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Citizenship at key stages 1 and 2 (Year 3-6)
Unit 11: In the media - what's the news?
Section 1: What's in the news?
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Objectives |
| Children should learn: |
- to research, discuss and debate topical issues, problems and events
- about local and national topical news stories
- to understand and distinguish between fact and opinion
- to use enquiry questions when investigating topical issues
- to evaluate how the media present information
- that different sources of news select their information to suit their target audience
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Activities |
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Outcomes |
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Children: |
- Carry out a 'treasure hunt' activity, giving the children different items, articles or sections of a newspaper to find. Younger children could look for photographs and headings, while older children could be asked to read articles to look for specific facts.
- Working in groups, the children select an issue or story of interest to them and extract relevant articles from a range of newspapers published on a particular day. Ensure there is a mixture of newspapers - tabloid and broadsheet, national and local. The children look for agreement and disagreement between the papers as to the facts of the story. Encourage them to devise and answer questions, eg when? who? what? where? why? how? They look for similarities and differences in the way the story is presented by the papers, and distinguish between fact and opinion in the reports. The groups share and discuss their findings with the whole class.
- As a class, compare and discuss the headline stories in the different newspapers the children reviewed. What are the main news stories of the day? Is there agreement on the main stories? Why? Why not? What is 'news'? Is there any evidence of bias in the reporting? What do we mean by bias? Is bias wrong in a news item? Why?
- Show the class a children's TV news programme from the same day as the newspaper articles. Are the main stories the same as those in the newspapers they reviewed? If not, why not?
- Ask the children to write a short article on a local issue or on an issue that interests them that would be suitable for the front page of the local newspaper. Encourage them to think about the heading, the main issues or events, the people involved and how the community has been affected.
- Extension activity: The children could compare and discuss news on the same topic from a variety of news sources, eg local or national newspapers, radio, television, the internet. The discussion could focus on an issue such as the right to privacy.
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- show awareness of issues of current interest
- take part in discussions about issues in the news that are of interest to them
- express personal and group views on topical local or national issues
- develop enquiry questions as they investigate issues
- begin to recognise that newspapers and other news sources target their stories at particular audiences
- write a short newspaper article about a topical issue
- compare and evaluate the ways that different sections of the media present information
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Points to note |
- The media (television, radio, cinema, newspapers and magazines, popular music, the internet) have an important role in the way information is presented and communicated. The media will be relevant whenever the children explore something that is topical, in citizenship as well as in other subjects of the curriculum.
- Collect the various news sources in advance. Alternatively, the children could prepare a class news board or news diary where they could post articles of interest from the selected date.
- Link with history: 3, 4a, 4b in the key stage 2 programme of study, using sources to explore fact, opinion, bias and interpretation.
- Link with English: En2 R, 3f in the key stage 2 programme of study.
- Sometimes the news can be somewhat disturbing to young children. Nevertheless they will be aware of major news stories and will want to discuss them. It is better for such stories to be discussed in the relative safety of the classroom, overseen by caring adults. Remind the children of the agreed ground rules for discussion. Guidelines on the teaching of controversial and sensitive issues are included in the Teacher's guide.
- News items aimed at children may be found at the Headliners and BBC 'newsround' websites.
- Link with geography: 1a, 1d, 1e, 2d, 6d, 6e in the key stage 2 programme of study;
unit 16 'What's in the news?' in the scheme of work.
- Link with English: En1 Wr, 1d in the key stage 2 programme of study.
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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of
activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by
moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
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