Media influence: What is fake news?
Downloads can take a few minutes, especially for larger files or slower connections.
Threads
Why this why now
In Year 4, pupils are increasingly active online and encounter advertising, misinformation and fake news. Building on previous online safety learning, this unit extends to critically evaluating information, recognising bias and identifying fake news. This is timely as pupils need skills to navigate the online landscape discerningly. By exploring these concepts now, pupils develop critical thinking to question sources, identify misinformation, understand content motivations and report harmful material.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Pupils may know that not everything online is true or accurate and that they need to think carefully about what they see and read.
- Pupils should understand from earlier learning that people online may have different motivations for sharing content including commercial reasons.
- Pupils know they should choose what to do online carefully and that they should feel safe online.
- Pupils may understand they should never share personal images or videos with strangers online and should not share embarrassing or sensitive images.
- Pupils should know they can report concerns about the online world to a trusted adult if something makes them feel worried or uncomfortable.
Threads
Why this why now
In Year 4, pupils are increasingly active online and encounter advertising, misinformation and fake news. Building on previous online safety learning, this unit extends to critically evaluating information, recognising bias and identifying fake news. This is timely as pupils need skills to navigate the online landscape discerningly. By exploring these concepts now, pupils develop critical thinking to question sources, identify misinformation, understand content motivations and report harmful material.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Pupils may know that not everything online is true or accurate and that they need to think carefully about what they see and read.
- Pupils should understand from earlier learning that people online may have different motivations for sharing content including commercial reasons.
- Pupils know they should choose what to do online carefully and that they should feel safe online.
- Pupils may understand they should never share personal images or videos with strangers online and should not share embarrassing or sensitive images.
- Pupils should know they can report concerns about the online world to a trusted adult if something makes them feel worried or uncomfortable.
Media influence: What is fake news?
This unit gives pupils skills to understand elements of the online world such as advertising, misinformation and content creator motivations. Pupils learn to identify bias, recognise fake news, critically evaluate online information, report harmful content and make discerning online choices.
4 lessons in unit
slide decks, worksheet PDFs, quizzes and lesson overviews. You can select individual lessons from the Media influence: What is fake news? unit and download the resources you need, or download the entire unit now. See every unit listed in our primary rshe (pshe) curriculum and discover more of our teaching resources for primary rshe (pshe) programmes.