Podcast479: Teaching About Conspiracy Theories and Media Literacy Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts

This podcast features a presentation by Wesley Fryer at the ATLIS (Association of Technology Leaders of Independent Schools) 2022 Conference in Orlando, Florida, on May 3, 2022. The title of the session was, "Teaching About Conspiracy Theories and Media Literacy." The official description was: Conspiracy theories are popular on social media and influence our local as well as national conversations and politics. How we can constructively teach about conspiracy theories and help students develop their media literacy skills to better evaluate information and sources in our digital world? This session will highlight the "Froot Loop Conspiracy Theories" media literacy unit, taught to 6th graders since fall 2020 at Casady School in Oklahoma City. By focusing on the Apollo Moon landings, students learn how to use and apply the "SIFT" web literacy framework (S = Stop, I = Investigate the source, F = Find trusted coverage, T = Trace to the original) analyzing together several online videos. While this unit is designed for middle school students, it an be adapted for other grades / ages / developmental levels. Access the full unit on https://lessons.wesfryer.com/lessons/conspiracy-theories