MisInfo Day 2025
The University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, in partnership with Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, has offered in-person MisInfo Day activities to schools in the northwest for several years. MisInfo Day is meant to help high school students navigate complex information environments and make informed decisions about what to believe online.
Can’t make it to an in-person event? Here are some things you can do from your classroom:
Teach a lesson from the resource library.
Play the escape room game.
Use this brand new toolkit to do a Media Mentorship project with students, where they help their peers, families, and communities learn what it takes to navigate today's information environment.
Image source: https://www.cip.uw.edu/misinfoday-library/
Transforming Videos into Lessons with AI
Here’s an example of taking a video transcript from Learn 360 and transforming it into new, innovative teaching tools. This article is meant to spark ideas on how teachers can use videos in the classroom—no matter which AI tools you choose.
- Download/copy a transcript from Learn 360. This example is from a 27-minute video called Wildfires: Fierce Earth (Series 1).
- Choose an AI chatbot and enter a prompt similar to this along with the transcript: Based on this lesson transcript, please create a concise summary for students, five discussion questions, a 5-7 point outline for a review presentation, and three potential quiz questions with answers.
Here are the ChatGPT’s responses.
Concise Summary for Students:
Wildfires are natural disasters fueled by dry vegetation, wind, heat, and oxygen. They spread rapidly, often outpacing human escape, and can cause massive destruction. Factors such as wind direction and terrain impact their speed and intensity. While many wildfires are caused by natural factors like lightning, human carelessness, such as unattended barbecues or Chinese lanterns, also plays a significant role. Firefighters undergo rigorous training to combat these blazes, risking their lives to protect communities. Wildfires like Black Saturday in Australia and the Colorado wildfires highlight the devastating impact of these fierce natural phenomena.
Discussion Questions:
- What are the primary factors that influence the spread and intensity of a wildfire?
- How can human carelessness contribute to the ignition of wildfires? Provide examples from the transcript.
- What safety measures can individuals and communities take to prevent or escape wildfires?
- What challenges do firefighters face when combating wildfires, and how are they trained to handle them?
- Discuss the environmental and social impacts of major wildfires, such as Black Saturday in Australia
Review Presentation Outline (5-7 points):
1. Introduction to Wildfires
- Definition and importance of understanding wildfires.
- Historical uses of fire versus its destructive potential.
2. Causes of Wildfires
- Natural causes: Lightning and environmental conditions.
- Human-induced causes: Carelessness, barbecues, and lanterns.
3. Spread and Behavior of Wildfires
- Role of wind, terrain (flat vs. sloped land), and vegetation.
- Experimental demonstration of controlled wildfire behavior.
4. Escaping Wildfires
- Importance of fire breaks and navigating unpredictable fire paths.
- Simulation exercise: Lessons learned.
5. Fighting Wildfires
- Training of firefighters and real-world challenges.
- Example: Emily Franklin’s experience during the Colorado wildfires.
6. Case Studies
- Black Saturday in Australia (2009).
- Greek forest fires (2007).
- Indonesian wildfires (1997).
7. Prevention and Preparedness
- Community and individual actions to reduce wildfire risks.
Quiz Questions and Answers:
1. Question: What are the three essential components needed for a wildfire to burn?
Answer: Fuel, oxygen, and heat.
2. Question: How does wind direction affect the spread of a wildfire?
Answer: Wind pushes the flames and heat in a specific direction, increasing the fire's intensity and spread if fuel is in its path.
3. Question: What was the main cause of the wildfire Emily Franklin fought in Colorado?
Answer: A tree branch rubbing against an electric power line sparked the fire.
Slide Presentation:
Slide 1: Understanding Wildfires
- Definition: Wildfires are uncontrolled fires that spread rapidly, destroying land and property.
- Global Impact: Wildfires occur worldwide, from Europe to Australia, causing devastation and financial losses.
- Purpose of Study: Learn how wildfires start, spread, and how to prevent them.
Slide 2: How Wildfires Start
- Three Key Elements:
- Fuel: Dry vegetation, trees, bushes, or even buildings.
- Oxygen: Abundant in open air.
- Heat: Provided by natural or human sources.
- Common Causes:
- Human Carelessness: Unattended barbecues, Chinese lanterns.
- Natural Causes: Lightning strikes.
Slide 3: Factors Influencing Wildfire Spread
- Terrain:
- Flat Ground: Slower spread as heat rises vertically.
- Slopes: Heat moves forward, doubling the fire’s speed and intensity.
- Wind:
- Determines direction and speed of fire spread.
- Pushes flames toward new fuel sources.
- Unpredictability:
- Fires can jump and change direction suddenly.
Slide 4: Experiencing Wildfires
- Key Insights:
- Fires can travel faster than a galloping horse.
- Firefighters train in extreme conditions to combat wildfires.
- Survival Tactics:
- Locate fire breaks (rivers, roads, forest edges).
