Information, Media and Telecommunications - SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER

Internet Assignment (from The Philosopher's Zone 27 February 2025)
Social Media bans for young people!? Should it happen?

Website: The New York Times - Less is More: Using Social Media to Inspire Concise Writing

Internet Assignment (from The Philosopher's Zone 27 February 2025)

Primary Middle Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Information and Communication Technology Capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Ethical Understanding

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy

Philosophy

Cooperative Learning Activity

Teacher

You are to listen to the Philosopher's Zone - Getting Past Post Truth. Especially from 24mins into the programme.

Synopsis: Our current "post-truth" environment means it's getting harder to trust what we see, hear and read - and this is a problem for all of us, but especially for educators and anyone in the business of teaching younger people about the world. It's not just that our tools for determining truth no longer work as well as they used to, it's also that we need to re-examine truth itself, to see if our basic concepts of truth are still fit for purpose. This week we hear from a scholar who's looking to a modern philosophical tradition to come up with critical thinking strategies for students.

Guest: Cathy Legg, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Deakin University Melbourne

Your students are to research and fact check a statement from Jordan Peterson and state their source, and the reasons behind their fact check.

Students

1. In groups of 3 - 5 students you are to fact check the following statement from Jordan Peterson on the Internet.

 "It is always better for children to grow up with two parents"

2. You can look anywhere on the Internet - using YouTube, Social Media, Websites.  Keep a record of where you have been.

3. A Fact Check means you are to analyse the content of the material you found (not limited to the following questions which can be used only as a guide).

a. The author - credentials? Other materials from same author?

b. Date?

c. Addressing a particular audience?

d. What medium was used?

4. Evaluate & discuss with your group each of your findings.

5. As a group, you are to state whether the statement is: True, Partly True or False, and provide reasons for your thinking.

The most important part is providing reasons.

Social Media bans for young people!? Should it happen? (also at the Journalist)

 Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Information and Communication Technology Capability
Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking
Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability
Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy

Cooperative Learning Activity

1. Read the following articles from The Conversation and analyse their content

a. Educating young people about social media would be far more effective than a ban - Finland can show us how

Nov 22 2024
Susan Grantham, Lecturer in Communication, Griffith University; Aida Hurem, Lecturer, Southern Cross University

b. Banning under-16s from social media may be unconstitutional – and ripe for High Court challenge

2. Brainstorm and Mind Map your analysis of each article remembering to keep in mind the title of this activity:

3. Write a Blog - only 3 paragraphs, analysing both articles; a paragraph for each article and then your summation.

4.

Compare and contrast your blog with another student.

Was their blog very different to yours? Why? Why not?

Try to find a totally different blog or aspect to your thoughts.

Discuss with the writer.

Reflection.

Would you now write something different in your blog? Why? Why not?

What did you learn about yourself in this process?

Website

The New York Times - Less is More: Using Social Media to Inspire Concise Writing Secondary Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy Local Copy - Word doc