Hey there! I’m Bianca, and this is Tanner. We’re here to introduce you to a cool tool that can help you learn how to check facts and verify sources. You can find more tools like this at commonsense.org/education.
Today, Tanner is going to tell us about a tool called Control F. It’s a program designed to help you learn about news literacy, which means understanding how to tell if the information you read or hear is true. Control F is free and has been rated highly for students in grades 6 through 12, but it can be adapted for younger students too.
Control F is created by a Canadian non-profit organization called Civics and is based on research, making it a reliable resource. The program includes four main lessons that take about seven hours to complete. Each lesson comes with a plan, a slide deck, videos, and activities to help you practice what you learn.
The lessons are designed to teach you important skills for checking facts using real-world examples. This means you’ll learn how to apply these skills to actual news and social media posts, which can be more challenging than made-up scenarios.
Control F offers its materials in different formats, like Google Classroom, Microsoft formats, and PDFs, so you can choose what works best for you. The lessons feature experts like journalist Jane Litvinenko and professor Mike Caulfield, who guide you through the skills and lessons.
The activities include tasks like analyzing real-world sources and understanding why they were created. This helps you think critically about the information you come across every day.
By using Control F, you’ll gain essential tools for life, like the ability to spot fake news and understand the motivations behind different sources. Although the program focuses mainly on fact-checking, it’s a great start for anyone interested in news literacy.
Overall, Control F is a fantastic resource for learning how to fact-check in today’s world. If you’re interested in understanding news better, this program is definitely worth checking out. Thanks for joining us, and don’t forget to visit commonsense.org/education for more reviews and tools. See you next time!
Use the Control F tool to conduct a scavenger hunt online. Find three news articles on a current event and use the tool to verify the facts presented. Write a short paragraph about how you determined the reliability of each source.
Work in groups to create a simple guide for fact-checking news articles. Use the lessons from Control F to outline steps and tips. Present your guide to the class and discuss how it can help others verify information.
Imagine you are journalists in a newsroom. Use Control F to fact-check a breaking news story. Each group member takes on a role, such as editor or reporter, and together, decide if the story is ready to publish. Share your decision and reasoning with the class.
Choose a social media post that makes a factual claim. Use Control F to investigate the claim’s accuracy. Write a brief report on your findings and discuss how you verified the information.
Participate in a debate where each side must fact-check their arguments using Control F. Prepare your points with verified information and present them to the class. After the debate, reflect on how fact-checking influenced your arguments.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hello everyone, I’m Bianca, and this is Tanner. We are your Common Sense editors, here every Tuesday to walk through a new tool that you can use in your classroom. You can see the rest of the tools we’ve reviewed at commonsense.org/education. There are a bunch of tools for you to check out.
Today, Tanner is going to talk through one of them. Tanner, what tool do you have for us today?
Let’s take a look at Control F. It recently published a review with a four-star rating for grades 6 through 12 and is totally free. The pitch with Control F is that it is a contemporary and focused news literacy program. It’s not quite a curriculum, but it’s on the edge. If you want to build your students’ fact-checking and source verification skills in a modern way, this might be the tool to consider. There are a few other competitors, like the News Literacy Project and the work out of the Stanford History Education Group, but in my opinion, Control F might be the best in the business right now.
Let’s dive into their resources. You can find this website at control-f.ca. This is out of Canada and is created by a non-profit organization called Civics. It is research-backed, so it is very trustworthy. The program consists of four core lessons that take somewhere in the range of seven hours, maybe a bit more or less depending on your pace. We graded this for grades 6 to 12, but they say you could probably adapt it for younger students as well.
There are also pre- and post-assessments and accommodating activities. The lessons themselves have a lot of content. Each lesson includes a lesson plan, a slide deck, multiple videos, and various activities and exit tickets. They get really in-depth. One thing I love about their program is that the videos set the stage for the particular skill being covered and then delve into the practical aspects of practicing that fact-checking skill. The activities emerge from the videos, allowing students to engage deeply with skills-based learning.
The program encourages students to practice their skills on real-world examples, which is fantastic. We know that real-world media is often trickier than hypothetical scenarios. Everything is available in multiple formats, including Google Classroom, Microsoft formats, and PDFs, so you’re covered in terms of content delivery.
Here’s an example of one of the lesson plans. I’ll show you the Google versions since that’s what we use at Common Sense. The lesson plans are laid out clearly and organized well. They also provide a slide deck for direct instruction. The real-world examples are curated effectively, mixing social posts alongside news to cover a full spectrum.
In these four lessons, they identify a set of critical skills. If you’re going to focus on one news literacy program, this might be it, as it equips students with essential tools for life. The videos feature experts like Jane Litvinenko, a journalist, and Mike Caulfield, a professor who has led efforts to update news literacy and focus on web literacy. These videos are custom-made for the program and guide students through the skills and lessons.
The activities are in DOC format and include various tasks, such as analyzing real-world sources and understanding their motivations. The program provides a lot of different types of content, not just news, which is important. Many activities can be assigned through Google Classroom, although grading and assessing them may require some additional effort.
While the program is strong, it has some limitations. It consists of only four lessons and focuses primarily on practicing fact-checking skills. It doesn’t fully capture the broader context of news literacy, such as journalistic standards. There’s room for Control F to expand and create a more comprehensive experience, but as it stands, it’s a plug-and-play option that can be integrated into your curriculum.
Overall, I was really impressed with this program when I first looked at it, and it continues to grow on me over time. If you’re considering teaching news literacy in the classroom, I highly recommend checking this one out.
Thanks for listening! Be sure to check us out at commonsense.org/education to see more of our reviews. See you next time!
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This version removes any informal language and maintains a professional tone while preserving the key information.
Civics – The study of the rights and duties of citizenship and how government works. – In our civics class, we learned about how laws are made and the importance of voting.
Education – The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. – Education helps us understand the world around us and prepares us for the future.
Control – The power to influence or direct people’s behavior or the course of events. – The teacher has control over the classroom to ensure that everyone can learn effectively.
Fact-check – The process of verifying information to ensure its accuracy. – Before sharing the article, I decided to fact-check it to make sure the information was correct.
News – Newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent events. – We watched the news to learn about what is happening in our community and around the world.
Literacy – The ability to read and write. – Literacy is important because it allows us to communicate and understand information better.
Sources – Places, people, or things from which something originates or can be obtained. – When doing research, it’s important to use reliable sources to get accurate information.
Skills – The ability to do something well; expertise. – Developing good study skills can help you succeed in school.
Activities – Things that are done for enjoyment, learning, or as part of a job. – Our teacher planned fun activities to help us learn about government and citizenship.
Critical – Involving careful judgment or evaluation. – It’s important to think critically about the information we read online to determine if it’s true.
