Trusting Sources Lesson Plan

Standards Addressed

• Social Awareness: The ability to recognize and understand the emotions, perspectives, and social cues of others
• Responsible Decision Making: Understanding the importance of making ethical and beneficial choices

Objectives

Students will:

• Learn a three-question framework for evaluating information before acting on it
• Apply the framework to a scenario involving secondhand information
• Choose a reasonable next step and explain their reasoning

Materials

• Four scenario cards, two social and two academic (wording included below)
• Paper for each group to jot notes

Assessment

Students can be assessed on:

• Application of the framework during group discussion
• Reasoning shared behind the next step chosen
• Responses during the closing reflection

Activating Prior Knowledge

Ask the class, "Has anyone ever heard something and later found out it was not quite right?"

Invite one or two volunteers to share briefly, without pressing for detail. Use this to introduce the idea that information often reaches us secondhand, and part of responsible decision-making is deciding what to do with it before reacting.

Lesson Steps

1) Introduce the three-question framework to the class:

• • Where did this information come from?
  • What do I not know yet?
  • What is one reasonable next step I can take without knowing everything?

2) Explain that a reasonable next step usually falls into one of a few categories:

• • Asking the source directly
  • Asking a clarifying question
  • Waiting before reacting
  • Telling a trusted adult

Give the example of hearing a rumor about a schedule change and deciding to ask the teacher directly instead of repeating it to others.

3) Divide the class into four small groups. Assign one scenario to each group (see scenarios on the next page), aiming to give at least one social scenario and one academic scenario to different groups so the whole class hears both categories during presentations.

4) Give each group their scenario card and five to seven minutes to work through the framework and decide on a next step together. Circulate during discussion to support groups who are stuck, without steering them toward a single correct answer.

5) Bring the class back together. Have each group briefly share their scenario and their answers to the three questions. After all four groups present, ask the class which categories of next steps came up the most often across the scenarios and point out that the same three questions worked for very different situations.

Scenario Cards

Social, Scenario 1:

A student hears from a friend that another classmate said something unkind about them during lunch. The friend was not there when it supposedly happened and heard it from someone else.

Social, Scenario 2:

A rumor starts spreading that a teacher is going to cancel a favorite class activity. Nobody seems to know exactly who heard it first, but several students are upset.

Academic, Scenario 1:

A student is working on a research project and finds two sources that disagree with each other, one a textbook and one a website found through a quick search.

Academic, Scenario 2:

A group project partner tells the rest of the group a fact they are confident about, but no one else in the group has heard it before.

Reflection

Facilitate a closing discussion using the following prompts:

• Which of the three questions felt most useful for your scenario?
• Can you think of a time when this framework could have helped you decide what to do?

Here is a copy of the printable version of the Trusting Sources Lesson Plan.

‍

Our online SEL video game and curriculum have already impacted students in 200+ schools and therapy centers worldwide. Want to see how Social Cipher can benefit your students? Learn more about our free Pilot Program.

‍

‍

‍