Teach Primary Issue 19.5

• What makes information trustworthy? • Why might someone create disinformation? • How can you check if something is true? image shows, and what it might be hiding. Invite them to consider what someone could write as a caption, and how that would change the meaning of the moment captured. Once complete, have each group create a short ‘newsflash’ explaining their interpretation of what might be happening in the image, and whether it could mislead others. This draws in creative thinking and reinforces conceptual understanding. 3 | DISCUSS AND REFLECT Bring everyone back together and reveal the full, uncropped Jessica E. Boyd image. How does seeing the whole picture change things? Invite children to share annotations and reflections. Was their (find this in the download link on the right, and read more about it at tinyurl.com/ tp-malinfo ). Each group becomes a team of visual detectives, asking: What does the image show? How do you know? Is it true? Why/why not? What parts could mislead people? Which sections feel incomplete or out of context? Could any of this be labelled as misinformation, disinformation, or malinformation? Why? Assign roles within groups such as observer, questioner, and annotator. Then rotate. This builds participation and deepens engagement. Ask children to annotate the image directly or use sticky notes to identify what the • Turn your classroom into a ‘fake news gallery’. Use anonymised and fictionalised screenshots or posts. Can the class correctly identify them as misinformation, disinformation, or malinformation? What clues helped them decide? • You could challenge children to write two contrasting captions for the same photo: one truthful, one misleading. Display them side by side, asking the children to explain the difference and justify their reasoning. • Explore child-friendly fact-checking tools like Newsround and Snopes.com Discuss how we can double-check a claim before liking, sharing, or commenting. • Facilitate a whole-class discussion: “If someone didn’t know a post was false, should they still be held responsible for sharing it?” • Invite pupils to create a ‘top tips for sharing wisely’ infographic to share online or display in class, encouraging critical, kind, and cautious online behaviour. EXTENDING THE LESSON initial impression fair? Why might people share only part of a story? Highlight how visual media can be easily manipulated, not just through editing, but through framing and captioning. Emphasise that often, people will share what they want you to see, not what is truly there. This is when we reinforce that being digitally literate means being digitally curious. Link back to the original scenarios. Ask: Has anyone changed their mind about any of them after doing the image task? This encourages children to reflect on the learning process, and how being exposed to more context, or even more critical conversations, can shift thinking. To move deeper, you can introduce the idea of credible sources; how do we know something is reliable? (E.g. have you heard of the source before – newspapers like The Guardian or The Times , or outlets like the BBC, for instance; is there an author listed, and can you find them online, etc?) Remind pupils that checking the source of an article, image or video is an essential part of digital literacy. Karl McGrath is a Year 6 teacher, curriculum task design lead, and computing lead with a passion for blending digital tools into learning. “This lessonwill help children to become confident critical thinkers” USEFUL QUESTIONS Download example images and video at tinyurl.com/tp-MisInfo www.teachwire.net | 79