A Case Study: The efficacy of critical thinking and media literacy education
Critical Thinking and Media Literacy
As we grow in our IB journey of being a Primary Years Programme school, and our candidacy to become a Middle Years Programme school, we have been thinking about how we integrate and articulate our approaches to learning across the whole school continuum. Part of this journey has been to develop our Academic Integrity Policy and this led to a series of conversations between our PYP coordinator, Jenna Fritz, our librarian, Connie Jagolinzer, and our MYP coordinator and Literacy Lead, Penny Roche. We asked the questions:
How do we help our students to think about how information is created and distributed?
How do we teach our students to think critically about the sources they are using for research?
How do we teach them to evaluate the large amount of information that they are exposed to?
How do we help them to navigate the online world?
Can we start teaching them about this in an age appropriate manner from an early age?
The Cambridge Disinformation Summit
These questions led to the creation of a Cross Programme Research Skill Continuum, to be added as an appendix to the Academic Integrity Policy and to the development of units across the school to look at how we use information. At the same time, Penny was invited to speak at the Cambridge Disinformation Summit organised by Cambridge University, on the topic of the efficacy of critical thinking and media literacy education, with a specific focus on the work that we are doing at Landmark.
You can view her speech below, which details our approach, and we continue to work to support our students and to “Provide a human-centred approach to learning, ensuring that each individual is nurtured to be self-directed creative thinkers that contribute to making their communities and the world around them a better place.”
