CALIFORNIA — Recognizing fake news will be among the skills K-12 students in California will learn as part of new media-literacy curriculum that’s set to be rolled out in the Golden State in the next few years.
It’s part of a new state law that goes into effect Jan. 1 that instructs state education officials to incorporate media literacy lessons into existing English, science, math and history curricula.
The bill’s supporters say the changes are about arming students with an ability to consume and produce content responsibly — recognizing factors like factual absence, emotional manipulation and the author’s intent while being able to engage in civil, constructive dialogue with their peers.
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“A lot of coverage focuses on media literacy as fact-checking, but it’s more complex than that,” Rand Corporation education researcher and professor Alice Huguet told the Guardian. “It’s about being a critical thinker.”
The bill’s author, Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, said the curriculum changes are necessary given how information today can be so quickly created, consumed and spread.
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“We have a responsibility to teach the next generation to be more critical consumers of online content and more guarded against misinformation, propaganda, and conspiracy theories,” he said in a statement. “This instruction will help students to be more responsible digital citizens, more intentional about what they put online, and better understand online safety and privacy.”
As an example, he cited a 2019 Stanford study that found 96 percent of high school students surveyed failed to consider that ties to the fossil fuel industry might impact the credibility of a website about climate change. And more than half of those surveyed believed a grainy video that claimed to show ballot stuffing constituted “strong evidence” of voter fraud in the U.S. — even though the video was actually shot in Russia.
While the idea of tackling misinformation often takes on a partisan bent, the California bill saw broad support from both sides of the aisle. It passed unanimously in the Assembly and was approved with only two “no” votes in the Senate: Sens. Brian Dahle and Shannon Grove. Dahle declined Patch’s request for comment.
The curriculum updates will come on a rolling basis over the next few years as state education officials update frameworks around each subject.
There is no set schedule for when the updates will roll out at this time, a Department of Education spokesman told Patch.
California joins 16 other states that have policies regarding media literacy, according to Media Literacy Now.
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