1 - Start ~4 mins
You have already practised reading digital media for theme, purpose and audience. Today the question is sharper: when does a post actually help people decide something, and when is it mainly working on how they feel?
You will judge digital campaigns, commit to a verdict on each, then apply the same test to one real public example.
2 - Examine and Discuss ~5 mins
Citizenship here means taking part in your community and public life: staying informed, having a say, and helping make decisions that affect other people, not only yourself.
Today's test is not "was this popular?" or "do I agree with it?". It is: did this content give people what they needed to make a better decision, or did it mainly push a feeling?
Quick contrast: a dated council notice with a map link and a contact email equips a decision. A dramatic "share before this gets deleted" claim with no source mainly winds people up to react.
3 - Hands-on: Informed or Just Mobilised? ~15 mins
Work through three campaigns in the interactive activity (Cases 1, 2 and 4). Case 3 is an extension if you have time. On your device, open the case, pick a verdict with your partner, then be ready to say why. Take about 20 to 30 seconds per case before the class commits.
For each invented campaign, weigh the tells, then commit to a verdict:
- Genuinely informed a better decision
- Mainly mobilised feeling
- Mixed or cannot tell from this alone
Be ready to say what evidence would change your call. The reasoning after each verdict is the learning, not a score.
Informed or just mobilised?
4 - Your Turn ~7 mins
Apply the same test to one real example. Use a public example by default (school notice, club post, council update). Only use something from your own feed if you are happy for it to be heard aloud.
If you are stuck, pick one of these and judge it: a weather warning, a school app notice, a sports-club fixture change, a library opening-hours post, a bus or train disruption update.
You may open one real public notice on your device (school app, council page, club socials, transport update).
Minimum done (aim for this first): one public example, one trust signal, one change that could mislead (one sentence each).
Sentence starters: "People could decide ___ because ___." / "It would mislead if it ___."
Stretch if you have time:
- You name one example where digital media helped people decide better.
- You state in one or two sentences what made it trustworthy enough to inform a decision.
- You state one change that could have made the same post misleading (missing source, fake urgency, no way to check, pressure to share, and so on).
- You are ready to share your example in one short turn if asked.
Keep examples respectful. Do not name classmates or share private posts.
5 - Make Sense ~6 mins
Pull the threads together. Digital media can support citizenship when it gives people checkable facts, a clear next step, and room to decide. It mainly mobilises feeling when it pushes urgency, anger or fear with little you can verify.
Feeling is not the enemy. Many good campaigns use feeling and facts together. The skill is noticing the balance: are you being equipped to decide, or mainly wound up to react and share?
Listen to two class examples. For each, name the trust signal and the one change that would have tipped it toward misleading.
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