MediaSmarts has been developing digital and media literacy programs and resources for Canadian homes, schools and communities since 1996. Through our work we support adults with information and tools so they can help children and teens develop the critical thinking skills they need for interacting with the media they love.

Resources are available for the following areas:
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Recently on MediaSmarts
Knowing My Password
Doing Good with Social Media
Reality Check: The Game

Middle Years Inquiry Guidebook.
A resource guide for beginning the inquiry process with your students. Links to many resources and mini-lesson ideas.
Resources included:
- Brainstorming & forming research questions
- Skimming & Scanning
- Online Research Skills
- Note taking & paraphrasing
- Embedding quotations
- In text citations & works cited

Students will explore the transmission of folktales over time and continent to evaluate their validity of a literary genre. By reading and analyzing a variety of folktales, students will realize the cultural implications of the genre. Students will create and perform their own original folktale in the form of a script that combines and modernizes the tales that they read. Learning will enhanced by technology infusion and the incorporation of 21 Century learning competencies.


Driving Question: How can folktales give us insight into other cultures? Why do we continue to tell and retell the same old stories?

Students use critical literacy skills to understand the concept of perspective and to then create a diary for an animal they research with a partner.

The #MyFoodChoice resource is an inquiry-based resource answering the overall question of "How can I make informed food choices?" This resources has videos, interactive student sheets, approved resources and more. It is aimed at grade 9-12 students in subjects such as science, food studies, English, agriculture, social studies, humanities to name a few.

This lesson should take about 45 minutes.

"For most middle-schoolers, being on social media can mean connecting with friends, sharing pictures, and keeping up to date. But it can also mean big-time distractions, social pressures, and more. Help students navigate the different feelings they may already be experiencing on social media.

Students will be able to:
*Identify the role of social media in students' lives.
*Reflect on the positive and negative effects of using social media on their relationships.
*Recognize "red flag feelings" when using social media, and consider ways to handle them."

Lesson slides, video, handouts, quiz, family engagement activities & family tips.

You will need to sign up for a FREE account to access all of the resources.

"From misinformation to the 24-hour news cycle (on TV and now on social media), students must learn to navigate a noisy, biased, and challenging world. But with the right support, they can learn to be critical and not cynical -- to speak up, not sit back. This collection of news and media lessons, videos, printables, and more is a great place to start. Everything's been carefully vetted by Common Sense editors (and fellow teachers) to help you find that "just right" resource for your classroom.

Check out our current favorites below. Read on for full collections. "

If teachers or parents are looking for ways to engage students in offline learning activities at home, check out this choice board. It is composed of activities that encourage students to think critically and creatively, document their learning, reflect on these unconventional learning experiences, and share what they’ve worked on with their peers.

*For every unit in Math I gave students a problem that did not have one right
answer, but many possible answers.
*Students were given a question on Monday and given time to research information
over the week.
*On Friday, the students were put into groups to discuss their findings. As a group
they needed to decide what information did they think made the best sense to use
for the problem.
*The group presented their answer to the class and explained why their group
chose to answer the question in the way that they did.

Students needed to become a little bit more independent in the cooking lab in creating their own final product to present to a panel of judges. Students had a lot of fun with the “competition” aspect of it. They competed for 5 classes worth of not having to wash dishes.

The Cupcake Color Wheel activity provides a meaningful, memorable way for students to study Color Theory. Used in my Practical and Applied Arts 10- Survey class, it is part of the Interior Design module. Through this activity, students learn color terminology, mixing colors, and gain knowledge and understanding in the concepts of complementary colors, values, and chroma. If this activity is completed as part of a Food Studies class, it provides students an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills in the kitchen basics, and in the preparation of cakes and frostings.

All the students in our school have iPads and I recently had received 2 LEGO robotics kits; I wanted to find a way to mesh the two together. LEGO has a free app (for iPads only) that allows students to program their robot and connect to it via Bluetooth. The goal of this assignment is to learn about basic function of the LEGO EV3 robot. This includes the motor, color sensor and ultrasonic sensor. The main objective is to learn how to program, or "code", the robot to perform various functions using the "LEGO Mindstorms Programming App".

