Literacy and media education

approaches to fake news in public schools in Curitiba

Abstract

The project “Literacy and Media Education: Approaches to Fake News in Public Schools of Curitiba” has been promoting, since the first semester of 2022, workshops at the Monsenhor lvo Zanlorenzi State School, located in the Campo Comprido neighborhood, in Curitiba/PR. The workshops work on concepts of information and disinformation, through the application of a methodology with dynamics, debates and audiovisual resources. The action benefits the school community and its surroundings, by strengthening understanding of misleading content and encouraging critical thinking. At the same time that students enrolled in the classes attended learn to discern intentions and verify sources, extensionists benefit academically due to interaction with society. The project contributes to quality education goals, stimulating civic, conscious and ethical training. The extensionist participants have experienced notable impacts in their training, resulting in enriching debates and broadening perspectives, while the ability to adapt and stimulate critical thinking have shaped students as conscious agents of knowledge dissemination, thus achieving the project's objective of educating, training and forging capable and questioning citizens in the media context. The age range of the classes attended, in addition, contributed to the content covered reaching family members and spreading awareness about fake news to wider areas of society.