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Title: Break the Fake: What's real online?
Grade Levels: 3-5
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Overview: In this lesson, students are introduced to the challenges of identifying what is real and what is fake online. After learning some simple steps to verify online information they create a poster that communicates the importance of questioning and double-checking online content.
Link: https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/break-fake-what%E2%80%99s-real-online

Our Rating: 7/10
We liked this activity because it is relevant to issues that our student will be exposed to online and it has a nostalgic feeling. We docked some points however because we don't believe this lesson is well suited towards grade 3's. For grade 5's it's a great lesson, for younger students, they may not find it interesting.

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Level: Grades 3-5

Duration: 45 minutes plus time for the assessment/evaluation task

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts
This lesson plan is part of the Overview Learning Outcomes Break the Fake project. This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.
This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

In this lesson, students are introduced to the challenges of identifying what is real and what is fake online. After learning some simple steps to verify online information they create a poster that communicates the importance of questioning and double-checking online content.

Students will:

Learn simple steps for verifying online information

Practice verifying online information

Understand media literacy key concepts:

Media are constructions

Each medium is a unique aesthetic form

Understand digital literacy key concepts:

Digital media are networked

Digital media are shareable and persistent

Interactions through digital media can have a real impact

Digital media experiences are shaped by the tools we use

Create a media text

Download the Real or Fake? slideshow.

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) are available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

What's real online? Plug and play video lesson

This video version of the above lesson plan is designed so that teachers can present the lesson on a screen or digital whiteboard with minimal preparation. The video lesson is presented by one of MediaSmarts' media education specialists and includes opportunities for discussion, classroom activities and assessment.

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In this lesson, students are introduced to the challenges of identifying what is real and what is fake online. After learning some simple steps to verify online information they create a poster that communicates the importance of questioning and double-checking online content.

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Winning the Cyber Security Game, Bruce, Ben, Tom 

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Winning the Cyber Security Game, Bruce, Ben, Tom 

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https://mediasmarts.ca/sites/default/files/lesson-plans/lesson_winning_cyber_security_game.pdf

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The Anatomy of Cool - Shelby, Eric & Moira

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The Anatomy of Cool - Shelby, Eric & Moira

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Title: The Anatomy of Cool

Link: https://mediasmarts.ca/lessonplan/anatomy-cool-lesson

Topic: Body Image, Marketing and Consumerism, & Stereotyping

Level: Grades 4-7

Overview: This lesson helps students become more aware of the media’s role in determining what, and who, are perceived as being cool. Through class discussion and activities, students explore the differences between superficial and real “coolness,” how marketers use cool to sell products, and how their own attitudes and perceptions are affected by media messages that reinforce specific messages about what coolness is.

Rating: 8/10

Commentary:
- We feel this might be a difficult topic to address and might cause tension between so-called "cool" and "uncool" students. However, often times, health topics are difficult to address and difficulties can be avoided with proper planning and teacher intervention.
- Students may feel like their teacher can't possibly know what it means to be "cool" or "uncool". Therefore, students may or may not grasp the lesson's main idea.

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Level: Grades 4 to 7

Author: MediaSmarts
Overview
This lesson helps students become more aware of the media's role in determining what, and who, are perceived as being cool. Through class discussion and activities, students explore the differences between superficial and real "coolness," how marketers use cool to sell products, and how their own attitudes and perceptions are affected by media messages that reinforce specific messages about what coolness is.
Learning Outcomes
Students will:

understand the influences of the media in defining society's standards regarding who is successful and what is desirable

understand the transience and superficiality of media images and messages regarding who and what is cool

understand how they themselves are influenced by these media images and messages

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) is available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

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Level: Grades 4 to 7 Author: MediaSmarts Overview This lesson helps students become more aware of the media's role in determining what, and who, are perceived as being cool. Through class discussion and activities, students explore the differences between superficial and real "coolness," how marketers use cool to sell products, and how their own attitudes and perceptions are affected by media messages that reinforce specific messages about what coolness is.

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Title: Avatars and body image

Grade level(s): 4-6
Resource type: Lesson plan
Overview: In this lesson, students are introduced to the concept of “avatars” and share their experiences creating and playing avatars in video games and virtual worlds. They then create avatars using a program that is intentionally limited in terms of available body types and gender markers, first creating an avatar of their own gender and then of the opposite gender, and then discuss the program and relate it to representations of gender and body image in games and virtual worlds and in other media. Students then create avatars using a much more flexible version of the program and compare that experience to the more limited version. Finally, students use the more versatile program to create avatars that represent how they see themselves and how they would like others to see them online and reflect on the choices that went into creating them.
Learning outcomes:

Learn the definition of the term “avatar” in a digital context

Consider and discuss the influence of avatars in games and virtual worlds on identity and body image

Create a media product that communicates their self-perception and desired representation

Reflect on the relationship between identity and online representation

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Our rating of the resource:
We think this resource is a great way to introduce or further understand the topic of body image. In this lesson, students get to create an avatar (as they would for a video game) and then discuss the Avatar Maker and how it connects to current representation in the media. We think this resource is especially engaging because it lets students be very hands-on in their learning. Additionally, we know that most students love video games so they will have fun with this learning experience as well.

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Level: Grades 4 to 6

About the Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 60-90 minutes
Overview Learning Outcomes
This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & CREATE: A Digital Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

In this lesson students are introduced to the concept of "avatars" and share their experiences creating and playing avatars in video games and virtual worlds. They then create avatars using a program that is intentionally limited in terms of available body types and gender markers, first creating an avatar of their own gender and then of the opposite gender, and then discuss the program and relate it to representations of gender and body image in games and virtual worlds and in other media. Students then create avatars using a much more flexible version of the program and compare that experience to the more limited version. Finally, students use the more versatile program to create avatars that represent how they see themselves and how they would like others to see them online and reflect on the choices that went into creating them.
Home and School Connection
Students will:

Learn the definition of the term "avatar" in a digital context

Consider and discuss the influence of avatars in games and virtual worlds on identity and body image

Create a media product that communicates their self-perception and desired representation

Reflect on the relationship between identity and online representation

Download the Avatars Online slideshow.

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) are available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

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In this lesson students are introduced to the concept of "avatars" and share their experiences creating and playing avatars in video games and virtual worlds.

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Data Defenders - Teresa, Joseph, Venetia

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Data Defenders - Teresa, Joseph, Venetia

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Title: Data Defenders
Level: Grades 4-6
Overview: Understanding the concept of personal data, the digital environment, personal data regulations, and how to protect their personal identity online.
Rating: 9/10