Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: The walk of life

15 minutes

Find Out: Process of fact-checking

25 minutes

Take Action: Survey designers

5 minutes

Reflection: Reflect on the experience

Learning intentions

Students will:

understand some of the ways to check the validity of a source
understand the different needs and challenges of age groups in identifying misinformation and disinformation.

Success criteria

Students can:

articulate key communication needs of their assigned age group
apply these needs to a short survey explicitly designed for their age group audience.

Tune In: The walk of life

Step 1

Randomly divide the class into 4 groups. For example, each group can be split into table groupings or allocated a specific classroom area.

Step 2

Turn to each of the 4 groups and inform them that they will represent 1 of these age groups (as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics).

Write the 4 categories on the board, leaving space to add notes next to each age group:

kids – under 18
young adults – age 18 to 24
adults – age 25 to 64
seniors – age 65 and over

Step 3

In their groups, students discuss and decide on 5 things they can reasonably expect from this group in 3 minutes. For example, kids have limited experience with media, young adults are highly aware of social media trends, adults have time constraints that limit them from fact-checking, and senior people are less likely to be very familiar with digital platforms.

Step 4

Each group shares 1 or 2 assumptions about their assigned age group. Record keywords about these assumptions on the board next to the age group as they share ideas. As the teacher, your role is to challenge any assumptions that slide over into negative stereotyping. Remind students that huge diversity will exist within these categories.

Your class may have different assumptions, but suggested answers could be:

Category	Reasonable assumptions
Kids – under 18	• they are in school • limited experience with media and the world • may believe more of what they read • might not be confident in reading, especially younger kids
Young adults – age 18 to 24	• driven by social trends and highly aware of what is ‘in’ • very plugged into social media • capable with technology • some, but not all, will be in full-time employment
Adults – age 25 to 64	• likely to be working or caring for family full-time+ • tend to have limited time to check facts • use technology for specific purposes • may not notice gaps in experience or • knowledge due to lack of time to learn new techniques • may use a mix of conventional news sources and social media
Seniors – age 65 and over	• most likely retired, have more leisure time • might be less familiar with digital media • have time to check facts – may be less aware of how to • may rely more on conventional news sources and less on social media

Find Out: Process of fact-checking

Step 1

As a class, read and discuss this short article (acma.gov.au/articles/2024-02/acma-research-reveals-australian-news-consumption-trends) by the Australian Communications Media Authority about changing sources for news information in Australia. For your use, the key messages explored in the article include:

More Australians are using social media as their primary news source.
Free-to-air television, news websites and apps, and print newspapers were also mentioned as news sources.
Young adults drive this increase, with nearly half naming social media as the primary news source. About a third of these young people also named celebrities and influencers as news sources.
By contrast, about half of older senior Australians aged 75 and over read a print newspaper for news content.

Step 2

Ask the class to help you add reasonable assumptions to our table about any age group classifications resulting from this information.

Step 3

Return to the article and model to students how you would check that this article comes from a reputable source by walking them through these checks:

Check the web address	It is a government domain (.gov.au). This means that a government agency regulates the address.
Check the logo	It carries the official Australian Government logo (top left).
Research who they are	The Australian Communications Media Authority is an official government media regulatory body that regulates broadcasting, radiocommunications, telecommunications, and online content.
Check the copyright statement	At the bottom of the page, the copyright statement is the Commonwealth of Australia, further confirming that its government status is true.
Check the ABN	Using the ABN look-up tool, search the ACMA details to learn more about their trading name and when they began.
View other details	• This article is a media release about an ACMA report. • Clicking through to the report enables a reader to view details of the research it discusses, including the methodology and data quality statement. You can even access the data itself.

Take Action: Survey designers

Step 1

Split the original 4 groups in half, creating small groups of 3-4 students, each focusing on their initially assigned age group.

Step 2

With the whole class, discuss this prompt, drawing on the modelling of the ACMA site:

If they were doing this, which steps do we as a group think our age group might skip or ignore? Why?

For example, seniors might not know how to check a site's URL, and kids might be unable to read complicated words.

Step 3

Give all groups 2-3 minutes to document any specific barriers to checking a source, recording their group’s thoughts on a piece of paper.

Step 4

As a class, discuss groups’ thoughts from Step 2 and examples of effective communication that meets the needs of this age group, such as:

Age group	Communication needs
Kids – under 18	• Write in simple words to make sure they can read it. • Have an audio option with a clear button to speak it. • Include cartoon characters and bright colours to engage them. • Kids might need definitions of key terms, eg they might not really know what news is defined as.
Young adults – age 18 to 24	• Refer to social media examples, or speak/write in styles that will be familiar with social media trends. • Use trendy colours. • Make the data collection survey shareable.
Adults – age 25 to 64	• Make it quick to read instructions for people in a hurry. • Focus on practical tools such as fast but reliable fact-checking tools. • State the benefits of checking facts.
Seniors – age 65 and over	• Ensure you have the highest level of accessibility for low vision, speech browsers. • Use larger fonts and a clear layout. • Consider having human helpers engage with the technology and collect the data.

Step 5

Working in their groups, students create survey slideshows using Canva or similar digital tools for their age group to determine how their age group consumes media and fact-checks information.

The survey should consist of 3-5 questions about where people get current news information and how they check information, such as:

Where do you get your news information from?
Do you think a major national newspaper is more accurate than a blog or vlog? (This can be changed to other platforms depending on the age group).
What makes you think a piece of information might be dodgy?
How do you check the validity of a source?
How do you check something you hear on social media?
What clues tell you something is opinion, not fact?

Step 6

Each survey slide should incorporate a method for communicating these questions clearly to meet the needs of the assigned age group through choices of format, style, colours, accessibility, and how the surveys are presented to their audience.

Step 7 (optional)

Students brainstorm a plan to use the survey on their age group and report their findings to the class at a later date.

Reflection

Working individually, students reflect on the experience of designing for an audience of a specific age group. Have they noticed any new challenges relating to helping all people, regardless of age, to check facts and combat misinformation?

Different First Steps for Different People

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