NDM 9

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

- The Guardian

This article talks about how fake news is a growing problem especially within kids who are now increasingly influences by the internet. They have found that children have started to cite false information that they have found online within the work and in class. Fake news has made it increasingly difficult for children to establish what sources can be trusted therefore it has become a necessity for them to have the skill to tell fact from fiction as children use the internet as the main source for information. 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 commission will make a series of recommendations to the government and the education sector in 2018 that will put critical literacy at the heart of the national curriculum

•  a new report from the National Literacy Trust shows that children are not retaining what they’ve been taught. 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.

I think that it is a good idea to introduce this as fake news decreases the accuracy in the children's work which could affect them in the future. Having a set of skills that help them identify what is fake and what isn't will improve their work and further improve what they can use and believe further in life.