ACT Media Literacy Materials for Elementary Grades
Teaching students how to identify and cope with online misinformation requires learning spaces in which: • Questions and curiosity are welcome. There is often more than one “right” answer, and answers are linked to evidence. Everyone is expected to ask as well as answer questions. Everyone questions all media, including media they like (or agree with) and media they create. Everyone is open-minded, and it is common to adapt opinions (change our minds) to accommodate new information. Everyone appreciates that making judgments about information is more complex than simply declaring that something is “good” or “bad.”
DATE: Monday, November 3, 2025
TIME: 4 PM EST
LOCATION. Online. Register here.
Meet media literacy experts Dr. Faith Rogow and Prof. Tara Zimmerman to learn more about Awareness and Critical Thinking (ACT), a free educational resource (ideal for grades K-5) that offers school librarians and teachers a toolkit to combat misinformation through interactive, thoughtful activities that make critical thinking fun.
Premise 1: Teaching students how to identify and cope with online misinformation requires learning spaces in which:
- Questions and curiosity are welcome.
- There is often more than one “right” answer, and answers are linked to evidence.
- Everyone is expected to ask as well as answer questions.
- Everyone questions all media, including media they like (or agree with) and media they create.
- Everyone is open-minded, and it is common to adapt opinions (change our minds) to accommodate new information.
- Everyone appreciates that making judgments about information is more complex than simply declaring that something is “good” or “bad.”
Premise 2: A set of interconnected activities can help librarians and teachers create this culture of inquiry while also introducing key media and information literacy skills in developmentally appropriate ways for young students.
Premise 3: School librarians are well positioned to lead this work.
WHAT STUDENTS LEARN IN WITH ACT
Taken together and reinforced with routines, by the end of fifth grade, students engaged in ACT will be able to:
1. Define misinformation as information that is misleading or inaccurate.
2. Routinely ask (without prompting from an adult) a series of foundational media literacy questions.
3. Name criteria that makes someone an expert and explain that a person who is an expert in one thing doesn’t make them an expert in everything.
4. Distinguish between fiction and non-fiction, fantasy (which includes things that can’t happen in the real world) and other types of fiction (that may contain accurate ideas and information, but that also use imagination to tell stories that did not actually happen) fact, opinion, belief, and feelings, journalism and other types of information sources.
5. Routinely link their own conclusions or opinions to evidence and spot how media makers do so (or when they don’t).
6. Understand that they have options when they encounter misinformation. The youngest students ask an adult for help understanding the message(s). Older students choose to share, report, challenge, or skip.
7. Spot common deceptive advertising techniques, including: clues on food packages that indicate high sugar content and/or artificial ingredients despite attempts to hide or minimize such ingredients phrases like “up to” (as in “up to 50% off”) or “made with” (as a way to imply the presence of an ingredient without having to include much of it) evoking strong emotions as a way to override logical decision-making
8. Spot common online deception generators including clickbait, spam, trolls, and bots.
9. Know that some people or influencers who post on social media or gaming sites, or provide product reviews that don’t tell the truth and may not be who (or what) they say they are (or may not be people at all) 10. Know that it is possible to fake pictures, videos, and identities.
11. Have confidence that they have or can learn the skills and information they need to identify and/or avoid misinformation.