An essential skill for 21st-century learners is to know how to find reliable sources of information. Two activities help high schoolers learn how to determine the reliability of health-related news from websites, TV, magazines, or newspapers. The first activity asks individuals to analyze a health news story. The second activity asks them to analyze a food ad.

Concepts

healthy eating, healthy habits, media, cross-media analysis, media analysis, propaganda, propaganda techniques, persuasion, persuasive techniques, critical thinking

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Additional Tags

health

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Instructional Ideas

• Divide the class into four expert groups, assign each a different article to read and analyze, then have experts jigsaw and pass their information along to the new group
• Review propaganda devices and persuasive techniques before beginning the activities

Classroom Considerations

• Requires two handouts and computers with an internet connection
• Some families limit TV time; therefore, if assigning the news reports as homework, share the assignment sheet so that they know the perimeters of the task

Pros

• Includes templates for the evaluation forms
• Provides links to the related information articles

Cons

• None

Common Core

RI.9-10.1 RI.9-10.2 SL.9-10.1.a SL.9-10.2 RI.11-12.1 RI.11-12.2 SL.11-12.1.a SL.11-12.2