media literacy

Submitted by Lauren deLaubell on January 17th, 2025
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Short Description: 

The most powerful wizards have gathered to battle one another.  Only one will win.  Wizards must use reliable sources to research incantations for the battle, or their spells will fizzle.  Truly wise wizards must learn to tell the difference. 

Research Wizards is an information literacy card game designed to teach students ages 12+ about source evaluation.  Research Wizards corresponds to the Frame Authority Is Constructed and Contextual, from the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.  Players will discuss and challenge the relative value of various sources, each representing a different suit in the game.  The game includes four major actions/phases:  Parley, when players discuss and decide for themselves the relative value of each suit; Battle, which includes competition, player actions, and Challenges; Vengeance, for eliminated players to impact and speed up the remainder of the game; and Victory.

The Research Wizards website contains free game files, player directions, and printing tips for librarians and teachers who wish to use the game in their classrooms.  The website includes an editable, Microsoft Publisher version of the game.  Noncommercial use of the game is free for educational purposes with attribution to the author.  Librarians and teachers are encouraged to adapt the game as needed for their subject areas, student needs, and as the sources in the game evolve over time.  Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

Players:  3-5 per deck

Play Time:  20-30 minutes, plus discussion

Research Wizards by Lauren deLaubell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0  To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Player directionsdisplayed 1595 times1.02 MB
Printing tipsdisplayed 1512 times26.71 KB
Card deckdisplayed 1560 times2.51 MB
Relevant links: 
Research Wizards
Learning Outcomes: 
    • Wizards will define a variety of traditional and emerging information formats.
    • Wizards will compare a variety of information formats and discuss their relative reliability.
    • Wizards will explore the variation in quality found within specific categories of information (e.g., the wildcard of using resources located by or generated with artificial intelligence).
Discipline: 
AnthropologyArchaeologyArtBiologyBusinessChemistryClassicsCommunication StudiesEconomicsEducationEnglishEnvironmental StudiesEthnic StudiesFilm and TVHealthHistoryInformation ManagementLiberal StudiesLibrary and Information ScienceMultidisciplinaryPhilosophyPolitical SciencePsychologyRhetoric, Composition, and WritingSocial WorkSociologyUrban StudiesWomen's Studies

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Ability Level:

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Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

It is recommended to review directions out loud with students, with pauses for students to sort their decks and conduct the Parley phase of play.  To contextualize and reinforce learning, it is recommended to conclude the game with discussion questions; sample questions are provided at the bottom of the player directions file but may be adjusted as needed.

Suggested Citation: 
deLaubell, Lauren. "Research Wizards." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2025. https://projectcora.org/assignment/research-wizards.
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Teaching Resource

MediaSmarts

K-12 digital media resource from Canada featuring classroom lesson plans, with work sheets, backgrounders, tip sheets and essays, and multimedia games and quizzes.

Submitted by Carolyn Caffrey on June 9th, 2021
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Short Description: 

A toolkit with various instructional materials to teach media and news literacy. Includes an online activity "Fairness and Blanace" where students watch a short video on journalistic standards and answer discussion questions. Then, students can take one or both interactive tutorials on "Lateral Reading" with a focus on fact-checking and/or "Evaluating Information" based on an information need. Also includes a video on the "Anatomy of a News Website" with reflective questions and in-class assignment ideas for librarians or instructors.

Created by Tessa Withorn, Carolyn Caffrey Gardner, Aric Haas, and Amalia Casteneda.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Teaching_Media___News_Literacy_at_CSUDH.pdfdisplayed 1381 times195.79 KB
Relevant links: 
Media & News Literacy Toolkit
Learning Outcomes: 
  • Identify characteristics of news sources (genre, balance, fairness, sources, etc.) in order to effectively interpret news information.
  • Evaluate evidence presented in news sources for verification, independence and accountability.
  • Identify capabilities and constraints of news and emerging media information sources.
  • Recognize the role cognitive bias plays in interpreting and evaluating information in news and emerging media sources.
  • Describe skepticism of news sources as a healthy part of the journalism ecosystem.
Discipline: 
Communication StudiesMultidisciplinary

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Ability Level:

Tags:

Collaborators: 
Tessa Withorn
Suggested Citation: 
Caffrey, Carolyn . "Media & News Literacy Toolkit." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/media-news-literacy-toolkit.
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All assignments contributed to this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike United States License
Submitted by Evelyn Hudson on May 5th, 2021
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Short Description: 

In this hands on activity, students will find and compare/contrast news stories on a single current event/topical discussion to learn the importance of lateral reading and understand how bias can influence information production. 

