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#283300 - 01/12/17 11:10 PM Fake news literacy may be taught in schools
Mark_R Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 05/29/10
Posts: 863
Loc: Southern California
I didn't want to hijack the millennial survival skills thread for this. But, a the age of the internet means a new critical skill that have nothing to do with shelter and fire. The ability to accurately distinguish between facts, spin, and outright falsehoods on the internet.

There are two California congresscritters who have introduced bills to teach media literacy as part of social sciences in grade school

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/if-state-lawmakers-have-their-way-california-schoolchildren-may-be-taught-how-to-spot-%e2%80%98fake-news%e2%80%99/ar-AAlNY8
Quote:

“Ordinary people once relied on publishers, editors, and subject matter experts to vet the information they consumed, but information shared on the Internet is disseminated rapidly and often without editorial oversight, making it easier for fake news to reach a large audience.”

It comes at a time when, Gomez said, “we have seen the corrupting effects of a deliberate propaganda campaign driven by fake news.”

“When fake news is repeated, it becomes difficult for the public to discern what's real,” he said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times. “These attempts to mislead readers pose a direct threat to our democracy.”




Sen. Bill Dodd (D): SB-135

Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D): AB-155
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#283301 - 01/12/17 11:17 PM Re: Fake news literacy may be taught in schools [Re: Mark_R]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
Good topic but can easily go political; with that in mind... As long as the education involves how to discern fact from opinion/hype/spin, it could be a good course for many adults, let alone grades 7-12.

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#283302 - 01/12/17 11:34 PM Re: Fake news literacy may be taught in schools [Re: Russ]
Mark_R Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 05/29/10
Posts: 863
Loc: Southern California
Originally Posted By: Russ
Good topic but can easily go political; with that in mind... As long as the education involves how to discern fact from opinion/hype/spin, it could be a good course for many adults, let alone grades 7-12.


I'm hoping it doesn't go political too. As is no secret, fact checking is my proverbial "Hill to die on". Getting John Q. Public the skillset to critically analyze what he's being told is desperately needed to avoid acting on bad information.
_________________________
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane

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#283303 - 01/12/17 11:50 PM Re: Fake news literacy may be taught in schools [Re: Mark_R]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
The problem with this course will be having an instructor who can teach how to determine fact without imposing "what" is a fact. One of my pet peeves is presumptuousness by people who think they know something but don't. A presumptuousness of people who think something is settled and ...this is going political right here so I'll stop.
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Okay, what’s your point??

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#283304 - 01/13/17 12:44 AM Re: Fake news literacy may be taught in schools [Re: Mark_R]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3219
Loc: Alberta, Canada
I know that these kinds of skills re "discerning the quality of information on the Internet" are part of the elementary curriculum up here. And so they should be.

The recent fake news issues in your recent election notches up the urgency for all of us. A lot of fake news wasn't even deliberately cooked by one side or the other -- it was simply click-bait, manufactured by "entrepreneurs" around the world who get paid by the click. They can say anything, without any consequences. They will not go away: it's easy money. With the fragmentation of Internet news distribution, discernment skills are absolutely critical IMO.

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#283305 - 01/13/17 01:10 AM Re: Fake news literacy may be taught in schools [Re: Mark_R]
UncleGoo Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 12/06/06
Posts: 390
Loc: CT
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#283307 - 01/13/17 02:04 AM Re: Fake news literacy may be taught in schools [Re: UncleGoo]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
I think we can discuss critical thinking without going political.Let's just stick to survival issues, where there is a certain amount of hogwash floating around. Just for one, consider (Un)Bear(able) Grylls various silly stunts, like drinking urine. In terms of rational survival practices, this is a lot of hooey and will lead to a bad outcome.

But you saw it on TV and it's discussed on the internet! We have always needed the ability to think critically, evaluate information, and consider the reliability of the source, especially how biased the source might be. Like so much of our increasingly wired world, the pace has quickened, and one needs to be up to speed.


fake news isn't new,but it is spread much faster by the electronic manure spreaders, gen 4.0, with which we now contend.
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#283311 - 01/13/17 06:28 AM Re: Fake news literacy may be taught in schools [Re: Russ]
Mark_R Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 05/29/10
Posts: 863
Loc: Southern California
Originally Posted By: Russ
The problem with this course will be having an instructor who can teach how to determine fact without imposing "what" is a fact. One of my pet peeves is presumptuousness by people who think they know something but don't. A presumptuousness of people who think something is settled and ...this is going political right here so I'll stop.


Actually. Checking things against a predetermined list of "facts" is closer to dogma than critical thinking. Let me give you an example:

"According to a study" First of all, what exact study? Run it down. Is the study relevant to the article ? Was it rigorous or was it pseudoscience advertising. The same reasoning can also be applied to "they said","this happened", etc. Is it independently verifiable? Is it relevant? What was the context in which it was said or happened?

Another technique is to run down the original source . For example, news site XYZ is qquoting news site IJK. Where is IJK located? An IP address in the Balkans or the Former Soviet Republics for an "American" news service is going to be suspect. A post on social media, or a site with an obvious spin, isn't worth much either.
_________________________
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane

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#283313 - 01/13/17 07:48 AM Re: Fake news literacy may be taught in schools [Re: Mark_R]
Tjin Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 04/08/02
Posts: 1821
I remember being a university student and we would always need to have sources for any fact we would say and those sources need to be proper scientific publication, which is relevant and recongized by the specific field of science.

As for political fake news, to me the way the headlines generally shouts is already a red flag...
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#283315 - 01/13/17 05:38 PM Re: Fake news literacy may be taught in schools [Re: Mark_R]
ATN Offline
Newbie

Registered: 10/14/14
Posts: 46
Originally Posted By: Mark_R
I didn't want to hijack the millennial survival skills thread for this. But, a the age of the internet means a new critical skill that have nothing to do with shelter and fire. The ability to accurately distinguish between facts, spin, and outright falsehoods on the internet.

There are two California congresscritters who have introduced bills to teach media literacy as part of social sciences in grade school

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/if-state-lawmakers-have-their-way-california-schoolchildren-may-be-taught-how-to-spot-%e2%80%98fake-news%e2%80%99/ar-AAlNY8
Quote:

“Ordinary people once relied on publishers, editors, and subject matter experts to vet the information they consumed, but information shared on the Internet is disseminated rapidly and often without editorial oversight, making it easier for fake news to reach a large audience.”

It comes at a time when, Gomez said, “we have seen the corrupting effects of a deliberate propaganda campaign driven by fake news.”

“When fake news is repeated, it becomes difficult for the public to discern what's real,” he said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times. “These attempts to mislead readers pose a direct threat to our democracy.”




Sen. Bill Dodd (D): SB-135

Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D): AB-155



The internet has been around a while and I'm not sure how someone would go about verifying the "real" news. It sounds like someone doesn't like what the "fake" news is saying. I think it would be more useful (and less likely to become political) to teach informal logic courses which help in critical thinking.

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