Hello, my name is Miss Willow, and I'm going to be guiding you through today's lesson.

Today's lesson is called "Verifying what I see online", and it fits into our unit called "Media Influence: How do I decide what is true online?" In today's lesson, we talk a little bit about discrimination, which some people can find upsetting or uncomfortable.

For this lesson, we recommend that you have an adult with you at all times.

If at any point you do become upset or uncomfortable, it's really important that you close the screen and that you go and speak to a trusted adult.

Okay, let's make a start on today's learning.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain how to analyse and verify the information that you consume online.

Before we get started, we need to go over some ground rules.

These help to make sure that everyone stays safe and comfortable throughout today's lesson.

First of all, Laura says that we need to listen to others.

That means we're not going to interrupt other people if they're speaking.

Jacob says we need to not have any judgement , and that means we're not going to judge other people for what they think, what they feel or what they've experienced.

Andeep says we need to respect each other's privacy, and that means we're not going to ask anyone any personal questions as that can make some people feel uncomfortable.

And finally, Izzy says that we can choose our level of participation.

That means it's up to us how much we want to join in.

We're now going to go through the keywords for today's lesson.

These are gonna come up multiple times throughout today's lesson, so it's important that we have a good understanding of what each word means.

Misinformation, this is false or inaccurate information, meaning getting the facts wrong.

Analyse, in this context, this means looking closely at where information has come from.

Verify, this means checking if information is accurate by looking at more reliable sources.

Author, this means, in this context, the person that's creating a website or an app.

And finally, motivation, this is the reason why someone does something.

Today's lesson is split to three learning cycles.

The first learning cycle is called what is misinformation? The second learning cycle is called how can I verify information online? And finally, our last learning cycle is called why would someone spread misinformation? Let's make a start on our first learning cycle: What is misinformation? Sometimes we might be told information that isn't true.

For example, Alex has said, "It's non-uniform day on Friday." But Izzy has said, "I just asked our teacher, and they said that that's not true." Alex has spread misinformation without even realising it.

Misinformation is information that is false or inaccurate.

The person who has spread the information, like Alex, may not have known that they weren't telling the truth.

They might have believed the information themselves.

Alex says, "Sorry, I didn't realise that wasn't true!" because he spread misinformation without realising it.

He believed the information that he had, so he believed that it was non-uniform day on Friday when this wasn't true.

Izzy says, "That's okay.

Maybe check next time before you share it." Misinformation is common online as information, pictures, and videos don't need to be real or fact-checked in order to be uploaded to the internet.

This means that information that isn't true can be posted and quickly spread across the internet.

One person could share misinformation with another person.

This person could then share that misinformation again, and this person could share it as well.

This means that information can travel quickly all across the internet with lots of different people sharing it, often not realising that they're sharing misinformation.

Let's do a check for understanding to see how you're getting on.

True or false? People who spread misinformation always know that they aren't telling the truth.

What do you think? Pause the video.

Tell the person next to you, tell me, or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said that this is false, but why? People who spread misinformation often believe the information they're sharing is true.

Well done if you said the same thing.

Misinformation online can come in many different forms. It can come in the form of fake news.

This is information that looks true but is actually false or inaccurate.

It might be made to seem like a news article, but it actually contains misinformation.

In this image, it says Acorn News at the top, which makes it sound like a news article.

However, they've posted misinformation.

They've said that aliens have been found living underground when this isn't true.

This is an example of fake news.

Misinformation can also come in the form of text posts on social media.

Text posts are especially common on social media as people tend to share their thoughts and their opinions.

Posts also don't have to contain accurate information in order to be posted online, so they can often contain misinformation.

For example, someone has posted a text post on social media saying, "Did you know that carrots can make you see in the dark?" Someone else has said, "Wow, aliens have been found underground!" This is an example of misinformation in text posts on social media.

Even though this information isn't true, it's still been posted on social media, and there are people liking it already.

Misinformation can also be found in images and videos.

Images and videos can be generated by artificial intelligence, often called AI, and this means that they've been created by a computer programme, not another person.

Here, Henry has posted something online, a video saying, "Recent footage of aliens have been found underground!" But people can also edit images and videos in a way that is dishonest, so Henry could have used artificial intelligence to make it look like aliens have been found underground, or he could have edited an image or video to make it look this way.

Either way, these are examples of misinformation.

Let's do another check for understanding to see how you're getting on.

Which statements about misinformation are true? A, information that isn't true is commonly found online.

B, information posted to the internet must be true.

C, information can look true, even if it isn't, and D, information generated by AI is always accurate.

What do you think? Pause the video.

Tell the person next to you, tell me or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said A and C.

It is true that information that isn't true is commonly found online, and it's true that information can look true, even if it isn't.

Well done if you got this correct.

We're now going to put your learning from this learning cycle into practise.

Match the following posts with the correct type of misinformation.

Wow! Dinosaurs have been spotted in the UK! Breaking News: Dinosaurs spotted in the UK! Footage of dinosaurs found! What type of misinformation are those posts? Fake news, social media text posts, edited or AI video or image.

Pause the video and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Okay, let's have a look at the correct answers and you can see if you are correct.

"Wow! Dinosaurs have been spotted in the UK!" is an example of a social media text post.

"Breaking News: Dinosaur spotted in the UK!" is an example of fake news because at the top of the screen it says Acorn News, making it sound like a news article.

Finally, "Footage of dinosaurs found!" is an example of an edited or AI video or image.

Well done if you've got this correct.

I'd also like you to create a definition for each type of misinformation and write it in the table.

Type of misinformation: fake news, text post, edited or AI video or image.

Can you come up with definitions for each of these types of misinformation? Okay, let's have a look and see what you might have got.

Fake news, information that looks true but isn't.

It can look like a news article.

Text post, someone sharing a written opinion or idea that can contains misinformation.

Edited or AI video or image, a video or image that has been edited or AI generated so it looks real but isn't.

Well done if you got this correct.

We're now going to move on to our second learning cycle: How can I verify information online? You are doing a fantastic job so far, so keep it up.

When we see information online, it's important to always analyse and verify it to see if it's true.

By analysing information, we can look closely at where the post came from and why it's been posted.

By verifying information, we can see if it's accurate by comparing it with trustworthy sources.

We can do our own checks to analyse and verify if something is accurate or if it is misinformation.

We can ask ourselves, does it seem like it could be real? Does it have any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors? Who is the author and are they trustworthy? We can ask ourselves all of these questions to help us verify if something is accurate or if it is misinformation.

If the information seems unlikely to be true, for example, "Dinosaurs spotted in the UK!", we can make a sensible guess that it is likely to be misinformation.

If there are spelling or grammatical errors, the information is unlikely to have been posted by reputable and trustworthy source.

It is likely to be misinformation.

In this text post, it should say aliens have been spotted underground, but instead there are multiple spelling and grammatical errors, meaning that it's likely to be misinformation.

When we analyse information, we can learn who the author is and their motivation to post.

Remember, motivation means the reason why they want to post something.

This can help us decide if information is trustworthy.

Some authors are motivated to post online because they want as many people as possible to watch, like, and share their posts.

These authors might be more likely to post misinformation because this is an example of something that can spread quickly across the internet and get lots of attention from lots of different people.

Authors who may post misinformation might only post on social media.

They might not have their posts on trustworthy websites.

They might often post articles and videos which contain clickbait.

They might have a particular message that they're trying to push.

When we say clickbait, this is something that is designed to make you click it.

For example, "Dinosaur footage here!" By making the word here really stand out, it makes someone really want to click that link, maybe because they want to see this dinosaur footage, which may or may not be real.

We're now going to do a check for understanding.

Which of these posts are likely to contain misinformation? Is it, A, "Chocolit makes you grow taller!" B, "'Eating fruit and veg is good for you', says UK doctor!" Or C, "Sweets make you healthy, click here to buy them." Pause the video.

Tell the person next to you, tell me, or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said A and C.

A is likely to be misinformation, perhaps because we can make a sensible guess that it doesn't sound quite true, and it also has a spelling mistake in it.

Post C is likely to be misinformation because it also doesn't sound true or real and it also involves clickbait.

Well done if you got this correct.

After we've analysed the information, we can verify if information is true by checking the website that it came from.

Official news websites must check the accuracy of information before it's posted.

They often have whole teams of people making sure that they only post accurate information and news so they don't post any misinformation.

We can also verify information by looking up the information somewhere else.

This is what we call cross-checking.

For example, if we saw one of the previous posts which suggested that dinosaurs had been spotted in the UK, we could search online for dinosaurs spotted in the UK to see if it comes up somewhere else.

If the information has been reported somewhere else or it isn't on any trusted information websites, it is likely to be misinformation.

It can be helpful to ask a trusted adult to help us verify if information we see online is true or not.

This is especially true if we ever see information online that makes us feel worried or upset.

However, deciding what is real and what is fake online is difficult, even for adults.

Sam says that everyone can get things wrong sometimes when identifying misinformation as it can sometimes be quite hard to spot.

Jun says that it's important that everyone knows ways to verify information, including adults.

Let's do another check for understanding to see how you're getting on.

How can we verify information that we see online? A, look the information up on social media.

B, check which website the information came from, or C, search the information up somewhere else online.