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
This document contains the lesson plan including learning objectives, resources needed, and timeframe.displayed 999 times20.83 KB
A handout version of the assignment for students containing instructions and media bias chart.displayed 807 times456.33 KB
Relevant links: 
AllSides Media Bias Ratings
Learning Outcomes: 
  • Students will be able to find a variety of resources relating to a topic
  • Students will learn to evaluate credibility of information and information creators
  • Students will learn to read laterally relating to current events
Discipline: 
Library and Information Science

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Ability Level:

Tags:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Hudson, Evelyn. "OMG, Laterally!: Objective media gathering and lateral reading Activity." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/omg-laterally-objective-media-gathering-and-lateral-reading-activity.
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All assignments contributed to this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike United States License
Submitted by Lydia Bello on March 31st, 2021
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Short Description: 

During this activity, students work with their lab partners to apply Mike Caulfield’s “Four Moves and a Habit” to a piece of science information they have found on the open web.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Lesson Plan displayed 1266 times229.33 KB
Pre-lab Canvas Quiz questions developed by Andrea Verdan, Seattle University Chemistry displayed 1380 times99.7 KB
In Class Activity Templatedisplayed 1251 times55.69 KB
Relevant links: 
Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers, by Mike Caulfield
Learning Outcomes: 
  • Upon completing this activity, students will
    • Identify strategies to evaluate scientific information or media on the web in an efficient manner
    • Understand the characteristics that differentiate scholarly versus popular literature
Discipline: 
BiologyChemistryEnvironmental StudiesMultidisciplinary

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Ability Level:

Tags:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

I use this activity every year in the lab section of General chemistry. At this level of chemistry students are rarely doing research work that involves chemistry literature, and don’t necessarily have chemistry research questions or a need for understanding the library research databases for for the class. However, students at this level are engaging with science information in the classroom and outside the classroom, and this is a great opportunity to build skills needed to engage with information in online spaces. 

Since I developed this assignment, Mike Caulfield has developed a new framework based on the Four Moves, called SIFT. At this point I’ve stayed with Four Moves and a Habit because it comes with an open textbook that I can assign pre-class reading from, and because the named concept of lateral reading has been useful for students.

Many thanks to Andrea Verdan, Seattle University Chemistry, for her work on developing this lesson plan and developing the pre-lab quiz questions.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

I’ve included a lesson plan, word document of the in-class activity, and copy of quiz questions used in Canvas as a pre-lab quiz. The lesson plan does not include much of the language I use to describe the concepts. If you want to know how I frame my explanations, please don’t hesitate to ask! 

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
There is no assessment criteria for this assignment, other than completion.
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

THe most successful way to teach these moves is to demonstrate them live, with all the risks that may entail. It is useful to identify one or two examples that you can use to practice the different moves. During the activity it is useful to keep an eye on the collaborative document (Google Doc) students are working on, and use it to check in with individual groups. 

Suggested Citation: 
Bello, Lydia. "“Four Moves and a Habit” in General Chemistry Lab ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/%E2%80%9Cfour-moves-and-habit%E2%80%9D-general-chemistry-lab-0.
Copyright icon to go along with copyright rules.
All assignments contributed to this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike United States License
Submitted by Lydia Bello on March 31st, 2021
Share this on: 
Short Description: 

During this activity, students work with their lab partners to apply Mike Caulfield’s “Four Moves and a Habit” to a piece of science information they have found on the open web.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Lesson Plan displayed 1266 times229.33 KB
Pre-lab Canvas Quiz questions developed by Andrea Verdan, Seattle University Chemistry displayed 1380 times99.7 KB
In Class Activity Templatedisplayed 1251 times55.69 KB
Relevant links: 
Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers, by Mike Caulfield
Learning Outcomes: 
  • Upon completing this activity, students will
    • Identify strategies to evaluate scientific information or media on the web in an efficient manner
    • Understand the characteristics that differentiate scholarly versus popular literature
Discipline: 
BiologyChemistryEnvironmental StudiesMultidisciplinary

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Ability Level:

Tags:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

I use this activity every year in the lab section of General chemistry. At this level of chemistry students are rarely doing research work that involves chemistry literature, and don’t necessarily have chemistry research questions or a need for understanding the library research databases for for the class. However, students at this level are engaging with science information in the classroom and outside the classroom, and this is a great opportunity to build skills needed to engage with information in online spaces. 

