Intermediate
40 mins
Teacher/Student led
+60 XP

Why Misinformation and Disinformation Matter

See how misinformation and disinformation move through digital spaces and why they affect readers and sharers. Trace an invented claim's spread and write questions to check before sharing emotive posts.

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    1 - Start ~3 mins

    Illustration for StartYou already know the intent difference: misinformation is wrong but not meant to mislead; disinformation is deliberately misleading. Today the question shifts. Why do either of them matter to you as a reader and sharer, and where along a spreading claim can one person's choice change what happens next?

    You will walk an invented scare forward one decision at a time, then write your own three-question pause check for content that makes you angry or excited.

    2 - Examine and Discuss ~5 mins

    Illustration for Examine and discussToday you will watch one fake soft-drink recall move through chats and a public forum. At each step you decide what a character could do, and we will talk about what that choice changes.

    3 - Hands-on: Trace the Spread ~15 mins

    Work through the interactive activity together. It is one invented case told as four decision points. The claim is posted. It is shared wider. It goes loud in public. Then a correction arrives.

    Key point

    For each card, read the story, talk about the options open to the character, and be ready to say what that choice would change for the next person who sees the claim. There is no score. The learning is in the reasoning.

    Tip

    As you go, notice moments where one pause, one check, or one decision not to pile on would have slowed the scare.

    Interactive activity

    4 - Your Turn: Pause Before You Share ~10 mins

    On your own, write a three-question pause-before-you-share check for content that makes you angry, scared or excitedly sure. Draw the questions from the SuperFizz case and from what slowed or sped the spread.

    Before you finish, check
    • Exactly three short questions you could actually ask yourself in under a minute
    • Each question aimed at emotive content (not a generic "is this true?" only)
    • At least one question about evidence or source, and at least one about what sharing would do next
    • Wording you would really use, not a slogan for the wall
    Tip

    Keep your three questions. You will want them when a post hits that same urgent feeling.

    5 - Make Sense ~5 mins

    Pull the timeline together. Misinformation and disinformation matter to consumers because false claims can move faster than checks, ride on strong feeling, and leave real mess behind them: panic, unfair blame, wasted time, and a correction that never quite catches up.

    Key point

    Intent still helps you judge the poster. Impact is what the people who saw the claim have to live with either way. Across the SuperFizz path, the biggest levers were ordinary ones: pause, ask for a source, refuse to amplify, and help a correction travel in the same places the scare did.

    Key point

    Your three questions are the portable version of that. They are how you stay a thoughtful consumer when a post is trying to make you act before you think.

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