In Getting the News Right, host Radzi Chinyanganya explains how crucial it is that journalists separate facts from opinions and truth from fake news in this age of disinformation. In the case of a violent attack in Sudan in 2019 that killed over a hundred people, there were no journalists on the ground. Instead, BBC journalists gathered and analyzed over 300 phone videos from civilians and activists to verify accuracy. By verifying the facts, they were able to hold those responsible to account. This video is excerpted from BBC’s My World, a program created for teenagers eager to learn more about the important stories shaping our world.
In What Is News?, host Radzi Chinyanganya introduces the concept of news: its history, purpose, and its potential downside. From its earliest iterations, news provides the information needed for people to make decisions and stay safe. Today, technology allows us to learn information in real time on both a local and global scale. It can be overwhelming to know what to give our attention to and what is real or fake, so it’s necessary to be a smart consumer of news and have trusted sources. This video is excerpted from BBC’s My World, a program created for teenagers eager to learn more about the important stories shaping our world.
It's tempting to think that seeing is believing, but that's not always the case. When scrolling the internet, it's important to put on your skepticism hat. There's a lot of fake stuff out there, and some of it is convincing.
For example, a Facebook post appeared to come from York Council — the local government office for the city of York, England. It asked people with spare rooms to house asylum seekers (people who have fled their home country and are asking a government for protection). The post wasn't real, but it spread quickly across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube. BBC Verify, the BBC's fact-checking team, estimated it could have reached more than a million people.
Misinformation like this can cause real problems, especially when it spreads about sensitive subjects like asylum seekers. Repeated exposure to false information can also make people question what's true at all — damaging trust between people and communities.
So how can you tell what's fake? Even careful readers are finding it harder to spot, while fake content is getting easier to make — a dangerous combination. The fake council post looked convincing: it had an official logo, professional-sounding text, and even a real email address. But a few small details gave it away: the logo was slightly distorted, some words were misspelled, parts of the image looked unnatural, and the AI-generated hands had too many fingers.
Those details are easy to miss when scrolling quickly — but learning to spot them is exactly what makes the difference between falling for a fake and catching one.
Extra, extra! Read all about it! Introduce your students to the characteristics, roles, and purpose of the news. In this lesson, they’ll learn the different categories of news and what makes an event “newsworthy.”
In What About Social Media?, host Radzi Chinyanganya looks at what makes a story go viral, and explains how to evaluate whether or not the story is real before sharing it. Stories can be evaluated by asking if they’ve been reported elsewhere, if the organization that published it is reputable, and if the website the story was on is official. Deep fake videos that use AI to alter faces allow people to create realistic digital versions of themselves. The ability to swap faces has creative possibilities, but it can also be used to mislead people, so it’s crucial to look for clues that something might be false. This video is excerpted from BBC’s My World, a program created for teenagers eager to learn more about the important stories shaping our world.
Fact or fake? Introduce your students to the role of social media in spreading accurate news as well as inaccurate news and rumors. In this lesson, they’ll investigate questions they should ask before sharing news on social media and then design a flowchart for evaluating whether a news story is “shareworthy.”
“Fake news” gets thrown around a lot, but what’s actually required of journalists in terms of accuracy? Introduce your students to the ways journalists are expected to verify information. In this lesson, they’ll learn how to distinguish facts from rumors or opinions
“Flush with cash” might need to turn into “flush that cash” if fake money keeps popping up! Counterfeit cash used to be a problem for mostly shops and retailers, but there’s been a recent rise in fake cash popping up in the home! That doesn’t mean that more of your neighborhood pals have decided to print their own money, or that fake bills are appearing out of thin air, but enough of it is in circulation that everyday people are going to make a purchase or deposit money with counterfeit cash, very possibly by accident.
In 2024, there were 99,000 fake notes in circulation. Last year, that doubled to 200,000, partly because of a rise in organized crime. While the fake bills make their way between hands and households and businesses, people become increasingly reliant on electronic methods of payment (like cards and Venmo), so they fall a bit out of practice of knowing what physical, paper money looks and feels like.
Unfortunately, it’s not always the people making counterfeit bills that are punished. Shops and retailers are hurting, and customers go into banks and post offices to deposit money that can’t be accepted because it ends up being fake.
“I’ll ask ChatGPT” is probably something you hear (and say) more and more these days. With AI here to stay, schools are thinking about how to handle the situation.
AI tools like ChatGPT may seem like a quick fix to homework you don’t want to do, but it struggles with the kind of higher-level thinking that students need to be demonstrating. It also has giveaways like repeating questions, offering surface-level answers, and even giving fake or inaccurate references!
But, instead of flat-out banning AI, universities are teaching students how to use it properly. You shouldn’t (and probably can’t) get answers straight from ChatGPT, but there’s a way to use it for initial brainstorming, or as a starting point. After that, students still need to go the extra mile. The goal is to encourage students to learn how to use AI to work with, not instead of, their brains.
