The Fake News Observatory: a teaching resource to cultivate an informed civic culture in Brazil

Inspired by Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of Freedom, this text advocates an educational paradigm that fosters critical awareness, curiosity, and ethical discernment in the context of online information. It presents an educational praxis grounded in information culture, utilising a news-checking methodology, termed the “Fake News Observatory”, which aims to enhance the identification of fake news and cultivate critical digital competence within the domain of information culture. Information culture is of crucial importance for citizen education in a digital world, enabling individuals to become active, conscious participants in building a fairer and more democratic society in line with the Brazilian government’s plans for digital education.