Andrew.
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Joined: 27 Nov 2007
Posts: 1518
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 Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:26 pm Post subject: Conspiracy theories rife in classrooms - Demos |
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http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/news-events/news/conspiracy-theories-ri fe-classrooms
Conspiracy theories rife in classrooms
- a new report from Demos
New research finds that 48 per cent of teachers surveyed by the think tank Demos report having argued about conspiracy theories with their pupils. One in twenty say this happens on a weekly basis.
In a report published today, Demos warns that ‘digital natives’ (12-18 year olds) are often confident, but not competent internet users.
It is impossible to universally monitor young people’s internet use. So we need to give young people the skills to navigate and interpret the internet safely, and wisely. That is why we were keen to support Demos in investigating the scale of the issue.
One in four young people do not make any checks at all when visiting a new website. Less than 1 in 10 ask who made the site and why. One third of young people believe that information generated by search engines must be true and 15 per cent base their opinions of a website on how it looks and feels to use.
The report includes the results of a survey of 509 teachers in England and Wales about their pupil’s digital fluency. It found:
Misinformation, propaganda and conspiracy theories are being brought into the classroom: 47 per cent of teachers surveyed report having arguments in lessons of receiving school work that contains inaccurate content from the internet (for example, holocaust denial). Fifteen percent report this happening on a weekly basis.
The ability to evaluate online information is central to young people’s understanding of the world: 88 per cent of teachers surveyed consider internet-based research to be important for their pupil’s schoolwork and 75 per cent believe that internet-based content is important in the formation validation of pupil’s beliefs.
Teachers are worried about their pupils’ digital skills: 99 per cent of teachers surveyed think digital fluency is an important skill for their pupils to possess but they rated their pupils’ digital fluency as below average on a range of issues.
Teachers think digital fluency is key to young people’s education: 88 per cent of teachers surveyed think digital fluency should be given more prominence in the national curriculum.
Demos calls for a greater focus on young people’s ‘digital fluency’ to combat the growth of conspiracy theories amongst school-age children. Digital fluency is the ability to find and evaluate information online. It combines ‘old’ critical thinking skills, such as source verification, with ‘new’ knowledge about how the digital world works, such as understanding search engines.
The report argues that the amount of material available at the click of a mouse can be both liberating and asphyxiating. Although there are more e-books, trustworthy journalism, niche expertise and accurate facts at our fingertips than ever before, there is an equal measure of mistakes, half-truths, propaganda, misinformation and general nonsense. Knowing how to discriminate between them is fundamental to education.
Further recommendations include:
Digital fluency should become a core part of the National Curriculum and teacher training: all schools should teach pupils about search engines, propaganda techniques, source attribution techniques and the risks of data-sharing.
The Department for Education should join forces with the private sector to produce materials to support teaching: companies like Google and Yahoo! should create materials that can be used in the classroom to help support teaching digital fluency.
Parents should take an active role in managing their children’s internet consumption and help encourage critical thinking: over half of 12-15 year olds report they ‘mostly use the internet alone’. Parents should be encouraged to challenge online information and support their children’s critical consumption of the internet.
Jamie Bartlett, author of the report said: “Too many young people are not discerning internet users. If they can’t find the information they’re looking for, they trust the first thing they come across. They don’t fact-check the information they find. They don’t recognise bias and propaganda, and don’t go to varied sources.
“As a result, they’re easily influenced by information they should discard. This makes them vulnerable to false information, cons and scams. Misinformation and conspiracy theories – like those surrounding the death of Bin Laden – are appearing in the classroom, which is something teachers, politicians and parents should be very worried about.
“We can't teach children what to think, but we must ensure that young people can make careful, skeptical and savvy judgments about the internet content they encounter.”
Martin Orton, Director of Bold Creative said: “Through extensive workshop programs with young people over the last 3 years we have witnessed first hand the role video propaganda distributed online has played in the escalation of public disorder events. The London riots being a great case in point, sophisticated and targeted advertising has raised youth consumer demand to an unsustainable level. Expectations and reality inevitably collide with devastating consequence.”
“We’re unsettled by the extent to which some young people have had their entire worldview distorted by online propaganda. Strange ideas had become mainstream beliefs: everyone knew that a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world was in its final stages, everyone knew that 9/11 was part of a crusade against Islam perpetrated by the former president of the United States.”
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Comments
Critical Thinking about Conspiracies
Submitted by Sammy66 on 29th October 2012.
Are some conspiracy theories more than theories? Or are they facts?
In order to do so, one needs to view both sides of the spectrum, that is one has to see the "authorized" or official view of things or the alternative news.
What if the official views are full of errors? When there are too many errors we can call them outright lies. I liken the scenario to American baseball. Three strikes (lies) and you are out.
The official version of 911 and 77 (London 7th July 2005 events) has too many major lies. See the 77 ripple effect DVD, and you would judge for yourself.
Before critical thinking, one has to find time for the truth. Most people do not even bother to read or search for the truth and stick to football or soap operas.
http://jforjustice.net/77re2.html for the 77 event
http://911rippleeffect.com/ for the 911 event
It is important to judge AFTER seeing the above, and not before.
Best wishes, Sammy
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outsider
Trustworthy Freedom Fighter
Joined: 30 Jul 2006
Posts: 6060
Location: East London
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| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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Well, well!! Would you believe, Julia Middleton, founder of 'Common Purpose', up to her ears in the founding of 'Demos' & 'The Media Standards Trust' (needless to say, the direct opposite to what they really strive for):
http://www.commonpurpose.org.uk/about/governance/julia-middleton
'Julia Middleton is the founder and Chief Executive of Common Purpose Charitable Trust and as such is passionate about helping develop people's leadership skills and abilities. She campaigns to encourage leaders from all backgrounds to make an active and tangible contribution to their communities and to wider society...'
'Julia has helped in the founding of: Demos (an independent think tank), Impetus Trust (developing venture philanthropy in the UK), The Media Standards Trust (fostering high standards in the news media), Alfanar (developing venture philanthropy in the Arab world) and is on the International advisory council for Fundação Dom Cabral (a non-profit business institution in Brazil)...'
A good sporadic newspaper to subscribe to re this stuff is the 'UK Column':
http://www.ukcolumn.org/author/brian-gerrish
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'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7. |
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