Overview
A 2021 survey found that 99.9 percent of climate-related studies agree that climate change is mainly caused by humans. But the topic is still hotly debated online, and climate-change misinformation can spread like wildfire on social media. In this lesson, learn to evaluate the credibility of climate change claims found online.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- evaluate the credibility of climate change claims on social media.
- analyze search engine results to choose the best sources to verify or debunk them.
Subjects
media literacy, social studies, journalism, ELA, English, English Language Arts, STEM, science, environmental scienceGrade Levels
Grades 6 - 12Supplemental Links
Standards
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College, Career, and Civic Life Framework (C3)
D3.1.6-8. Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection. D3.1.9-12. Gather relevant information from multiple sources representing a wide range of views while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.
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Next Generation Science Standards
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Common Core
Citing informational text: CC.8.5.6-8 CC.8.5.9-10.A CC.8.5.11-12.A
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ISTE
6-12.1.4.a Students: know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.
KEY VOCABULARY
- Click restraint — a strategy that involves resisting the urge to click on the first result of an internet search and scrolling through them to make a more informed choice.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Warm-up : If you wanted to study the causes of climate change, where would you go? What types of sources would you avoid?
According to the Teen-Fact Checking Network (TFCN) video...
- Is Tommy Vext a good source for information about climate change? Why or why not?
- What two sources were selected to fact-check the climate change claim?
- What makes those two sources credible?
DIG DEEPER
Use the interactive Our World in Data CO2 per capita emissions chart to answer the following questions.
- How do the CO2 per capita emissions in the United States compare to the rest of the world?
- What is the current trend of CO2 per capita emissions in the United States?
- Read Our World in Data's “ How we are funded ” page. Is this data reliable? Why or why not?
Explore the topic of climate change further and practice using “click restraint” by completing this activity listed in the supplemental links.
These lessons was developed by PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs in partnership with MediaWise and the Teen Fact-Checking Network, which are part of the Poynter Institute. This partnership has been made possible with support from Google.