In Getting the News Right, host Radzi Chinyanganya explains how crucial it is that journalists separate facts from opinions and truth from fake news in this age of disinformation. In the case of a violent attack in Sudan in 2019 that killed over a hundred people, there were no journalists on the ground. Instead, BBC journalists gathered and analyzed over 300 phone videos from civilians and activists to verify accuracy. By verifying the facts, they were able to hold those responsible to account. This video is excerpted from BBC’s My World, a program created for teenagers eager to learn more about the important stories shaping our world.
In What Is News?, host Radzi Chinyanganya introduces the concept of news: its history, purpose, and its potential downside. From its earliest iterations, news provides the information needed for people to make decisions and stay safe. Today, technology allows us to learn information in real time on both a local and global scale. It can be overwhelming to know what to give our attention to and what is real or fake, so it’s necessary to be a smart consumer of news and have trusted sources. This video is excerpted from BBC’s My World, a program created for teenagers eager to learn more about the important stories shaping our world.
It's tempting to think that seeing is believing, but that's not always the case. When scrolling the internet, it's important to put on your skepticism hat. There's a lot of fake stuff out there, and some of it is convincing.
For example, a Facebook post appeared to come from York Council — the local government office for the city of York, England. It asked people with spare rooms to house asylum seekers (people who have fled their home country and are asking a government for protection). The post wasn't real, but it spread quickly across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube. BBC Verify, the BBC's fact-checking team, estimated it could have reached more than a million people.
Misinformation like this can cause real problems, especially when it spreads about sensitive subjects like asylum seekers. Repeated exposure to false information can also make people question what's true at all — damaging trust between people and communities.
So how can you tell what's fake? Even careful readers are finding it harder to spot, while fake content is getting easier to make — a dangerous combination. The fake council post looked convincing: it had an official logo, professional-sounding text, and even a real email address. But a few small details gave it away: the logo was slightly distorted, some words were misspelled, parts of the image looked unnatural, and the AI-generated hands had too many fingers.
Those details are easy to miss when scrolling quickly — but learning to spot them is exactly what makes the difference between falling for a fake and catching one.
Extra, extra! Read all about it! Introduce your students to the characteristics, roles, and purpose of the news. In this lesson, they’ll learn the different categories of news and what makes an event “newsworthy.”
In What About Social Media?, host Radzi Chinyanganya looks at what makes a story go viral, and explains how to evaluate whether or not the story is real before sharing it. Stories can be evaluated by asking if they’ve been reported elsewhere, if the organization that published it is reputable, and if the website the story was on is official. Deep fake videos that use AI to alter faces allow people to create realistic digital versions of themselves. The ability to swap faces has creative possibilities, but it can also be used to mislead people, so it’s crucial to look for clues that something might be false. This video is excerpted from BBC’s My World, a program created for teenagers eager to learn more about the important stories shaping our world.
Fact or fake? Introduce your students to the role of social media in spreading accurate news as well as inaccurate news and rumors. In this lesson, they’ll investigate questions they should ask before sharing news on social media and then design a flowchart for evaluating whether a news story is “shareworthy.”
“Fake news” gets thrown around a lot, but what’s actually required of journalists in terms of accuracy? Introduce your students to the ways journalists are expected to verify information. In this lesson, they’ll learn how to distinguish facts from rumors or opinions
“Flush with cash” might need to turn into “flush that cash” if fake money keeps popping up! Counterfeit cash used to be a problem for mostly shops and retailers, but there’s been a recent rise in fake cash popping up in the home! That doesn’t mean that more of your neighborhood pals have decided to print their own money, or that fake bills are appearing out of thin air, but enough of it is in circulation that everyday people are going to make a purchase or deposit money with counterfeit cash, very possibly by accident.
In 2024, there were 99,000 fake notes in circulation. Last year, that doubled to 200,000, partly because of a rise in organized crime. While the fake bills make their way between hands and households and businesses, people become increasingly reliant on electronic methods of payment (like cards and Venmo), so they fall a bit out of practice of knowing what physical, paper money looks and feels like.
Unfortunately, it’s not always the people making counterfeit bills that are punished. Shops and retailers are hurting, and customers go into banks and post offices to deposit money that can’t be accepted because it ends up being fake.
“I’ll ask ChatGPT” is probably something you hear (and say) more and more these days. With AI here to stay, schools are thinking about how to handle the situation.
AI tools like ChatGPT may seem like a quick fix to homework you don’t want to do, but it struggles with the kind of higher-level thinking that students need to be demonstrating. It also has giveaways like repeating questions, offering surface-level answers, and even giving fake or inaccurate references!
But, instead of flat-out banning AI, universities are teaching students how to use it properly. You shouldn’t (and probably can’t) get answers straight from ChatGPT, but there’s a way to use it for initial brainstorming, or as a starting point. After that, students still need to go the extra mile. The goal is to encourage students to learn how to use AI to work with, not instead of, their brains.