- Change direction based on fire’s movement and wind.
Slide 5: Notable Wildfires in History
- Greece (2007):
- 84 deaths, massive urban damage.
- Cost: £1.6 billion.
- Indonesia (1997):
- Burned 80,000 sq. km (size of Scotland).
- Australia “Black Saturday” (2009):
- 173 deaths, 414 injuries, 400 wildfires in one day.
Slide 6: Case Study: Colorado Wildfires (2012)
- Teenage Firefighter’s Story:
- Emily Franklin fought fires with minimal tools.
- Destroyed 22 homes in her neighborhood.
- Highlighted human resilience and bravery.
- Challenges Faced:
- Strong winds and dry conditions intensified the fires.
Slide 7: Preventing and Managing Wildfires
- Preventive Measures:
- Avoid careless actions (e.g., barbecues, lanterns).
- Monitor and reduce dry vegetation.
- Response Strategies:
- Establish fire breaks.
- Train firefighters in realistic scenarios.
- Community Awareness:
- Educate residents in high-risk areas about evacuation and safety.
Slide 8: Discussion Questions
- What are the three essential elements needed for a wildfire to start?
- How does terrain influence wildfire behavior?
- Why are wildfires more common during dry summer months?
- What lessons can be learned from historical wildfires like Black Saturday?
- How can individuals and communities work together to prevent wildfires?
Slide 9: Quiz Questions
- What are the three key elements required for a wildfire to burn?
- Answer: Fuel, oxygen, and heat.
- How does wind affect the spread of wildfires?
- Answer: Wind pushes flames toward new fuel sources, increasing spread and intensity.
- What is a fire break, and how does it help stop wildfires?
- Answer: A fire break is an area without fuel (e.g., roads, rivers) that prevents a fire from spreading.
Slide 10: Conclusion
- Wildfires are powerful and destructive forces of nature.
- Understanding their behavior is key to prevention and survival.
- Community awareness and preparedness can save lives and reduce devastation.
Image from: https://learn360.infobase.com/titles/57482?aid=193556
Iowa History Resources, 3-12
Iowa history resources:
- The Iowa Inquiry Hub hosts an array of strategies, resources and helpful tips for educators to use inquiry with their students. Informational and instructional videos are included, such as "What is Inquiry?"
- Image Interpretation and Historical Reasoning. Check out the digitized albums from the State Historical Society of Iowa Special Collections here. Give this tool a try as you investigate historical photographs.
- Primary Source Sets. These sets address national and international history as well as Iowa-specific history. Compelling and supporting questions guide each Primary Source Set.
- An introduction, with an Iowa focus, offers an overview for each set
- Source-dependent questions aid student understanding
- Transcripts and grade-appropriate text excerptions
- Search grade level Content Anchor Standards, subject or time period
- Virtual Classroom Lessons
- Immigration to Iowa, grade 3
- Change & Continuity in Children’s Lives, grade 4
- Rights & Responsibilities, grade 5
- Virtual Classroom Program. Includes both pre-recorded and live options. No cost. For more information or scheduling, contact museum.education@iowa.gov.
- Iowa and the Civil War, grades 1-12, 45 min
- Iowa’s People and Places, grades 3-12, 45 min
More educational resources are at history.iowa.gov/learn.
Teachers can have multiple copies of some Iowa primary sources printed and delivered to your school. Search for primary in Creative Services Online.
Tired of CRAAP?
The CRAAP information literacy test to evaluate sources has been around for a while. The acronym is for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. The SIFT method was created by Mike Caulfield, Washington State University, to fill some of the gaps and inaccuracies with strategies and checklists like CRAAP.
- Stop
- Investigate the source
- Find better coverage
- Trace claims, quotes and media to the original context
The SIFT strategy is aligned with AASL standards to teach students how to evaluate the credibility of online information sources by examining the source's reputation, checking for corroborating evidence from other reliable sources, and tracing claims back to their origin, helping them identify potential misinformation. The SIFT method aligns with standards by promoting critical thinking, information literacy skills, and the ability to evaluate the reliability of sources, which are essential for effective research in the digital age.
Here are a few resources to learn more about this tool.
- Developing Creative Collaborators, Flexible Partners, and Resilient Citizens Activity Guide, American Association of School Librarians, 2024. (Start on page 34.) Click Activity Guide here.
- Evaluating Information: SIFT (The Four Moves). Includes videos with Mike Caulfield.
- SIFT Newsletter. The Sift is a free weekly newsletter that offers a rundown of the latest topics in news literacy — including trends and issues in misinformation, social media, artificial intelligence, journalism and press freedom. It provides discussion prompts, teaching ideas, classroom guides and a video series that features professional journalists. Archived newsletters are available.
- Evaluating Resources and Misinformation, U of Chicago Library
- Lesson Ideas from ReadWrite
Image source: https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