Since I developed this assignment, Mike Caulfield has developed a new framework based on the Four Moves, called SIFT. At this point I’ve stayed with Four Moves and a Habit because it comes with an open textbook that I can assign pre-class reading from, and because the named concept of lateral reading has been useful for students.

Many thanks to Andrea Verdan, Seattle University Chemistry, for her work on developing this lesson plan and developing the pre-lab quiz questions.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

I’ve included a lesson plan, word document of the in-class activity, and copy of quiz questions used in Canvas as a pre-lab quiz. The lesson plan does not include much of the language I use to describe the concepts. If you want to know how I frame my explanations, please don’t hesitate to ask! 

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
There is no assessment criteria for this assignment, other than completion.
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

THe most successful way to teach these moves is to demonstrate them live, with all the risks that may entail. It is useful to identify one or two examples that you can use to practice the different moves. During the activity it is useful to keep an eye on the collaborative document (Google Doc) students are working on, and use it to check in with individual groups. 

Suggested Citation: 
Bello, Lydia. "“Four Moves and a Habit” in General Chemistry Lab ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/%E2%80%9Cfour-moves-and-habit%E2%80%9D-general-chemistry-lab.
Copyright icon to go along with copyright rules.
All assignments contributed to this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike United States License
Submitted by Justin de la Cruz on October 22nd, 2020
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Short Description: 

Background information, assignment, and reflection on analyzing information received from the news.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Verifying Information in the News.pdfdisplayed 1048 times78.14 KB
Learning Outcomes: 
Students will learn how to analyze the information they receive from the news.
Students will reflect on how they receive and share information.
Discipline: 
Library and Information Science

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Ability Level:

Tags:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
de la Cruz, Justin. "Verifying Information in the News." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2020. https://projectcora.org/assignment/verifying-information-news.
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All assignments contributed to this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike United States License
Submitted by Emilia Marcyk on October 25th, 2019
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Short Description: 

This class outline is based on the Four Moves and a Habit from Mike Caufield's Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers.
It was designed for a first year writing class for students in an interdisciplinary STEM major. For their main class assignment, they were investigating a "fact" within their chosen scientific field, and tracing it to its origin. In addition to our in-class work they were also assigned to read:

Rekdal, O. B. (2014). Academic urban legends. Social Studies of Science, 44(4), 638–654. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312714535679

The class was designed to take 70 minutes, with approximately 72 students attending. The attached PDF gives an outline for the lesson, with notes for further context.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
factchecking-presentation-and-outline.pdfdisplayed 1073 times1.34 MB
Relevant links: 
Intro to Fact Checking Slides (Google)
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will use the Four Moves and a Habit to trace the source of a claim, in order to:

  • understand where a claim originated
    make an informed choice about whether to believe a claim
  • incorporate similar strategies into future academic work
Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Ability Level:

Tags:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Marcyk, Emilia. "Introduction to Fact Checking ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/introduction-fact-checking.
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All assignments contributed to this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike United States License
Submitted by Amanda M. on March 14th, 2018
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Short Description: 

This lesson was developed for a Photography course on the theory and psychology of photography (non-majors and majors both take this course). This lesson is typically presented at the beginning of a course section on the aesthetics of photography. It was meant to challenge their assumptions about art, information (online) as a commodity, and copyright practices of artists. Students may be asked to look up Richard Prince before class or during, as the lesson suggests.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Richard Prince, Aesthetics, Value of Info.pdfdisplayed 1126 times73.25 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Identify and discuss relevant issues related to the work of Richard Prince, including copyright, appropriation, and visual information as a commodity.
Consider the original context of the work of Richard Prince and critique whether these images, in this new context, take on a different meaning.
Discuss the choices that Richard Prince has made in the production of his work to influence interpretation and aesthetic value

Discipline: 
Art

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Ability Level:

Tags:

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
See lesson plan
Suggested Citation: 
M., Amanda. "Richard Prince, Aesthetics, and the Value of Information." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/richard-prince-aesthetics-and-value-information.
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Teaching Resource

Teaching about Propaganda: An Examination of the Historical Roots of Media Literacy

Article by Renee Hobbs and Sandra McGee that traces the origins of teaching and learning about propaganda, examining some instructional materials produced in the 1930s by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis (IPA).

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