We are excited to announce the completion of the final versions of the curriculum and textbook on news literacy, titled “Sorting Facts from Fiction: Critical Thinking vs. Information Disorder and Propaganda.” 

These publications represent a valuable resource – a comprehensive teaching material pack – for educating youth about news literacy and critical thinking. The textbook is available for anyone interested in enhancing their knowledge in this field, while the curriculum is specifically designed for educators. It provides detailed guidelines on how to effectively and engagingly conduct workshops based on the lessons from the textbook. The curriculum and textbook are closely linked, with each lesson in the textbook accompanied by a dedicated curriculum that includes step-by-step instructions for delivering the lesson creatively and successfully to young audiences. 

The textbook covers all key topics in news literacy: Introduction to News Literacy, Media Types: Traditional vs Digital, Mass & Social, The Role of Algorithms and Social Media, Post-Truth & Information Disorder, Effective Search Strategies, Fake News, Dis- and Misinformation, Fact Checking and Verification Tools, AI Generated Pictures & Videos, Youth Media Activism, What is Critical Thinking?, Critical Thinking Skills & Tools, Logical Fallacies, Critically Reading Media Messages, Analysing News Articles, and Global Perspectives on News. For each lesson, relevant literature and existing Open Educational Resources (texts and multimedia content) are provided. 

For each individual lesson, the curriculum includes the following instructions for implementation: abstract, keywords, preparation time, teaching time, OER, lesson aim, lesson outcome, lesson implementation process, and materials and tools required for the lesson.

The publications were developed as part of the MEDIActive Youth: Informing the Balkans project, supported by the Erasmus+ Programme. The author team consists of members from partner NGOs, led by expert team leader Aleksandar Pavlović.

The publications are available on the project website (https://balkans.youth.mediactiveyouth.org/materials/), in both English and the languages of Western Balkan countries, and are free for download and use.

#ErasmusPlus #MEDIActiveYouth #MediaLiteracy #NewsLiteracy #TransnationalYouthMagazine #Balkans #CriticalThinking #MediaActivism