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What happens when we all see different news?

Explore the link between information and decision-making, with this engaging activity. Two social-media feeds present two very different pictures of a controversial issue. After reviewing their assigned feed, students choose sides through a vote, then discuss how the information they saw affected their choice.

Offline-Assignments

Scenario: Solar Panel Factory

A solar-panel company wants to build a factory near the school, and the municipal council has decided to have a vote to determine whether to allow it to proceed. It’s your job to vote for the option that will be the best choice for the community.

How it works

Step 1

Distribute the feeds

Create a class link to share with your class. The system will automatically assign one of two polarized feeds to each student at random.

Step 2

Hold the vote

After students have reviewed their feeds and formed an opinion on the issue, it’s time to hold a community referendum, through ballot or show of hands.

Step 3

Discuss and debrief

Share the results with students and ask whey they made the choice they did. They may be surprised to learn that not everyone saw the same information.

Who Decides What I See Online?

What is an algorithm, and what are filter bubbles? What are the consequences for democracy when news is personalized for individuals?

Experiential Learning

‘It was a very powerful activity because students were so shocked when they found out there were two different news feeds. It was one of those real-moment learning experiences when they realized how much their vote changed based on what they had seen’

—Kathleen Tayler, Fisher Park Public School, Ottawa

Supported by Tools and Teacher Guides

Feed for Thought is the central activity in the Informed Citizenship unit, where it is bundled with a lesson plan and other supporting materials.

Offline-Assignments

Assign the Feeds

There are three ways to access the polarized newsfeeds that support this activity

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Assign Through the Dashboard

Create a class and add Feed for Thought: Solar Panel as an activity. The system will randomly assign one of the two feeds to each student. Voting takes place in the activity. Reports are available to show which student got what feed, as well as how they voted.
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Share game play link

Students begin from the Feed for Thought landing page, and will be automatically assigned one of two feeds after clicking ‘play.’ There is no online voting or reporting with this option.
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Print the PDFs

PDFs of the two feeds are available for download and printing

Thank you

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Thank you for registering. We hope you find the materials on this site valuable and engaging. If you have questions or feedback, please contact us at hello@ctrl-f.ca