Integrate news and media literacy early and often!
If you're like many of us, every four years you search your computer or filing cabinet for those same tried-and-true lessons on voting and the U.S. presidential election. You update the "issues" portion to reflect current voter concerns, but the election process itself hasn't changed. Still, with the rise of misinformation, artificial intelligence, and potent conspiracy theories, we need to take a new approach to teaching not only about the democratic process itself, but also the news and media literacy skills necessary to make informed decisions when it's time to participate.
Fortunately, there are age-appropriate resources to build kids' understanding of elections, develop media literacy skills, and encourage civic participation.
Introducing Elections: Grades K–5
In elementary school, we want students to learn the basics about the structure of the U.S. government and how representative democracy works within this structure. As they start spending time online, it's also important for them to understand that not everything they see, read, and hear is accurate.
- Kids' news sites and resources like Time for Kids have great age-appropriate explanations of the U.S. election process. And News-O-Matic has a free trial!
- BrainPOP Jr. takes a video-based approach with its friendly characters.
- Learning for Justice has free classroom resources for grades K–12.
- Even little kids can practice media literacy with a lesson like "Is Seeing Believing?" that helps kids understand how photos and videos are sometimes altered.
Exploring Elections: Grades 6–8
During middle school, kids start to form identities and opinions about big issues. Also, they are likely using sites like YouTube and other social media where they're bombarded by information and ideologies. At this stage, it's important for them to build critical thinking skills, the ability to evaluate sources, healthy skepticism (not cynicism), and age-appropriate understanding of election issues.
- iCivics has an election simulation for middle school students that enables them to run their own presidential election campaign by fundraising, making campaign speeches, and tracking electoral college votes.
- Christina Greer's TED-Ed video and lesson "Does Your Vote Count?" is a relatively painless way for middle schoolers to make sense of the electoral college.
- Checkology from the News Literacy Project offers The Sift, a newsletter with classroom prompts and activities. And their site has an election misinformation dashboard!
- Help students find reliable information with our lesson "Finding Credible News," and start discussing how AI can affect the content we see online.
Preparing to Participate in Elections: Grades 9–12
As students approach voting age, it becomes crucial to develop a deeper understanding of how to find credible information about issues, look at it critically, and discuss it with civility.
- Knowing that there are free, trustworthy resources to help fact-check information is important, so have students try out some of them, like PolitiFact, to see how they work.
- Help students learn the complicated history of American political parties and issues, and what it looks like to be civically engaged.
- Historical resources like the National Archives and the Library of Congress give teens a way to see primary sources and how our government has operated over time.
- Use our lessons that address voting and election concerns specifically: "Are Deepfake Videos a Threat to Democracy?" and "Are Targeted Political Ads Deceiving Voters?"
More news and media literacy, government, and civics resources:
- Essential News and Media Literacy Skills for Students lesson collection
- 5 Questions Students Should Ask About Media
- News Literacy Games, Tools, and Lessons
- News Literacy Resources for Classrooms
- The Best News Apps and Sites for Classrooms
- Help Students Fact-Check the Web Like the Pros
- Best Government and Civics Websites and Games
