Media Literacy: Teaching & Learning Resources

The teaching and learning resources on this page include educational content geared towards both K-12 students and the general public.

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K-12

  • Checkology – New Literacy Project (NLP): “Checkology is a free e-learning platform with engaging, authoritative lessons on subjects like news media bias, misinformation, conspiratorial thinking and more. Learners develop the ability to identify credible information, seek out reliable sources and apply critical thinking skills to separate fact-based content from falsehoods.
  • Citizen Literacy: “[A]n online toolkit that promotes the development of key information skills for democratic citizenship and features short videos, handouts, and activities that faculty across all disciplines can integrate into their courses and assignments.”
  • Civic Online Reasoning: “[T]he ability to effectively search for, evaluate, and verify social and political information online. We use this term to highlight the civic aims of this work. The ability to evaluate online content has become a prerequisite for thoughtful democratic participation.”
  • Critical Media Project: “[A] free media literacy web resource for educators and students (ages 8-21) that enhances young people’s critical thinking and empathy, and builds on their capacities to advocate for change around questions of identity. CMP has a two-fold mission: To raise critical awareness and provide the tools to decode media representations of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socio-economic class, religion, age, and disability, and develop an understanding as to how these identities intersect.”
  • CTRL+F: “False and misleading information is rampant online, and people lack the skills and motivation to determine what to trust. To build the next generation of informed citizens, we need to adopt new ways to teach digital media literacy and source evaluation.”
  • “Fact Finder – Your Foolproof Guide to Media Literacy” – NewseumED: “Bring the road-tested tools of journalism from the newsroom to your own news feed. Create a complete course of material on today’s media literacy essentials or sharpen a specific skill, from finding quality news to reporting it.” Additional media literacy resources are available.
    • NewseumED has many other teaching and learning resources (e.g., lesson plans, digital artifacts, historical events overviews) sortable by six levels (3-5, 6-8, 9-12, College, Educator, Adult).
  • “Key Questions to Ask When Analyzing Media Experiences” – National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE): A range of question prompts to consider the authorship, purpose, economics, content, techniques and format, interpretation, responses, and credibility of media.
  • KQED for Educators: [F]ree media literacy teaching and learning hub for educators and students. You’ll find professional development courses, classroom resources and unique tools that allow students to practice critical thinking, media making and civil discourse. Provided by the nonprofit public media station KQED.
  • Lesson Plans from European Association for Viewers Interests: “[A]n  international non-profit organization . . . which advocates media literacy and full citizenship.”
  • Lesson Plans from Metuchen School District: Set of plans for 6-12
  • Media Literacy – Edutopia: “Find and share resources to help students learn to analyze, evaluate, and communicate in a world with countless media sources and constant access to powerful computers.”
  • Media Literacy Booster Pack – NewseumED: This collection of resources offers tools to tackle eight pressing challenges, from recognizing bias and propaganda to leveraging your role as a media contributor.
    • NewseumED has many other teaching and learning resources (e.g., lesson plans, digital artifacts, historical events overviews) sortable by six levels (3-5, 6-8, 9-12, College, Educator, Adult).
  • Media Literacy Collection – ReadWriteThink: Lesson plans, calendar activities, and strategy guides.
    • ReadWriteThink: “[P]rovides educators, parents, and afterschool professionals with access to the highest quality practices in reading and language arts instruction by offering the very best in free materials.”
  • Media Literacy Toolkit – Regional Educational Media Center Association of Michigan (REMC): [D]esigned to support educators as they introduce students to the process of finding, organizing, using, producing, evaluating, and distributing information in a variety of media formats. As students acquire more experience with resources available across all mediums, they need support in evaluating the quality of those resources and the information found there, ways to work ethically and professionally with the resources, and strategies to adjust to rapidly changing technological environments and tools. The materials provided in this toolkit are selected to align with the needs of educators embarking on a learner-centered, job-embedded approach to implementing media literacy activities across all grade levels and content areas.
  • Media Literacy Toolkit – WeTeachNYC: “This collection shares resources designed to inspire students to think critically about the complex messages we receive constantly, through various media. Includes articles, videos, protocols and hands-on activities that offer students the opportunity to analyze and discuss news and “news-y” messages. Practice discerning messages, authorship, and bias is necessary for all astute consumers of digital media.”
  • The Media Monsters – National Association of Media Literacy Educators (NAMLE): A media literacy lesson for young students to “identify, reflect and recognize behaviors and media practices in themselves, and identify the media literacy skills needed to improve the ways they engage with media and think critically about the media messages around them.”
  • MediaSmarts: “[E]ducational resources are designed to provide 7–17 year olds with the understanding and tools they need to be critical consumers of the media, looking at important subjects like social media and digital advertising, influencer marketing and body image.”
  • Media Smarts: Provides over 350 teacher resources for digital media literacy.
  • MediaLit Kit – Center for Media Literacy: “[A]n accessible, integrated, research-based teaching strategy needed to assist schools and districts in organizing and structuring teaching activities using a media literacy lens. Based on longstanding theoretical foundations and a research-based approach, education tools contained in the CML MediaLit Kit™ reflect a philosophy of empowerment through education and articulate the key components of an inquiry-based media literacy education.”
  • MediaWise: Media literacy resources for people of all ages, with online educational content and fact-checking training.
    • Teen Fact-Checking Network: “[A] virtual newsroom made up of middle and high schoolers who use social media to debunk viral misinformation and share media literacy tips.”
  • News Literacy Project Resource Library: “[I]ncludes lesson plans, classroom activities, posters and infographics, quizzes and more for educators teaching news literacy.”
  • “Parents Guide to Media Literacy” – National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE): “Teach your kids to ask questions” – the guide provides simple techniques and examples to promote critical thinking at home.
  • PBS News Hour Classroom: Broad range of media literacy resources.
    • Lesson Plans
      • Build a “Media Literacy Survival Kit”: “Students will create their own survival kit explaining and illustrating what skills, ideas or tips are most important when navigating social media and online claims. Use the student-facing guide for students to collaborate in partners or small groups or modify instructions to best suit your class.”
      • How to Fight Truth Decay Through Media Literacy: “It’s easy to think of “disinformation” as a new problem that has sprung up on social media in just the last few years, but intentional disinformation has been used by governments, organizations and individuals for as long as there’s been media. In this lesson, students will use a PBS NewsHour segment to better understand the tactics of disinformation, then learn about and practice geolocation skills to evaluate viral misinformation in an online activity.”
      • What’s in the Frame? – How Media Literacy Helps Students Watch and Dissect the News: “In this lesson, students will be introduced to the media literacy concept of “framing” of a photograph or a video. They will learn how editorial decisions and viewer awareness can be shaped by what is inside and what is left outside of a frame. Students will begin to comprehend the broader meanings behind “framing” a topic or story, and how framing can contribute to misunderstanding, misinformation or reflect the bias of media creators, even when no false information is presented.”
  • Project Look Sharp – Ithaca College: “[A] not-for-profit outreach initiative of Ithaca College to support K-12 educators in the integration of media literacy throughout the curriculum.” Provides an extensive collection of media literacy lessons and professional development resources.
  • Teaching Media Literacy – Its Importance and 10 Engaging Activities: Series of lessons to teach media literacy, K-6 Level

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