"PBS NewsHour Extra's lesson plans are outstanding and clever. For example, a lesson on unions asks students to watch a few short videos and then get into teams to resolve an imaginary labor dispute based on what they've learned about negotiation. Beyond the provided lesson plans, there are many videos with resources to help students process what they're watching -- like an essential question and key vocabulary -- as well as discussion questions to kick off post-viewing conversations. Plus, the majority of the lesson plans are tied to STEM-related issues, so they're ideal for cross-curricular collaboration.

Because the daily videos include transcripts, supporting links, questions, and an extension activity, they could be assigned as independent work, group work, or both. For instance, part of the class could work on their own with the video -- assuming individual internet access -- and then, as they finish, they could move into small groups to tackle the extension activity.

For journalism, media studies, or ELA classes, make sure to check out the Student Voices samples. They'd serve as great models for editorial writing. For classrooms that want do dive deeper into media creation and production, the Student Reporting Labs website has a great curriculum and supporting resources, including video tutorials for things like audio recording and lighting." (Review from Common Sense Media)

"Pear Deck was founded by educators on a mission to help teachers engage every student, every day. With solutions rooted in active learning and formative assessment, we make it easy for you to connect with learners of every age and ability. When that happens, more students participate and learn, classroom community improves, and you'll know you're making a difference."

Watch the video to see how Pear Deck works!

The Free Version includes the ability to:
Design brilliant lessons with interactive questions, polls, quizzes, formative assessments

Work seamlessly with powerful classroom tools from Google and Microsoft

Ready-to-teach templates designed by educators

Support flexible work with Student Paced mode

Teach vocabulary with Flashcard Factory*

My plan for my 21st century competency dealt with critical thinking and creativity in designing a personal skill related fitness plan in my Physical Education 8 class. The assignment I had the students complete was a personal plan in an area, of a sport or activity, that they struggled in. Students were encouraged to develop skills in an activity or sport they enjoyed. This was determined in order to develop a physical education program that was designed for their needs. In order to develop this skill plan, students were taught about the components of skill related fitness, different types of muscle fibers, and different planning methods (i.e. F.I.T.T.) in class one. They were then given two classes to work on their plan. Throughout the year, they were given class time to work on their own plans and practice what they had put down on paper.

Cooperation and critical thinking are the name of the game as students use baseball facts they find online to create trivia questions for a class Jeopardy game.

This year my major plan for integrating critical thinking and collaboration included a major classroom change. I was rearranged my classroom into pods and I started presenting my lessons in a flipped form.
The pods and flipped classroom provided an opportunity for critical thinking and collaboration. The students were to watch the videos and write down any questions they had on the material. They then met up as a group to go over the material. I found the students would have impressive conversations on the material. They then also worked in their pods to complete the daily practice. I found it was great for the students to be able to work together through problems and struggles. I was constantly happy to hear the students offer their own explanations to each other.

Project Zero at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education has created a collection of Core Thinking Routines as part of their Visible Thinking Project. Teachers can view the entire collection on the Project Zero website (https://pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines#CoreThinkingRoutines), where each routine is described in detail (e.g., purpose, application, launch) in both English and Spanish.

These routines encourage students to be intentional thinkers.

What do they know or notice?
What is their perspective or position on an issue or idea?
How can they support their position or thinking?
What do they wonder? What are they confused about?
How has their thinking changed? What caused that change?

From The University of Waterloo:

"Many instructors in engineering, math and science have students solve “problems”. But are their students solving true problems or mere exercises? The former stresses critical thinking and decision­-making skills whereas the latter requires only the application of previously learned procedures. True problem solving is the process of applying a method – not known in advance – to a problem that is subject to a specific set of conditions and that the problem solver has not seen before, in order to obtain a satisfactory solution."

Details are provided on the principles of problem-solving as well as each step of the process outlined below:

Define the Problem
Think About it
Plan a Solution
Carry Out the Plan
Look Back

What is a Question Creation Chart (QC2)?
The Question Creation Chart (also known as a Q-Chart or Q-Matrix) provides students with a framework for developing a range of personally meaningful questions, encompassing both close-ended factual questions and open-ended, divergent questions. (Adapted from Weiderhold, 1997).

Why use it?
To provide students with a framework for creating their own divergent and convergent questions on a specific topic.
To encourage students to think deeply about a topic.
To help students strengthen their understanding and comprehension of a topic.
To stimulate students’ prior knowledge about a topic.
To collect information about students’ knowledge and understanding of a topic.