The Debunking Handbook

Provided by: Climate Central |Published on: July 26, 2022

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Synopsis

This handbook explains how to credibly debunk misinformation, while also explaining how and why misinformation is circulated.
Students will learn about the damage misinformation can do, where misinformation comes from, how misinformation sticks, how to strategically debunk misinformation, the backfire effect, and specific strategies for debunking.

Related Teaching Resources

Subjects: English Language Arts

Authors: Climate Central

Region: Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

This resource is a thorough guide to debunking misinformation.
The structure of the resource is helpful and includes charts and word banks that will help explain new concepts to students.

Prerequisites

Students would benefit from background knowledge of misinformation, persuasive techniques, and rhetoric.

Differentiation & Implementation

This resource would work well in any class that is discussing how to speak with people about things that aren't completely true. This can include health classes talking about making healthy choices, social studies classes talking about political discussions, language arts classes working on debate, or science classes discussing climate change.
After working through the resource, give out examples of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation and allow students to practice debunking. You may need to model this initially. Then, have students find their own examples and write out or record their debunking responses.
As an extension, for students who are advanced and mature enough, encourage them to use this guide to have debunking conversations in the real world and report back to the class.

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About the Partner Provider

Climate Central

Climate Central is an independent group of scientists and communicators who research and report the facts about our changing climate and how it affects people’s lives.

Scientist Reviewed

This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.

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