1. Home
  2. TO DO LIST
  3. NewsFeed Defenders Online News Literacy Game

NewsFeed Defenders challenges high school and adult players to navigate online content by moderating a social news platform, Newsably. Their mission: attract new readers to the site while also fighting against clickbait, viral deception, and flagrant bias.

The news literacy game NewsFeed Defenders, developed jointly by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) and iCivics, has been named a finalist in Fast Company’s 2019 World Changing Ideas Awards in the education category.

NewsFeed Defenders is available free on the web at FactCheck.org and at iCivics and as an app for tablets through iTunes and Google Play.

Learning Objectives

  • Identify markers of verification, transparency, accountability, and independence in news stories.
  • Define and identify problematic news items, and other news-related types of misinformation.
  • Explain a variety of strategies to verify images and information.
  • Evaluate text for bias based on word choices and framing methods.
  • Use third-party information to judge the credibility of a source.
  • Evaluate the benefits and challenges of digital news and social media to a democratic society.

Additional Resources

  • Lesson Plan
  • How to Flag Fake News on Facebook
  • Misinformation Directory
  • How to Spot Fake News (video)
  • How to Spot Fake News (article)
  • Download on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play

 PLAY NOW: FactCheck.org Games

2019: FactCheck.org is celebrating 15 years of holding politicians accountable.

Watch Video: How to Spot Fake News - FactCheck.org
Fact Check

FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. FactCheck.org monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. The FactCheck.org goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.

FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The APPC was established by publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg to create a community of scholars within the University of Pennsylvania that would address public policy issues at the local, state and federal levels.

About the Annenberg Public Policy Center
Founded in 1993, the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania is the home of FactCheck.org and Annenberg Classroom, which are dedicated to enhancing media literacy and civic knowledge. FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. It has published a video and article showing voters how to spot bogus claims in the news and on social media and has partnered with Facebook to identify and label false viral posts. Annenberg Classroom, a project of the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics, provides teachers with a free multimedia curriculum to teach the Constitution to middle and high school students. Its resources include games, timelines, lesson plans and videos, including a dozen award-winning films produced by the Sunnylands-APPC Constitution Project, whose advisors have included Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Stephen Breyer, and Anthony Kennedy.

iCivics | Free Lesson Plans and Games for Learning Civics

Civic responsibilities encompass actions like registering to vote and voting, and serving on statutory boards and committees. If you read the newspaper, watch TV or get your information online, you have been exposed to strategies that attempt to sway voter opinion. iCivics exists to engage students in meaningful civic learning. Civics Games encouraging creativity and building effective institutions to help address some of the world's most challenging problems.

Lesson Plans and Activities

USCIS offers lesson plans with instructions and teaching strategies for novice and seasoned ESL instructors preparing students for U.S. citizenship.

Read More: Citizenship Resource Center

  catinhat4prez
 

The Cat in the Hat is running for President as the kids’ candidate, and he wants you to help choose his first order of business when he gets into office! Have fun and learn more about The Cat's five partner organizations with the activities!

Ask USA.gov a Question Call 1-844-USAGOV1 (1-844-872-4681)

USA.gov En Español

 Public Downloads

All items are free to view, share, and download.

Public Downloads - Español (Spanish)

When available, we provide all our content with a Spanish version in our public download section. You can find additional material from sources listed in all our articles.


 
 

Categories