Pennsylvania launches toolkit to help students separate fact from fiction

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — A famous quote goes, “A lie can race halfway around the world before the truth ties its sneakers,” and that was before the internet with its disinformation and misinformation.

Pennsylvania has now created an online toolkit to help kids and parents better navigate an online world that seems hopelessly off-kilter.

“How we consume information, how we check whether that information is real or not,” said Gov. Josh Shapiro (D). He’s adding a fourth “R” to the old education equation: Readin’ Ritin’ and Rithmetic. Now, Real.

Real as in real information. And real sources said Shapiro is really concerned about the misinformation and disinformation that exists online.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has the Information and Media Literacy Toolkit to guide students, parents, teachers, and everybody on the information superhighway that is often too fast and too loose.

“This isn’t just about students avoiding bad information on social media,” said Carrie Rowe, acting education secretary. “It’s about students learning to think critically and to ask good questions and to become responsible consumers and creators of information.”

Lessons, perhaps, the content creator-in-chief could learn.

“The leader of the Congress of the United States wearing a sombrero with all kinds of false information coming out of his mouth. You would think the president would speak the truth every day,” Shapiro said, using a recent AI-generated clipped President Donald trump reshared on this social media account, something the president does often.

Middletown Junior Sana Zareen is learning how to navigate the digital world. She said she fact-checks all claims, looks for political bias from writers or organizations and leans on .org and .gov websites before she even repeats what they’re saying.

Responsible internet use is a responsibility she takes seriously.

“Because the information you share, the words you speak out of your mouth, once they are spoken, you can’t take them back,” Zareen said. “So, it can cause disasters elsewhere, if not right in front of you.”

But media consumption is very different now. Leah Snyder, a freshman, said she gets her news through Google. After searching for a topic, she said she checks various results to get a balance.

Traditional television news like abc27 News is not a part of her daily news diet. What about her friends?

“Probably not,” Snyder said. “My parents do, but that’s about it.”

Click here to access the toolkit.