DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

Social Education 82(2), pp. 91–95

©2018 National Council for the Social Studies

Media Literacy and Fake

News in the Social Studies
Meghan McGlinn Manfra and Casey Holmes

Recent publications have highlighted a growing concern among American educa- media and information systems. Instead,
tors, parents, and policymakers about the increasingly ubiquitous role of computer students must be encouraged to go deeper
technology in the lives of children and teenagers.1 These authors warn that young to develop media literacy attuned to the
people are becoming “technology addicts” as they spend upwards of 10 or 11 hours nuances of positionality, bias, and per-
a day in front of a screen.2 Students seem to be “passively consuming entertainment spective in news media, while also being
forms of the medium,” yet struggle to “focus, critically think, and problem solve.”3 able to distinguish between opinion and
The notion of students as “digital natives” has largely grown out of favor.4 Although journalism.9
today’s youth may be adept at using technology for entertainment, they are not auto- Since the 2016 U.S. presidential elec-
matically able to use these tools to learn and communicate effectively. The challenge tion, there has been an accounting of the
for us as social studies educators is to consider the proper role of technology in social impact of fake news stories on the elec-
studies education. torate. For example, according to a recent
Dartmouth study, 1 in 4 Americans vis-
In the midst of the Internet Revolution Media literacy models a con- ited a fake news site in the month leading
in the late 1990s, Peter Martorella structivist approach to docu- up to the 2016 presidential election.10
encouraged social studies educators to ment-based analysis that asks the In recent weeks, Facebook and Google
consider technology not just as a tool students to apply key content to (including its affiliate, YouTube) have
for learning, but also as part of the con- a focused and complex analysis begun announcing a series of measures,
tent of instruction.5 He wanted teach- of messages, meaning, author- including user polls, to identify and slow
ers and students to consider the impact ship, audience, representations the number of fake news stories that are
of technology on our democratic and and reality. shared and disseminated via their social
social institutions, asking questions such media networks. At the same time, there
as, “What computer-related skills are Social studies teachers can facilitate is a growing concern about the evocation
required for accessing and interpreting student analysis of online media con- of “fake news” as a tactic for disrupting
data for political decision making?” The tent by providing the “Key Questions to the free press and purposefully mislead-
issues Martorella raised about the role of Ask When Analyzing Media Messages” ing the electorate.
technology in society and its relationship developed by the National Association Fake news is not a new phenomenon.
to American democracy seem even more for Media Literacy Education.7 These One historical example is the “Great
important today as “fake news” chal- media literacy skills are essential for Moon Hoax”—a story appearing in the
lenges our students and their informa- helping students navigate the veracity of New York Sun (1835) claiming that life
tion and media literacy skills. As a field, information that they gain, share, and had been discovered on the moon.11
tasked with the education of democratic create. Others have pointed to the term’s more
citizens, we must provide guidance to general usage emerging around the end
our students. Media Literacy and Fake News of the nineteenth century. For instance,
The challenges of media literacy edu- “fake news” was used to describe reports
Social Studies and a Call for Media cation in our field are manifest in the of William Jennings Bryan running for
Literacy crucible of fake news—“intentionally office and the use of fake news stories
NCSS’s position statement on media lit- fabricated news articles.”8 Yet “fake or “yellow journalism” was blamed for
eracy notes the participatory nature of news,” when taken literally to distinguish inflaming tensions leading up to the
new forms of media and the challenges between real and fake or fact and fiction, Spanish-American War, referred to as
of analyzing and evaluating information.6 may oversimplify the complexity of our the first “media war.”12
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 Despite its history, the term “fake with more education and higher lev- students first explore the significance of
news” did not achieve mainstream els of political knowledge are actually “fake news” regarding the 2016 election,
usage in the United States until the 2016 more prone to this confirmation bias and then study the manner in which fake
presidential campaign. Since the elec- than others—not less.17 news can spread through social media
tion, fake news has seemed to shape the Young people have increasing amounts networks. By evaluating case studies
social and political fabric of the coun- of information at their disposal on the of fake news stories from the election,
try. As an indication of its increasingly Internet, but often lack the ability to students learn about the complexity of
