*Please note that this resource is currently available online only.
At a glance
In this activity, students
- think about the importance of making sure they have trustworthy information before they make a decision on a political or electoral issue;
- explore a series of scenarios designed to teach five strategies for verifying information: find the original, verify the source, check other information, read fact-checking articles, and turn to places you trust; and
- reflect on the impact of false and misleading information in politics.
Big idea: Citizens need to be well informed to make good decisions when it comes to political issues, especially when they are deciding how to vote in a federal election. We all need to make sure we can trust news and other information that might help us make up our minds when it comes to voting.
Subjects: This activity can be taught in a social studies, civics, citizenship or language arts class. To view a list of courses associated with this learning resource, please visit our Curriculum Connections page.
Level: Secondary
Time needed: 60 minutes
This educational resource was created in collaboration with MediaSmarts.
Additional information: Update in progress
We’re currently updating Digital Skills for Democracy to better support digital literacy and civic learning.
In the meantime, you can still download and print the current version (last updated July 2019). Once the update is complete, the resource will be available both online and in print.
We’ll share more details about the release date as soon as they’re available.