Technology & Innovation - Issue 11

are already being developed in classrooms everywhere. Right from the first time they tackle a multiple-choice question with deliberately plausible wrong answers, through to ‘guesstimating’ the solution before using a calculator, examining the historical contexts in which plays, poems or novels were written, and replicating age-old experiments in science labs to see whether the conclusions still stand, pupils are taught, over and over, to check their work . I wonder, though, whether this aspect of teaching should be made evenmore explicit, or even somehow worked into accountability measures. If a school really is Good, or even Outstanding, shouldn’t its pupils leave with a healthy level of scepticism towards the things they’re being asked to accept and believe? I’mnot suggesting there should be endless debate around every single name, date or equation presented for students to learn (although, my most memorable lesson ever was when our brilliant Y6 maths teacher cut a paper circle into segments, then rearranged them in a rough oblong by way of proving Pythagoras’ theorem to us – so muchmore powerful than just committing the formulae to memory). Rather, it’s about consistently encouraging students to reinforce their learning independently, evidence their opinions and question their sources. Exactly what I expect, in fact, from every journalist writing for First News . Knowledge may well be power, and the transfer of it is absolutely the core business of schools, but I’m convinced that being able to separate the truth from an attractive or convincing falsehood is a superpower to which all our young people should be entitled. And that it should be a priority for everyone involved in education. Because the more teachers are able to address this – in corridors and playgrounds, as well as classrooms – the harder it will be for bad actors to persuade people, of any age, that the Earth is flat. Or worse. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nicky Cox MBE is editor-in-chief of First News , a weekly newspaper for readers aged 7-14. To find out more about the paper and its accompanying free resources, visit tinyurl.com/TSFirstNews 3 CRITICAL LITERACY ACTIVITIES 1 Organise the students into groups, giving each a different page or spread from a suitable newspaper. Ask them to decide together which of the stories they can see is the most interesting/ important/credible, then rotate the groups and repeat the exercise until all have seen every page. Discuss their choices as a class, insisting that they justify them where necessary. Has anyone changed their mind? Why/ why not? 2 Share a selection of short news articles with the headlines removed and ask students to come up with appropriate titles. For an additional challenge, specify the target audience of the publication. This exercise can also work in reverse, with learners trying to predict the content of a story (and again, for extra challenge, the intended audience) from the headline alone. 3 Find coverage of the same story from a variety of newspapers. Ask the learners to compile a list of similarities and differences between the reports. Are there any details which are exactly the same, regardless of the publication? Which ‘facts’ do they trust, and why? Can they think of any ways in which they could confirm their choices? 23 teachwire.net D E V E LO P M E N T S