widespread usage, “fake news” has been wade critically through the plethora of the information and media ecosystems
added to several dictionaries and, citing confusing and often contradictory mes- that serve as gatekeepers for the spread
the exponential increase in its usage, the sages they encounter. If we are preparing of (dis)information.
Collins Dictionary named “fake news” today’s social studies students for demo- In a similar vein, Facing History and
the “word of the year” for 2017.13 cratic citizenship and civic participation, Ourselves provides a detailed set of
then we must consider what this means resources including 11 individual les-
Youth and Fake News for students’ use of technology and son plans focused on the role of social
In the social studies, where we rely on their online civic lives. According to the media in understanding the events that
the study of historical and contemporary authors of the SHEG study, “At present, occurred in Ferguson (see the same
political events to help our students learn we worry that democracy is threatened sidebar). Essential questions posed
about our institutions and democratic by the ease at which disinformation include: “How does social media shape
ideals, the issue of fake news is particu- about civic issues is allowed to spread our relationship to and understanding
larly troubling. As educators, we must and flourish.”18 of breaking news events?” “What is
address the probability that our students the relationship between social media
are consuming fake news accounts via Strategies for Teachers and the practice of quality journalism?”
social media and that they are ill-pre- It may be impossible to remedy the “How do we know if information shared
pared to identify this news as fake. challenges of fake news through media on social media is credible?” Using these
Recent research has demonstrated that literacy education alone. However, there questions as a starting point, students
today’s youth are increasingly accessing are steps social studies teachers can take explore a variety of topics including “the
news about civic and political issues to help their students become more adept choices and challenges facing journal-
from social media accounts rather than at navigating online content, including ists,” confirmation bias and stereotyping,
directly from newspapers or magazines, providing students with strategies for and the impact of social media on main-
yet they are often not able to discern critically consuming online media. For stream news media and public opinion.
for themselves whether information on example, history teacher Will Colglazier Ultimately, the aim is to help students
these platforms is credible. A recent teaches his students to read laterally develop critical media literacy skills and
study by the Stanford History Education when researching online, encouraging to consider their role as civic participants
Group (SHEG) suggests that students them to leave the primary website to see in current events.
are unable to locate and confront parti- what other sites are reporting.19 He also In addition to these lessons, there are
sanship, bias, and flat-out lies in online emphasizes to his students the impor- several heuristics teachers use to scaf-
content. This lack of media literacy may tance of going beyond the “about us” page fold students towards developing the
become increasingly harmful to their when trying to discover an organization’s habits of mind most relevant to media
civic knowledge and participation.14 bias, and to scroll through search results literacy (see sidebar on page 95). By
Part of the issue seems to be the cog- when searching for information about an using these resources each time they
nitive processes students (and adults) organization—using even the second or visit a website, students can begin to
rely on to distinguish between accurate third page of results. So far, Colglazier turn a critical lens to the information
and inaccurate accounts. Multiple stud- contends, his students are improving they view. We have included a list of sev-
ies have shown that when faced with their abilities to decipher information eral examples designed by social studies
information that contradicts our beliefs, online and make decisions about cred- teachers and other educators to guide
the part of our brain that controls the ibility and bias in sources. students through an assessment of both
ability to reason tends to shut down.15 Many news organizations, including online and print-based content. They all
When confronted with new information, PBS News Hour and the New York encourage students to consult the source,
judgments about what is true and cred- Times, have also published lesson plans the author, the authority of the author,
ible are often shaped more by how well designed to help students develop the and the sponsorship of the content. This
this new information aligns with prior habits of mind necessary to critically last point is particularly important since
beliefs than by how well individuals evaluate online news content (see side- students are often unable to identify paid
are able to reason.16 Worryingly, those bar on page 94). In these lesson plans, content or content that is sponsored
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 How Does “Fake News” Become News?
Give your students the tools they need to spot—and fight—bad information online.

