Lesson on Becoming an Internet Detective Using Google
The questions and activities in a lesson from The New York Times Learning Network help students understand why and how to do better Google searches but also weave in ways to apply the information and practice on their own. For example: How can using quotation marks help target searches more effectively? How can using an asterisk help even more? How do you put a date restriction on results? What can adding the “site:” operator to a search do? How do you add search shortcuts to your browser’s address bar?
In this ReadWriteThink lesson, students read or view a literary text, and then identify and discuss examples of propaganda techniques in the text. Students then explore the use of propaganda in popular culture by looking at examples in the media.
PBS affiliate WETA has made available a list of propaganda techniques that make false connections (such as the techniques of “transfer” and “testimonial”), or constitute special appeals (such as “bandwagon” and “fear”), or are types of logical fallacy (for example, “unwarranted extrapolation”).
The Mind Over Media web platform gives students aged 13 and up an opportunity to explore the subject of contemporary propaganda by hosting thousands of examples of 21st-century propaganda from around the world.