Weekly News 10

Fake news: improved critical literacy skills are key to telling fact from fiction

https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2017/oct/17/fake-news-improved-critical-literacy-skills-teaching-young-people

Key Data/ Statistical Info

•  Fake news can threaten our democracy, our confidence in governance, or our trust in journalism, but it has also been reported to distort children’s view of the world.
• Some 20% of children aged between eight and 15 believe everything they read online is true, and 35% of UK teachers say pupils have cited fake news or false information found online as fact in their work.
• This issue is at the heart of a new commission launched by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Literacy and the National Literacy Trust. The Commission into Fake News and the Teaching of Critical Literacy Skills will look at the impact fake news has on children and young people, and how the skills needed to identify it are being taught.
• The National Literacy Trust has created some free teaching resources to help primary and secondary teachers introduce fake news into their classrooms

This links to NDM as the "fake news" is a common issue on the internet nowadays, as anyone can post anything online. The accuracy of information has always been an issue since the creation of Web 2.0 however new forms of this e.g fake news, can have an impact on younger generations or "digital natives", who heavily rely on the internet. The risk of young people believing everything they see online can affect their academic ability. The article mentions that "critical literacy skills" are therefore vital for young people to identify the accuracy of information.