Filter bubbles? Signal boosters? Confirmation

bias? Teaching Tolerance’s Digital Literacy
Framework provides educators the tools to
effectively teach students these concepts and
more, including the critical thinking skills they
need to be responsible digital citizens.

THE COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK INCLUDES

 K–12 lessons
 Student-friendly videos
 A webinar
 Professional development activities
 A glossary of digital literacy terms Check out our
"FAKE NEWS" video
TOLERANCE.ORG/DIGLIT

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by advertisers. Eventually, as students evolution of the news media in the U.S. critically evaluate the sources they study
continue to practice using these heuris- and the manner in which the free press and the information they encounter. As
tics, the skills will become so automatic has been variously conceived as a tool of social studies educators, we have an
they will no longer need a checklist to and challenge to our democratic institu- opportunity and duty to work with our
guide their analysis. tions. Through this study, students would students to develop the intellectual and
Finally, the issue of “fake news” could develop an understanding of the socio- emotional skills necessary to navigate
become a part of the content of the social cultural context that impact the ways we the complexities of our high-tech world.
studies curriculum itself. Students can engage with news media today. We can lead our students to study the
explore the history of news media in implications of this technology for our
the United States and dig into critical The Impact of Fake News democratic political institutions as well
episodes throughout this history: for Fake news certainly provides a chal- as our social and cultural institutions.
example, the advent of cheaper printing lenge for our socio-political institutions. Technology can become just as much a
methods enabled the growth and dis- Yet some see the growing awareness of subject of study as a means to facilitate
tribution of partisan newspapers that fake news as a benefit. In this time of our study.
challenged the ability of the press to heightened attention about our news
check the power of business and political sources, there is even more scrutiny Notes:
1. Mark Bauerlein, The Dumbest Generation: How
elites.20 As radio and television became about the flow of information and a the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and
more prevalent, many worried about the revived interest in print journalism. Jeopardizes our Future (New York: TarcherPerigree,
impact of these new technologies on our This has led to critical conversations 2009); Joe Clement and Matt Miles, Screen
Schooled: Two Veteran Teachers Expose How
political institutions, especially on the comparing the changing role of media in Technology Overuse is Making our Kids Dumber
outcome of elections.21 More recently, democracies and authoritarian regimes, (Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press Incorporated,
2018); Richard Freed, Wired Child: Reclaiming
there have been growing concerns that as well as exploring opportunities for Childhood in a Digital Age (self-pub., Create
online news and an “excess diversity civic engagement that are uniquely Space, 2015); Nicholas Kardaras, Glow Kids: How
Screen Addiction is Hijacking Our Kids—and How
of viewpoints” would make it easier offered by social media.23 to Break the Trance (New York: St. Martin’s Press,
for like-minded citizens to form “echo We hope the same will be true for 2016); Margaret Crocco, “ ‘Screen Schooled’ by
Joe Clement and Matt Miles—a must read for
chambers” or “filter bubbles” where social studies classrooms—as awareness 2018!” NCSS CUFA (blog), December 19, 2017,
they would be insulated from contrary of fake news continues to grow, students http://connected.socialstudies.org/cufa/blogs/
perspectives. 22
Students could trace the and their teachers will be more apt to margaret-crocco/2017/12/19/screen-schooled.
lessons / activities

Media Literacy and Fake News Lesson Plans

“How to Teach Your Students about Fake News” (PBS News Hour “Evaluating Online Sources” (Teaching Tolerance Lesson Plan)
lesson plan) www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/
www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/lessons-plans/lesson-plan- evaluating-online-sources
how-to-teach-your-students-about-fake-news/ Students locate and verify reliable sources of information,
Provides background information about fake news and the discuss methods for evaluating the credibility of online sources,
2016 election. Students engage in critical analysis of the “top 5 and use those strategies to review several websites and news
fake election stories by Facebook engagement.” stories.

“Evaluating Sources in a Post-Truth World” (New York Times “Can You Beat Cognitive Bias?” (KQED Learning)
Lesson Plan) https://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/
www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/learning/lesson-plans/ sites/26/2017/05/Can-You-Beat-Cognitive-Bias-lesson-plan.
evaluating-sources-in-a-post-truth-world-ideas-for- pdf
teaching-and-learning-about-fake-news.html An investigation of 5 types of cognitive bias, followed by an
Encourages students to critically examine the issue of fake exploration of how to recognize and respond to these types of
news (what it is and its consequences), explore a case study bias.
about the spread of fake news, and complete an exercise
created by Andrew Revkin called the “backtrack journal” to
determine the path of information via social media. “Facing Ferguson: News Literacy” (Facing History and Ourselves)
www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/facing-ferguson-
news-literacy-digital-age
Provides a series of 11 lesson plans, multimedia resources, and
teacher professional learning resources.

