The Mieroszewski Centre, together with the Demagog Association, is organising a series of fact-checking workshops for primary and secondary school teachers. Thanks to our workshops, educators will be equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to develop students' critical thinking skills and to judge the credibility of information.
In today's world, where fake news and disinformation are becoming an increasing challenge, the ability to verify facts is crucial not only for the development of individual students, but also for the health of society as a whole. Teachers, as frontline educators, have an irreplaceable role in imparting this competence.
In the face of the growing threat of disinformation, especially resulting from Russian activities in the media space of Central and Eastern European countries, the ability to verify facts is crucial. Disinformation is designed to create confusion, undermine trust in democratic institutions and spread social separation, which makes it more necessary than ever to provide media education.
Our trainings are designed as workshops, during which we do not focus on giving dry facts about disinformation, but we demonstrate how to use contemporary tools to talk to students about the problem of disinformation by using examples ‘from the internet’ to show manipulated information. In addition, during the workshop, participants will jointly develop new materials for use in the classroom. We want our series of workshops to become a place where teachers can share their experiences and concerns.
Topics to be covered during the training:
• Fake news and other types of false information
• Reliable sources of information
• The fact-checker's toolbox, i.e. tools for verification
• How to respond to false information in face-to-face conversations and on the web
• Disinformation around the war in Ukraine and the refugee crisis
• How to address disinformation in the classroom - methods and tools
‘Transcend the facts: discover the tools to fight fake news!’.
The training in Olsztyn is behind us and ahead in three other Polish cities.
‘It was a wonderful experience. I want to express my thanks for the great atmosphere, perfect organisation, taking care of all our needs. Thanks to the workshop with Demagog, I feel equipped with knowledge, new working tools, ideas. I am also loaded with the positive energy of networking - new contacts, interesting acquaintances, inspiration, exchange of experiences. It was a great time.’ - said one of the participants after the training
Organised by the Mieroszewski Centre and the Demagog Association, HUMBUG fact-checking workshops are addressed to teachers who want to help their pupils cope with disinformation.
Thanks to these workshops, participants in the first edition learned how to recognise disinformation, protect their pupils from the influence of false information and develop critical thinking.
Social media, while serving many positive functions, has become an ideal environment for the spread of disinformation. The rapid flow of information, the lack of verification of content and the so-called information bubbles that segregate our beliefs make it easy to simply make false information believable and share it widely.
During the workshop teachers learned how to use fact-checking tools and analyse the credibility of information sources. Our goal was to equip participants with instruments to effectively recognise fake news.
One of the important tasks of teachers is to educate students about disinformation. Our workshop provided ready-to-use teaching materials and strategies to help guide conversations about recognising disinformation and building resilience among students.
The project concluded with the awarding of certificates, which will certainly be helpful for future teaching careers.
‘There needs to be more training like this’ -opinion of one of the workshop participants.
