Teacher guide
Lesson 5
Spotting fake news
(PSHE education)
Learning objective
• To identify fake news and its consequences
Learning outcomes
• Explain what fake news is and why it is created
• Identify what questions to ask and what checks to make
to decide whether a news report is fake or real
• Infer how a fake news story may affect someone’s
emotions and behaviour
• Give reasons why fake news can be harmful
Curriculum links
• Reading comprehension: fact-retrieval, evaluating
the reliability of sources, drawing inferences
• PSHE education – Living in the wider world:
− recognise ways in which the internet and social
media can be used both positively and negatively
− how to assess the reliability of sources of
information online; and how to make safe,
reliable choices from search results
− recognise things appropriate to share and things
that should not be shared on social media
− how text and images in the media and on social
media can be manipulated or invented; strategies
to evaluate the reliability of sources and identify
misinformation
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Journalist Training School context
A journalist’s main aim is to report the truth.
They need to be good fake news detectives so
that they don’t report fake news themselves!
Core knowledge/skills
• News produced by professional news publications is
regulated (has strict rules to follow about fact-checking).
• However, sometimes people deliberately make up news
where they don’t tell the truth or only tell half of the
truth: this is called fake news or disinformation.
• Fake news is created and shared for many reasons:
as a joke/an April fool; to generate money through
advertising; to influence people’s beliefs about a
person/place/product.
• Fake news can have negative consequences because it
can make people believe something that isn’t true and
influence how people feel or act. For example, during
an election, someone may publish fake news to make
people feel angry about a candidate and change the
way they vote.
• To judge whether a news story is truthful, take time
to: stop, question, and check the information so that
you can decide whether to believe, share or challenge
it. See the News navigator for tips on how to check and
question whether a story is fake.
Before teaching this lesson, refer to guidance on creating
a safe learning environment for PSHE education,
including establishing agreed ground rules for discussion.
This lesson focuses on the
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Starter/baseline assessment
Nav’s story: Pupils consider the following character
situation: Nav is reading a news story. Nav wants to know
whether the story is ‘fake news’. What does Nav mean?
If it is fake news, does it matter (why/why not)? What will
help Nav decide? What should Nav do about it?
Learning activity
1. Using the Fake or real headlines pupils vote on whether
each headline is real or fake, making a ‘gut reaction’
decision (don’t reveal the answers yet!). What do you
think about this story headline? Is it easy to tell if a story is
real or fake (especially if we only read it quickly)? Did you
have enough information to make an informed decision?
How might people react to each of these headlines?
Compare the ‘gut reaction’ process to what happens
when people share a funny/shocking story they have
heard in conversation/via messaging/social media
before taking time to question if it’s true. Relate this to
spreading rumours and gossip in the playground.
2. Investigate two of the stories in detail by questioning the
source and checking the coverage (News story 1 and 2).
Pupils use the evidence and clues provided to work out
which news story is fake and which is real. Pupils can use
support materials: Trustworthy news sources and Fake
news clue words for professional news organisations
and fake news vocabulary to look out for in their
investigations. What clues helped you to identify the fake
news? What clues showed that you could trust the real story?
3. Pupils read two examples of Fake news stories,
inferring how they might make someone feel and what
they might motivate someone to do (teacher note: these
are not real examples, but have been developed for the
purpose of this lesson). How might someone feel reading
this story? How does the article try to make the reader
feel an extreme emotion? What would happen if someone
believed this story? Could it affect how they think or act?
How could it affect their actions? What is the motivation
of the story/writer? Why has this story been made up?
What type of fake news might cause harm?
Plenary
1. Where can we get trustworthy news from? As a class,
create a list of reliable sources where pupils can get
real and trustworthy information, including children’s
news organisations. Emphasise the importance of
reading across different organisations and sources
of information – whether (and how) a story is being
reported elsewhere. When searching for a story, include
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Teacher guide
the source that you want the news to come from; eg,
football: BBC news. If you are unsure about a story,
always talk to a teacher or parent about it first.
2. Reveal the answers to all the Fake or real headlines
stories. If Nav was reading any of the fake stories we have
looked at, what should Nav do about it?
Questions for assessment
What is fake news? Why might fake news be harmful? How
do we know if the news we hear, see or read is true? What can
you do if you think a story is fake?
Online resources checklist
News navigator
Nav’s story
Fake or real headlines
Fake or real voting sheets
News story 1 and 2
Trustworthy news sources and fake news clue words
Fake news stories
Don’t trust pictures on the internet
Emotional and action responses
Extension opportunities
• As a class, create a fake news detective toolkit for the
future or create a guide for other pupils in the school.
• Explore how images can be manipulated using the
Don’t trust pictures on the internet resource.
• Deliver a ‘fake or real’ news quiz in assembly.
• Choose an age-appropriate news story that everyone can
investigate. Give pupils their own News navigator to take
home to investigate the story with their family. Compare
findings and the effectiveness of the News navigator.
• Pupils create a comic strip/storyboard to demonstrate
the fake news reaction chain: reading a fake news story
> feeling an extreme emotion > developing a thought-
pattern or taking action. Some pupils might add a
fourth step to their chain to demonstrate the effect
of more than one person taking action or the impact
their thinking might have on others. Pupils can use the
Emotional and action responses resource for support.
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