that one positive from COVID-19 is that students have gotten more involved in examining media sources to determine what they choose to believe and what they deem irrelevant.
As I look toward my future classroom (hopefully somewhere between grades 3-6), I am wondering how are some current NSTA members working with their students to improve their source evaluation techniques when gathering accurate information? I'm curious to see how young people can best comprehend source evaluation skills since most people in 3rd grade are extremely trusting in adults and classmates.
Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
- Luke Anderson
Great question Luke!
As an educator who usually works with pre-K and kindergarten students, I often ask these questions: “what is your evidence?“ And “how do you/we know that?“
The National Association for Media Literacy Education is a wonderful organization for supporting children and adults in becoming media literate.
https://namle.net
See their “How to spot COVID-19 misinformation” as well as the core principles, https://namle.net/publications/core-principles/
We want children to be media creators as well as consumers!
Best wishes, Peggy
Forum content is subject to the same rules as NSTA List Serves. Rules and disclaimers