MeLiTa

This lesson plan tackles the dreaded social media algorithms and how they result in echo-chambers: hearing only voices similar to our own, without exposure to the rest of society, especially people who disagree with us.

In this game, students work in groups to prepare two news items about the same developing story. While one is an objective rundown of the events, the other contains fake and misleading information.

If your school has a PA (Public Address) system, it can be used to run the school radio station. The radio is a very classic medium, which is sometimes misunderstood. Its one-dimensionality is very romantic and deceivingly simple.

This lesson plan provides students with the theoretical framework for sponsored content they encounter daily through media and social networks.

In this lesson, the students take part in an interactive exercise that helps them learn how to recognize sponsored content.

Understanding the role of different stakeholders in a given news bite (or, indeed, a media environment) provides students with a deeper comprehension of the complex dynamics that influence media content, production, distribution, and reception.

Learning how to identify different stakeholders and their importance is a key step to becoming a more informed and critical media consumer.

Media messages are not created in a vacuum; they are shaped by various stakeholders (individuals, groups, or organizations) with specific interests and goals.

Moreover, the media we choose to consume, whether by choosing to watch one YouTube video on a certain topic over another or gravitating towards certain news outlets over others, often reveals our own biases.

In this lesson plan, students assume the roles of various stakeholders and provide input on contentious events or polarising news stories.

The exercise enables them to become more comfortable identifying the arguments underpinning specific stances towards contested social issues and public speaking without having to master the key elements of formal debating.