Comparing news and media contents eTwinning project kit on media literacy

1. COMPARING NEWS AND MEDIA CONTENTS
eTwinning project kit for learning media literacy
SHORT DESCRIPTION:
Students examine news headlines and news contents in
different sectors (e.g. main domestic news, international
news, sports news, culture, etc.) and different media
(newspapers, tabloid papers, regional papers, different TV
channels, radio, social media) and compile a summary of
them (e.g. three most popular ones). Students from the
partner countries compare the results in international
groups and discuss the reasons for possible differences.
Level: from 12 to 18
Key competencies: multiliteracy,
cooperation and communication skills,
intercultural communication, ICT skills
Pedagogical objectives: developing skills in
media literacy and media criticism,
understanding the impact of culture and
context on media content, development of
reading comprehension
Subject areas: mother tongue, foreign
language (e.g. English), social studies
Difficulty level: Intermediate
Learning to know each other (ice-breaking activities)
- Students update their profiles in the TwinSpace.
- Students introduce themselves briefly in the TwinSpace Forum. Students from the partner
classes read the introductions and respond to the introductions of 2–4 partner students so that
all students get at least one response.
or
- Students attach a selfie and write an introduction to the Twinboard or Padlet in the TwinSpace.
- Students record a short video in Flipgrid to introduce themselves
- An online meeting is organised (Adobe Connect in the TwinSpace, Teams or Google Meet), in
which students see each other and take turns introducing themselves. Students can ask the
partner class questions related to their class, school, studying and home town.
- Students prepare short quizzes (e.g. a 10-question Kahoot!) about the partner countries. The
quizzes are carried out in connection with the online meeting.
Orientation to the topic
Students respond to a survey on their media use, for example, how much they read newspapers, watch
television and follow the news available online and topical matters in the social media. The survey also

2. investigates what news themes the students are interested in. The surveys are implemented in a way
that enables comparison between the answers given by students from different countries. It is also
possible to implement surveys to the different genders and compare the answers by gender.
Students discuss the results of the surveys in international groups (e.g. in the TwinSpace forum or on
WhatsApp or in Teams), comparing the results and reflecting on the reasons for the differences.
Communication / Collaboration / Activities
1. The days, during which the news survey will be implemented, are settled.
2. Students work in pairs or in groups of three.
3. They select the type of media they are interested in themselves: newspaper, tabloid paper,
television (public or commercial channel), radio or social media.
4. Students select a topical theme that they are interested in themselves (e.g. domestic news,
international news, crimes and accidents, sports news, cultural news, etc.)
5. Groups are formed based on these interests. The groups share the tasks between themselves
and report 3-5 most important items of news as well as their main content and perspective.
6. The groups check whether any same news is available on the partner country.
7. They compile a summary that contains a report and scanned or captured pictures of the news.
The summary is published in TwinSpace in the materials section or in a shared Google folder. The
summary may be presented as a poster, info graph or a PowerPoint presentation or whatever
the students feel appropriate.
8. International groups are formed (4–8 students). These groups include representatives from all
the countries.
9. The representatives of the different countries present their reports/summaries and differences
and similarities are discussed. Reasons for the differences are reflected on.
10. Examples of news items of the partner countries are presented.
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11. The results of all groups are presented in a shared online meeting (Teams, AC...).
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12. If the collaboration has worked well, the studying of the theme continues with one of the
following activities.
a. Creating a shared online newspaper with different themes, articles and pictures, even
videoclips
b. Studying of the fake news phenomenon in different countries – Where can you run into
fake news? How can you sort out what is fake and what isn’t? How can we protect
ourselves from fake news?
c. Discussion on what will happen to the press in the future?
d. Students examine the main news on the television, in newspapers and social media over
the past four weeks. Which ones did the students find the most important and/or the
most interesting? In which ones have children and young people (12–18 years) played
the main role? As a rule, are the news about young people mainly negative or positive?
Why?
Evaluation & Assessment
Students assess their own work and the work of their group:
- Have they participated actively in collecting information?

3. - Have they participated actively in producing information?
- Have they participated actively in the discussions and reflections?
- Have the tasks been divided equally in the groups?
- Has it been easy to understand the thoughts of the other group members?
- Have the objectives been achieved (development of key skills)?
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- Was this kind of collaborative learning in a project motivating?
- Would the students be interested to continue with similar work?
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- Teachers assess the implementation of the project:
- Were the objectives achieved?
- How did collaboration work?
- Did the results meet the expectations?
- Would it be a good idea to continue collaboration?
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- An evaluation discussion is implemented
- An evaluation survey is implemented
Follow-up
Documentation of the project:
The project results and product are uploaded in the project TwinSpace. In addition to the reports and
summaries, posters and presentations, students share pictures and screenshots of the discussions, online
meetings and Kahoots.
Dissemination of results:
The results are shared on the TwinSpace pages, which are published online. The results are also shared in
the Project Journal and in social media networks.
Created by: Tiina Sarisalmi