Students explore the editorial concepts, site designs and business models of online news digests. They propose detailed plans for Web sites that demonstrate their own areas of expertise.

Extra! Extra! Do your pupils know what it takes to be a good journalist? Young news hounds explore the world of journalism through a series of activities that focus on ethical reporting. Learners read, evaluate, and investigate popular...

Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds" is the focus of a lesson that looks at the importance of clarity in broadcasting. After listening to the radio broadcast, class members discuss the ethical obligations to...

Advertising is everywhere! Does your class know that their attention span is for sale, even when they're watching a simple news story? The second installment in a five-part series from iCivics examines the relationship between news...

Young journalists use the E.S.C.A.P.E. (evidence, source, context, audience, purpose, and execution) strategy to evaluate historical and contemporary examples of bias in the news. The class then uses the provided discussion questions to...

Verification of provenance and the original source of an image or video can be a long and winding process. Young journalists learn about the difficulty of finding the original source of a scrape, a copy of an original news story, and...

Pitch your best news story to your news team, or the peers in your journalism class, with a lesson about finding, reporting, and presenting a story. After watching clips of different examples, as well as strategies for finding...

Young journalists learn how to analyze word choice, context, and counterpoints to judge the fairness of a news story. They practice using these tools to judge a series of headlines for the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. They...

Young journalists learn that how we get our news and information matters in a collaborative social studies activity. The class is divided into three groups with the first analyzing a transcript of FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech, the second...

Young historians channel the very medium used to convey news during World War I. They create and present a five-minute radio broadcast on a particular topic from the war, such as the roles of African Americans and women, war bonds,...

See how bias operates firsthand. Half of the class reads one article while the other half reads another article on the same event. The obvious differences emerge when the two sides talk about their observations though. Several handouts...

Students explain the impact that the media may have in shaping their intellectual and emotional responses to current events. They examine broadcast and Web-based news sites to find subtexts through the use of language, audio, and visual...

Young historians create a 1940's news radio broadcast on the five major World War II conferences, including the Atlantic, Casablanca, Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam.

Students research current events and simulate a newscast of a current news story. They watch the evening news and write a summary of a story of interest, conduct Internet research and complete a worksheet on a current event, and...

Events in recent years have underscored the importance of a free and independent press in a democracy. Young journalists engage in lessons about the function of journalism in a democratic society, practice the steps of Bok's Ethical...

Class members investigate the role media should play in a healthy democracy. As part of this study, groups analyze political advertising, use FactCheck to assess not only the veracity of but the persuasions techniques used in candidates'...

Students present a 2-3 minute version of a newscast. They include three of the following: news, current events, weather and sports. They design a poster to include at least four pictures to be referenced in the report. They review and...

Tweet all about it! Junior journalists explore the Twittersphere to determine its effectiveness as a news broadcasting tool in the 12th installment of the 16-part Social Media Toolbox. Participants follow and record their observations of...

One picture but a thousand stories. As a part of a case study of how the death of Michael Brown was reported by professional news sources and on social media class members examine the reactions of various groups to a photograph taken by...

Learners read and discuss various news articles where an element of surprise was present about the criminal and the crime. They research a news story, present the information in the form of a newscast, and write an opinion piece.

Seventh graders study events leading to, during and resulting from the American Revolution. They review elements of a political cartoon. They create and dramatize a scene from a Revolutionary War novel.

How does geography influence daily life? Guided by an essential question, class groups select and then research an ancient culture, and develop a news broadcast about the geographical setting and its impact on the culture. Teams...

Sixth graders create a daily newscast which they broadcast to the whole school. They write the scripts for the broadcast, after reviewing interviews, feature writing, and proposals. They organize the newscast for presentation and edit...

Students research volcanoes, storms, atmospheric conditions and extreme environments. They collect information and create a simulation of a science newscast. They watch a video and write a letter as an eyewitness to an avalanche.