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<\/p>\nGoogle announced this morning it\u2019s expanding its two-year-old digital safety and citizenship curriculum for children, \u201cBe Internet Awesome,\u201d to now include media literacy \u2014 specifically, the ability to identify so-called \u201cfake news\u201d and other false content. The company is launching six new media literacy activities for the curriculum that will help teach kids things like how to avoid a phishing attack, what bots are, how to verify that information is credible, how to evaluate sources, how to identify disinformation online, spot fake URLs, and more.<\/p>\n
The new media literacy classes \u2014 which frankly, some adults should read through as well \u2014 were developed in collaboration with Anne Collier, executive director of The Net Safety Collaborative, and Faith Rogow, Ph.D., co-author of The Teacher\u2019s Guide to Media Literacy and a co-founder of the National Association for Media Literacy Education.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need the right tools and resources to help kids make the most of technology, and while good digital safety and citizenship resources exist for families, more can be done for media literacy,\u201d writes educator and teachmama.com founder Amy Mascott, in an announcement on Google\u2019s blog today. \u201cI\u2019ve worked alongside dozens of educators who believe that media literacy is essential to safety and citizenship in the digital age, but agree that it\u2019s a topic that can be tough to cover.\u201d<\/p>\n
The courses offer kids not only instruction, but also a combination of activities and discussion starters aimed at helping them develop critical thinking skills when it comes to pursuing online resources.<\/p>\n
Its overall theme, the course material explains, is to help kids understand that the content they find online isn\u2019t necessarily true or reliable\u00a0 \u2014 and it could even involve malicious efforts to steal their information or identity.<\/p>\n
The kids learn how phishing works, why it\u2019s a threat, and how to avoid it. They then practice their anti-phishing skills by acting out and discussing reactions to suspicious online texts, posts, friend requests, pictures, and emails.<\/p>\n
In the bots section, they learn about how A.I. works and compare and contrast talking to a bot versus talking to a human being.<\/p>\n
In the following media literacy sections, kids learn what a credible source is, how to figure out what a source\u2019s motives are, and learn that \u201cjust because a person is an expert on one thing doesn\u2019t make them an expert on everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a related classroom activity, the kids pick a question related to something they\u2019ve seen online or are learning in class and try to get the answers online, while figuring out if the sources are credible.<\/p>\n
They also learn to fact check credible sources with other credible sources as a way to look for a variety of sources.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can\u2019t find a variety of credible sources that agree with the source you are checking, you shouldn\u2019t believe that source,\u201d the curriculum explains.<\/p>\n
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Kids are additionally taught how to spot fake information using clues like deceptive URLs as well as checking the sources for credibility. They\u2019re told that some people don\u2019t know how to do this, and share fake information online \u2014 which is how it spreads.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of people and groups who are so passionate about what they believe that they twist the truth to get us to agree with them. When the twisted information is disguised as a news story, that\u2019s disinformation,\u201d the curriculum says.<\/p>\n
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Kids are also informed that some of the fake news organizations are hard to spot because they use names that sound like they\u2019re real.<\/p>\n
And the course delves into various tricks some websites use \u2014 like using photos that don\u2019t relate to the story, using clickbait words like \u201cshocking\u201d or \u201coutrageous\u201d which they know make people curious,\u201d using bold, underline, exclamation points or ALL CAPS, to convince you to agree with them.<\/p>\n
This section concludes with an online game, Reality River, that asks kids to use their best judgment in order to cross the river rapids. This takes place in Interland<\/em>, the game developed as a companion to Google\u2019s digital safety and citizenship curriculum.<\/p>\n The overall goal of the media literacy course is to encourage the kids to make checking all news and information a habit \u2014 not just those they think seem suspicious.<\/p>\n Google says the new curriculum is available online for both teachers and families alike to use, and are offered in English, Spanish and eight other languages.<\/p>\n Google is partnering with the YMCA and National PTA across multiple cities to host online safety workshops, as well.<\/p>\n \u201cText, images, and video are the paint swatches of 21st-century artists \u2014 with a single catch: this form of art has to communicate, engage, and sell.\u201d \u2015 Laura Busche –\u00a0Visit THE ONLINE PUBLISHERS<\/a> for high quality content creation services<\/a> and professional, artistic photography.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Where You Can Get Paid As A Social Media Influencer Online<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Solutions for Social Media Influencers<\/a>: TOP.<\/strong><\/p>\n TOP Platform Foreign Direct Investment<\/a>\u00a0Promotion Package.<\/strong><\/p>\n Ways for Social Media Influencers to Make Money with TOP Platform<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n TOP Enables Photographers<\/a>\u00a0To Earn More Money From Home.<\/strong><\/p>\n Find A Large Ebooks<\/a>\u00a0Library With\u00a0TOP Platform<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n You Need TOP Online Reputation<\/a>\u00a0Building Today For These 3 Reasons.<\/strong><\/p>\n How To Get Fast Google Reviews Online<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n 1 Effective Way TOP Helps Advertisers<\/a>\u00a0Today.<\/strong><\/p>\n 3 Reasons To Start Getting Online Reviews<\/a>\u00a0With TOP Today.<\/strong><\/p>\n 3 Steps To Making More Money Online<\/a>\u00a0With Translating Through TOP.<\/strong><\/p>\n 3 Ways Advertisers<\/a>\u00a0Make Money With TOP.<\/strong><\/p>\n content publishing and digital marketing<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yves Saint Laurent: The Last Collections<\/a>\u00a0review \u2013 shocking portrait of a fashion legend.<\/strong><\/p>\n How & Where to Gamble When Travelling in the Middle East<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Hiccups in a newborn<\/a>\u00a0could mean their brains are developing say researchers.<\/strong><\/p>\n Prada will host its Resort 2021 fashion<\/a>\u00a0show in Japan.<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-24-at-10.06.48-AM.png\")
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