Fake News Activity

This activity has been used in majors and non-majors courses. In microbiology-themed courses, students research a microbe and generate an ePortfolio project as part of the course activities (https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.00055-22). By responding to provided prompts and identifying sources, they gain expertise in their chosen microbe. They are also asked to research news articles and headlines on their microbe to see if their microbe is famous. At the end of the semester, they create 3-5 headlines using a headline generator app. They then present their headlines to the class. The class members vote (first as individuals, then as groups) on whether or not they believe the headline to be true or not. The instructor records the votes - this can be done on paper, with a poll, a show of hands, or using clickers. The students are surprised to find that some of the headlines are true and others are fake. They are even more surprised when they find that they changed their original votes after the discussion, and often fall for “fake news”.