Lesson 1.12, one day. Twelve slides. Build the deck from this outline. Student-facing text reads at grade 6 to 7. Do not put the video creator's name or face on any slide.
Do now
- A food video has ten million views. Does that make it more likely to be true?
- Yes or no, and one reason.
- Then: write one food "fact" you learned from a video or a post this year.
- Two minutes.
Teacher notes
Hands up for yes, for no. Write four of the "facts" on the board without judging them.
Watch
- [The video plays here. 60 to 90 seconds. Captions on.]
Teacher notes
Say nothing when it ends. Wait five seconds. "Is it true? You have no idea. Neither do I, yet. Let's find out how you would know." [Sal: pick a claim about food, not bodies or weight. Download it so it plays without ads.]
Question 1, who wrote it?
- A real name and a job you can check?
- Or a handle and a nice smile?
- A registered dietitian (RD or RDN) has a license. They can lose it for bad advice.
- A doctor, a nurse, a food scientist: also checkable. "Wellness coach" is not a license.
Teacher notes
Image: a person icon with a question mark.
Question 2, what do they sell?
- A supplement? A program? A book? A discount code?
- If nothing, what do they get? Views. Followers. Attention. That is worth money too.
- Sponsored content is supposed to say "ad" or "paid partnership." It does not always.
- A .gov or .edu page is usually not selling anything.
Teacher notes
Image: a price tag icon.
Question 3, what is the evidence?
- A study you could find, with a name?
- A label? A number? A source you could click?
- Or "studies show," "doctors hate this," "trust me"?
- "Everyone knows" is not evidence. Neither is a before and after photo.
Teacher notes
Image: a magnifying glass icon.
Question 4, when was it posted?
- Food advice changes. Eggs were "bad" for years. Then they were not.
- An old post can be wrong now.
- A page with no date is a warning sign.
Teacher notes
Image: a calendar icon.
Watch again, and answer
- Same video, second time.
- With your partner, answer the four questions on the handout.
- Write what you can see, not what you guess.
Teacher notes
Play it again. Then take answers as a class, one question at a time. Question 2 usually cracks it open.
The three-source check
- Three printed sources on the same claim.
- Source A: the person making the claim. Source B: a page from someone with a license and no product. Source C: a company that sells something related.
- Fill the table. Mark each one credible or not, and name the question it passed or failed.
- Then your verdict: true, false, partly true, or cannot tell. And the source that decided it.
- Thirteen minutes.
Teacher notes
Push: "You marked it credible. Which of the four questions did it pass?" A pair that marks all three credible has not used the questions.
Build the class checklist
- What did you look for that worked? Give me a question.
- At least six. I will write them up. We sharpen each one until a sixth grader could use it.
- "Is there a study?" becomes "Does it name a study I could find?"
Teacher notes
Chart paper. This checklist stays on the wall through the $40 project.
Test it
- Run the do now video against our checklist. One question at a time.
- Class vote on each: pass or fail.
- Count the passes.
- Ten million views. How many passes?
Teacher notes
Write the score on the board next to the view count.
The do now "facts"
- Pick one of the four "facts" on the board.
- Which checklist question would it fail first?
- Essential question: if a video has ten million views, is it more likely to be true?
Teacher notes
Two minutes. Pairs answer; then the class answers the essential question with the count as evidence.
Exit card
- 3 of the four source questions.
- 2 signs a food source is credible.
- 1 food "fact" you will check before you repeat it.
- Three volunteers read one line.
Teacher notes
The Label Reading Quiz comes after Lab 2. The checklist goes back on the screen for two minutes before it.