M7- Blog Post 6: Reimagining Our Classrooms Through Gaming Integrations

 Play NewsFeed Defenders! 

What is NewsFeed Defenders? 

NewsFeed Defenders is a challenging game that engages students with the standards of journalism, showing them how to spot examples of fake news and deception. Students join a fictional social media site focused on new and information and try to protect the site's integrity. Keeping the site's integrity is done by finding dubious posts that try to sneak in hidden ads, viral deception and false reporting. Students have to maintain the high quality site and grow traffic while keeping the posts on topic. 

Why is it compelling? How does it work? 

 Social Media is everywhere. It can be a great source for news and information, but not all content is created equal. NewsFeed Defender aides students in learning how to separate good information from bad. NewsFeed Defenders sharpens students' news literacy skills.

Welcome to Newsably, a fictional social media site focused on news and information. As NewsFeed Defenders, students are on a mission to maintain the site and grow traffic. In order to be successful, students will learn the elements of high-quality journalism and markers of deceptive posts. Students will need to spot fake posts that try to sneak in through hidden ads, viral deception, and false reporting.

Integration into a Classroom Unit: Grade 7 Research Project 

  

Before embarking on the end of year research project:"How does a person’s decisions and actions affect his or her life? How does a person’s decisions and actions affect the lives of other people?" based on the novel "Tangerine" and three student selected outside sources, students are learning how to spot fake news and deception and to avoid plagiarism before beginning their online research.

Learning objectives for Research Project:

7W1: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

7W1a: Introduce a precise claim, acknowledge and distinguish the claim from a counterclaim, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.

7W1b: Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using credible sources while demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.

7W1c: Use precise language and content-specific vocabulary to argue a claim.

7W1d: Use appropriate transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.

7W1e: Provide a concluding statement or section that explains the significance of the argument presented.

7W1f: Maintain a style and tone appropriate to the writing task

7W6: Conduct research to answer questions, including self-generated questions, drawing on multiple sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate. Generate additional related questions for further research and investigation.

7W7: Gather relevant information from multiple sources; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others; avoid plagiarism and follow a standard format for citation.

7SL4: Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear enunciation.

7SL5: Include digital media and/or visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient points.

How NewsFeed Defenders would support the learning objectives 

• Identify markers of verification, transparency, accountability and independence in news stories

• Define and identify problematic news items and other news-related types of misinformation 

• Explain a variety of strategies to verify images and information 

• Use third party information to judge credibility of a source 

• Evaluate the benefits and challenges of digital news and social media to a democratic society

Implementation - Teacher Prep

Time Needed: 3 class periods 

Materials/Equipment: Access to icivics.org, teaching bundle presentation, student worksheets and quizzes

Create a iCivics.org account, familiarize yourself with the game

 

1. Starter Activities: 

Display Slide A: Pros and Cons, ask students to brainstorm their ideas on the paper handout then call on students to write their ideas on the board

Display Slide B and review the list and ask students to write down and share their ideas on how to mitigate the downside of SM news consumption. 

Display the Slide for Activity C: What Makes News....News? Ask students to offer the kind of rules they would apply to something that might declare itself news. 

Review the next set of slides and discuss each rule, and ask students to note the most important one to watch out for, and note it on the paper handout. Then call for students to share. 

2. Game: 

Direct students to iCivics.org and have them play the game "NewsFeed Defenders" 

Explain  the different elements: community metrics, read and investigate posts, read and post comments, post your own news, approve posts, report posts and feature posts. 

3. Follow up Activity -  Sketch a Public Service Announcement poster warning people about bots and site mirroring. Be sure to include tips to avoid these deceptive practices. 

Scaffolding/Differentiation 

For students who need extra support I would have them pair up with a partner and give them paper copies of all the google slides and instructions. 

For students who can go further I would have them check out two links: 

Misinformation Directory - a list of websites that have posted deceptive content

How to Flag Fake News on Facebook

Assessing 

1. See Follow up activity above 

Also, a NewsFeed Defenders Mini Quiz 

Academic Learning Goals

Literacy Practices - On the game there are achievements and a leader board, by tracking the data here, I can see how successful students are at accuracy, transparency, trustworthiness and impartiality. 

Evidence Collection -The mini quiz grades will show how students are understanding the material, the PSA posters are another way for students to show comprehension. 

Teacher Observation - As I walk around the room as students are playing the game, I can observe how students are understanding and working on their literacy skills. 

Conclusion 

Newsfeed Defender is a great tool to gamify learning about accuracy, transparency, trustworthiness and impartiality when using data from the web. Newsfeed Defenders is a great way to practice their critical literacy skills as well as new media skills. This is a great way for students to prepare to do online research or simply participate in life on the web.