What do you think? Pause the video.

Tell the person next to you, tell me, or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said B and C.

We can verify information that we see online by checking which website the information came from to see if it's from a reputable and trustworthy website, and we can also search the information app somewhere else online.

If it comes up somewhere trustworthy online, we can make a guess that it's not misinformation.

If it doesn't come up anywhere else, this suggests that it might be misinformation, so it's not true.

Now, let's put your learning from this learning cycle into practise.

Using these images to help you, describe how we can verify information.

Pause the video and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Okay, let's have a look and see what you might have said.

For the first image, you might have said, "We can ask, 'Does it seem real?'" For the second image, you might have said to check for spelling and grammatical error.

For the third image, you might have said to check if the author is trustworthy.

For the fourth image, you might have said to check if the information has come from a trustworthy website.

For the fifth image, you could say, check if the information has been posted anywhere else, and finally you might have said to ask a trusted adult to help us.

Well done if you said this or anything similar.

We're now going to move on to the final learning cycle.

You are doing a fantastic job so far, so keep it up.

Why would someone spread misinformation? Someone can be motivated to spread misinformation because they want more likes, followers, and views.

Someone could post online saying, "Aliens have been found underground!" This is an example of information that could be seen as shocking or upsetting.

It can receive more attention, and it can spread quickly across the internet.

Someone might spread misinformation because they want to push a particular message about a topic or try to change someone's opinion.

Someone could say, "A study found that the Earth's temperature isn't increasing!" This person might be someone who doesn't believe that climate change is real, so they're spreading misinformation that suggests that climate change doesn't exist.

Someone could also spread misinformation because it allows them to make money.

Someone could say, "This vitamin will make your hair grow down to your waist in just one week." This person may have a vitamin business and so by spreading misinformation about what this vitamin can do, they're able to make money by posting this online.

In other cases, people can spread misinformation because they think it's funny.

Alex says that people can also spread misinformation because they don't realise that what they are spreading isn't true.

Let's do another check for understanding.

Is this statement true or false? People can choose to spread misinformation because it will get them more money, views, and followers.

What do you think? Pause the video.

Tell the person next to you, tell me, or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said that this is true.

People can be motivated to spread misinformation because they're able to get more money, views, and followers.

Well done if you got this right.

Misinformation can have serious consequences for both us and the world.

It is harmful, regardless of that person's motivation to spread it.

Jacob says, "If we believe misinformation, we can start to base our opinions and our ideas on things that just aren't true." Izzy says, "If misinformation spreads across the world, dangerous decisions could be made as a result." If we believe misinformation and we don't know how to recognise it, this can make us vulnerable and this means at risk of harm.

We should always think critically about the information that we see online so that we can make our own decisions about what information to believe and what information to share with others.

Misinformation can be especially dangerous for groups of people with certain characteristics.

For example, people can spread harmful misinformation about people based on their gender, their ethnicity, or their sexual orientation.

This can lead to bullying, hatred, violence, and serious political issues.

Now let's do another check for understanding.

Which of these pupils is correct? Laura says, "Misinformation is always harmful, even if it's a joke." And Andeep says that misinformation is harmless, and it's usually spread as a joke.

What do you think? Pause the video.

Tell the person next to you, tell me, or have a think to yourself.

Well done if you said that Laura is correct.

Laura is correct because we know that misinformation is always harmful, even if it's spread or created as a joke.

Well done if you got this right.

Now let's move on to your final practise task.

I'd like you to explain to Sofia three reasons why someone might spread misinformation online.

Sofia asks, "If misinformation is harmful, why do some people decide to post or share it?" Pause the video, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Okay, let's have a look and see what you might have put.

You might have said that people can spread misinformation because they want to get views, likes, and followers.

They might want to earn money.

They might want to push a message.

They might want to change someone's opinion.

They might spread it as a joke, and they might spread it because they don't realise that it's not true.

Well done if you've got any of these correct.

We're now going to summarise some of the key learning from today's lesson.

It is common to find misinformation online because posts do not have to be accurate or truthful to be uploaded to the internet.

It's important to know how to verify information so we can ensure that it's true before we believe it or before we share it.

We can decide if something is trustworthy by understanding who the author is and what their motivation for posting the information is.

Many people find verifying information difficult, including adults.

Misinformation can have powerful consequences for us and the world, such as incorrect beliefs and bullying.

In today's lesson, we've talked about some tricky topics.

It's important that if you have any questions or any worries about anything that we've discussed in today's lesson, you speak to a trusted adult so they can help you.

There are also some organisations on the screen who are there to support you.

Well done for your fantastic hard work today.

I'm really proud of you, and I hope to see you again soon.