Tech & Learning — February 2018

30 | FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.TECHLEARNING.COM

By Paul Sanfrancesco, Director of

Technology at Owen J. Roberts School

District (PA)

“I’m afraid that in slipping from truth where one

least ought to slip, I’ll not only fall myself but

also drag my friends down with me.” – Plato, The

Republic, 451a

T

hese words, written more than 2400

years ago, are as relevant today as

when they were first stated. Given the

current concern about “fake news,”

perhaps more than ever, truth can be

difficult to ascertain for educators

and even more challenging for students. Our

responsibility, as educators, is to lead students to

discern truth.

So what can a teacher do who wishes to guide

students in seeking truth in electronic media?

Here are ideas that can be tweaked to meet the

needs of a variety of students:

Article or Editorial: Check to see if the selection

is supposedly written as a factual article or as an

opinion. If it is an article, it contains facts that

can be verified. If it is an opinion, it is what the

writer thinks personally. There is no need to

argue over opinions; everyone has one or more

of those.

Many Minds: Facts can be verified by multiple

sources. Therefore, if a selection purports to

report facts, the same information should be

available through multiple sources. In how

many other sources can you find the same

information?

K-W-L: After reading a selection, create a

K-W-L chart. List facts in column 1 – what you

know to be true because the facts can be verified

elsewhere. List questions in column 2 – because

you want to learn more about them. List look-

fors in column 3 – because you doubt their

veracity and need to look for more information

to determine fact vs. opinion.

Take Me to Your Source: What is the source of

HELPING STUDENTS

FIND THE TRUTH IN A

FAKE NEWS WORLD

Owen J. Roberts Middle School students filming the news

West Vincent students presenting social media awareness to other students