Developing Digital Detectives: Essential Lessons for Discerning Fact from Fiction in the ‘Fake News’ Era

I am teaching computer skills classes for a small rural public school in North Carolina. The book gave me several ideas of lessons to teach students about disinformation. We started with a mini lesson on the power of memes for triggering emotional responses and sharing false information. The evidence locker linked from the book had all the materials I needed including an interactive meme game which the students loved!The book taught me that we need to train a #digitaldetectivesquad that recognizes when things like memes and a variety of social media posts triggers emotions. The books outlines in detail many strategies for navigating and recognizing those feelings. Readers are challenged to ask thought provoking questions that help us determine credibility clues.As the book states “Big tech isn't going to save us. We have to save ourselves.” And this is some of the most important work we must do as a society. “Developing Digital Detectives is a must have book for teachers but really anyone who wants to be part of the solution in combatting disinformation and finding truth.

This is cutting-edge stuff! There is a living document (website) included with the book where the authors add additional content and you can access lesson plans among so many other wonderful things! The BEST part of this book for me is the time that it saves in preparing a lesson especially one that needs a web-based story that is appropriate for students and is not about anything political. That can be so difficult to find on your own. Seriously a must-have resource if you're teaching digital literacy in any school.

Educator friends: you must get this new professional book, DEVELOPING DIGITAL DETECTIVES: ESSENTIAL LESSONS FOR DISCERNING FACT FROM FICTION IN THE ‘FAKE NEWS’ ERA by Jennifer LaGarde and Darren Hudgins.This book is chock-full of examples, definitions and engaging graphics. There’s foundational information and mini lessons and so many supporting resources for K-12 educators. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Provides a helpful framework for teaching SEL and media literacy. So much practical material!

This is a terrific book for librarians and teachers of elementary through high school students. It definitely helped me re-evaluate how I teach information literacy to my students. And the online resources are AMAZING! Jennifer LaGarde and Darren Hudgins have created a wonderful teaching tool...so glad I bought this book.

A great resource for empowering educators and all learners to be able to navigate the ever changing information environment.

This is an awesome book that teaches students how to evaluate the CONTENT of the information that they are receiving. There are so many valuable lessons included!

In our digital world, Developing Digital Detectives is an incredible resource and must-have book for every classroom in every school!