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2. Clement and Miles, x. Henneberry Company, 1908), available via (2006): 755–769.
3. Ibid. Google Books, see p. 173, for example; PBS, 17. Miller, 276.
4. See Marc Prensky, From Digital Natives to Digital “Yellow Journalism,” Great Projects Film Company, 18. Sam Wineburg, Sarah McGrew, Joel Breakstone,
Wisdom: Hopeful Essays for 21st Century Inc. (1999). and Teresa Ortega, Evaluating Information: The
Learning (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin, 2012). 13. Alison Flood, “Fake News is ‘Very Real’ Word Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning (Stanford,
Also see Pedro De Bruyckere, Paul A. Kirschner, of the Year for 2017,” The Guardian (November Calif.: Stanford History Education Group, 2016),
and Casper D. Hulshof, “Technology in Education: 1, 2017), www.theguardian.com/books/2017/ 5.
What Teachers Should Know,” American Educator nov/02/fake-news-is-very-real-word-of-the-year-
19. Will Colglazier, “Real Teaching in an Era of Fake
40 no. 1 (Spring 2016): 12–18, 43. for-2017; Holly Ellyat, “Donald Trump’s Favorite
News,” American Educator 41 no. 3 (Fall 2017):
5. Peter Martorella, “Technology and the Social Phrase has Become 2017’s ‘Word of the Year,’” 10–11.
Studies—or: Which Way to the Sleeping Giant?” CNBC (November 2, 2017), www.cnbc.
com/2017/11/02/donald-trumps-favorite-phrase-has-
20. Richard L. Kaplan, Politics and the American
Theory and Research in Social Education 25 no. Press: The Rise of Objectivity, 1865–1920
become-2017s-word-of-the-year.html; Alyssa
4 (1997): 511–514. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press,
Pereira, “Dictionary.com Adds ‘Kompromat,’
6. National Council for the Social Studies, “Media ‘Fake News,’ and More to Online Database. SFGate 2002).
Literacy,” Social Education 80 no. 3 (2016): (September 28, 2017), www.sfgate.com/technology/ 21. Kurt Lang and Gladys Ethel Lang, Television and
183–185. article/Dictionary-com-kompromat-fake-news- Politics (Piscataway, N.J.: Transaction Publishers,
7. See also National Association for Media Literacy alt-12238807.php. 2002).
Education, “The Core Principles of Media 14. Cathy J. Cohen, Joseph Kahne, Benjamin Bowyer, 22. Allcott and Gentzkow, 211.
Literacy Education,” http://namle.net/publications/ Ellen Middaugh, Jon Rogowski, “Participatory 23. Zeynep Tufekci, Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power
core-princ iples.
Politics: New Media and Youth Political Action,” and Fragility of Networked Protest (New Haven,
8. Hunt Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow, “Social (Oakland, Calif.: Youth and Participatory Politics Conn.: Yale University Press, 2017).
Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election,” Research Network, 2012), http://ypp.dmlcentral.
Journal of Economic Perspectives 31 no. 2 (2017): net/sites/all/fi les/publications/YPP_Survey_Report_
211–236. FULL.pdf. Meghan McGlinn Manfra is an associate
9. Victoria Pasquantonio, “Real Things Teachers Can 15. Joseph Kahne and Benjamin Bowyer, “Educating professor of social studies education at North Caro-
Do to Combat Fake News,” PBS News Hour (July for Democracy in a Partisan Age: Confronting the lina State University. Her research focuses on digital
12 2017) www.pbs.org/newshour/education/real- Challenges of Motivated Reasoning and history and action research for professional learning.
things-teachers-can-combat-fake-news. Misinformation,” American Educational Research She can be contacted at meghan_manfra@ncsu.edu.
10. Andrew Guess, Grendan Nyhan, and Jason Reifler. Journal 54 no. 1 (February 2017): 3–34; Alan C.
“Selective Exposure to Misinformation: Evidence Miller, “Confronting Confirmation Bias: Giving Casey Holmes is a doctoral student studying
From the Consumption of Fake News during the Truth a Fighting Chance in the Information Age,” social studies education at North Carolina State
2016 U.S. Presidential Campaign,” (January 9, Social Education 80 no. 5 (2016): 276–279.
University. Her research interests include civic edu-
2018), www.dartmouth.edu/~nyhan/fake-news-20 16. Howard G. Lavine, Christopher D. Johnston, and
16.pdf. cation, global learning, and educating immigrant
Marco R. Steenbergen, The Ambivalent Partisan:
11. Smithsonian Libraries, “Infinite Worlds: Exploring How Critical Loyalty Promotes Democracy youth in the social studies classroom. She can be
the World and Seeking Extraterrestrial Life,” 2015, (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2012); contacted at cholmes@ncsu.edu. Both authors
https://library.si.edu/exhibition/page/infinite-worlds. Charles S. Taber and Milton Lodge, “Motivated encourage readers to critically evaluate the websites
12. William Jennings Bryan, The Commoner Skepticism in the Evaluation of Political Beliefs,” and resources cited here.
teachersVolume
Condensed, key VII (Chicago, Ill.: The American Journal of Political Science 50 no. 3

Heuristics for Developing Media Literacy

Key Questions to Ask When Analyzing Media Messages (NCSS Position Statement)
www.socialstudies.org/publications/socialeducation/may-june2016/media-
literacy
Provides a series of questions related to the topics of: “audience and authorship,”
“messages and meanings,” and “representations and reality.” Never miss
Ten Questions for Fake News Detection
another issue of
www.thenewsliteracyproject.org/sites/default/files/GO- Social Education!
TenQuestionsForFakeNewsFINAL.pdf
An interactive handout in which students circle pictures of “red flags”. “The more Go to
red flags you circle, the more skeptical you should be!” socialstudies.org/membership
and renew your
Glen Weibe’s Fact Checking for Fake News
https://historytech.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/student-fact-checkers1.pdf membership, change
A six-part framework for fact checking based in part on the work of SHEG. your address, or update
your member profile.
John DePasquale’s “Determining the Credibility and Reliability of Sources” 7
Questions worksheet
www.scholastic.com/content/dam/teachers/blogs/john-depasquale/2017/JD-
MediaLiteracy-SourcesReliabilityWorksheet.pdf

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