Accuracy, Fairness and Ethics-elem

Accuracy, Fairness and Ethics
Elementary and Middle School

Television, newspapers, magazines, computers and the Internet constitute a large segment of what is considered “mass media.” We get most of our information from these sources. It is important that the people responsible for constructing this information environment deal with the elements of accuracy, fairness and ethics in each story. It is our job as consumers of information to question what we are presented with. We need to test the accuracy, fairness and ethics of the stories that are presented. We need to become critical thinkers.

Objective:	Students will evaluate the fairness, accuracy and ethics of a variety of stories found in “mass media.” Students will write a response to a story from the Web.
Procedure:	1. Start by writing a series of statements on the board. Some examples might be: The moon is made of cheese. Columbus discovered America in 1942. The President of the United States if Bill Clinton. Michael Jordan played basketball for the Chicago Bulls. *George cheated on his last mathematics test. Have the students discuss how accurate these statements are. Have the students discuss how fair or ethical it would be to print these statements. 2. Discuss the idea that an article can be written in the press or on the web or broadcast of television or radio and still not be true. 3. Have the students read ‘California Velcro Crop Under Challenge.’ (http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html)
Material:	Hard copy of article or Web access, board
Evaluation:	Click here to get a rubric for evaluation.