633
submitted 3 months ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/world@lemmy.world

Children will be taught how to spot extremist content and misinformation online under planned changes to the school curriculum, the education secretary said.

Bridget Phillipson said she was launching a review of the curriculum in primary and secondary schools to embed critical thinking across multiple subjects and arm children against “putrid conspiracy theories”.

One example may include pupils analysing newspaper articles in English lessons in a way that would help differentiate fabricated stories from true reporting.

In computer lessons, they could be taught how to spot fake news websites by their design, and maths lessons may include analysing statistics in context.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] tiramichu@lemm.ee 83 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This is great, honestly.

If you go back to antiquity, education was about philosophy. It was about learning how to observe, and think critically, and see the world for what it is.

And then in modern times, education became about memorisation - learning facts and figures and how to do this and that. And that way of teaching and learning just doesn't fit any longer with what our digital age has become.

In my opinion, we are heavily overdue for a revamp of what education should be, and what skills are most important to society in this post-truth world. Critical thinking is an important foundation to real knowledge that we don't teach enough.

[-] fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc 28 points 3 months ago

"Critical thinking" was a buzzword when I was at school in the 80s.

Memorisation is a component of learning, but the vast majority of any learning I've done has been understanding.

Certainly children need to learn to be skeptical, but I hope we can do better than showing them biased articles from newspapers.

[-] Mothra@mander.xyz 6 points 3 months ago

Is it a buzzword though? I always took it as the ability to understand AND question in order to prove/disprove/ build upon said understanding.

[-] FarraigePlaisteach@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

I think they mean that it was a buzzword because although it was mentioned, it wasn't a substantial part of state education at the time. They're saying that it "was" a buzzword, rather than that it is one.

[-] Mothra@mander.xyz 2 points 3 months ago

Fair enough! That makes sense

[-] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

The difference between intelligence and wisdom. We have been prioritizing the former at the detriment of the latter.

This is how you end up with people like Elon Musk who I will give the benefit of the doubt and say he isn't dumb, but Christ he's a moron.

[-] wewbull@feddit.uk 8 points 3 months ago

I'm not sure you mean intelligence and wisdom.

Intelligence is the capability to apply your brain to problems. Wisdom is the lessons you learn through experience.

Maybe "knowledge Vs wisdom" is a better way of putting it.

[-] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 months ago
[-] qaz@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

We were shown different news articles from about the same event and were given the task to point out their biases based on the differences. Do schools over there do that too?

I honestly don't remember. That's not a yes or a no but "I'm not sure". The critical thinking they were talking about wasn't necessarily relating to media though, but more general - like a habit of challenging assumed knowledge.

[-] wewbull@feddit.uk 2 points 3 months ago

I did in history class, the point being that when trying to assess historical evidence you have to take into account the source of the information to understand the biases contained in it.

It wasn't in general classes though.

[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

If you go back to antiquity, education was about philosophy.

Well, formal education was. I'm pretty sure ancient ~~Greeks~~ Athenians still had to be taught to do things like follow instructions, and to read and write (If they were in a social class where literacy was even expected).

Of course we should be doing a better job teaching students critical thinking skills, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking ancient Greek children all spent their days having deep conversations with Aristotle in a park. Plato is even on record against reading because he thought it interfered with students' ability to memorize things!

this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2024
633 points (100.0% liked)

World News

39004 readers
2356 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS