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In this lesson, students examine the poetry of Amanda Gorman, who was chosen to read her poem "The Hill We Climb" at President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021. Gorman's poem will complement Biden's message and themes of "unity."

"How new technologies and techniques pioneered by dictators will shape the 2020 election"

"A federal election is coming and Canadians should be wary of being exposed to fake and misleading news, particularly on social media. What you need to look out for most during this election cycle is your own emotional bias. This is what leads us to share fake news without checking the facts first.  We have been researching the psychology of fake news for almost three years now, with the goal of finding out why people believe fake news and what each of us do to avoid falling for it ourselves. We have uncovered a few answers; one of the most important of which was recently detailed in a paper titled Reliance on Emotion Promotes Belief in Fake News. "

"Last year, in the height of the election season, the Obama administration quietly released a national strategic plan for artificial intelligence (AI) research and development. The plan was the beginning of a national effort to prepare Americans for a future with AI-a future some computer scientist believe our nation is ill-equipped to handle. AI has become a part of the American fabric for some time. Siri and Alexa are already taking orders, self-driving cars have hit some streets, and the concept of interconnectivity is now a reality through the Internet of Things. But experts assert that in order for the society to fully embrace AI, learning machines should not replace human workers, but complement them. So to prepare the future workforce for a computer coworker, there must be a shift in teaching and learning-a change that should begin in the classroom."

"Many students are not good at evaluating the credibility of what they see and read online according to a now-famous Stanford study that was released just after the 2016 election. And while it's true that 82 percent of middle schoolers couldn't tell the difference between a native advertisement and a news article, neither could 59 percent of adults in a study conducted by the advertising industry. Sam Wineburg, the Stanford professor who led the middle school study, is worried that everyone is "profoundly confused" right now and that schools aren't doing enough to teach students the skills they need to be effective citizens and digital consumers."

"When the results of today's U.S. midterm elections are tallied, people will have a clearer sense of how the American people really feel about the current administration. Or at least, how they feel based on the information they've read leading up to the election - not all of which was factual. Alas, it's not just the temperature of the U.S. political climate that will be gauged; so too will the impact and reach of online misinformation. All the major social networks have made attempts to clamp down on fake news, but the trickery has only grown more insidious and pervasive, with new derivatives of fake news, such as fake fact-checkers. Indeed, it would appear that just as we outsmarted fake news, those pushing misinformation have outsmarted our outsmarting."

"The word "deepfakes" refers to using deep learning, a type of machine learning, to add anyone's face and voice to video. It has been mostly found on the internet's dark corners, where some people have used it to insert ex-girlfriends and celebrities into pornography. But BuzzFeed provided a glimpse of a possible future in April when it created a video that supposedly showed Obama mocking Trump, but in reality, Obama's face was superimposed onto footage of Hollywood filmmaker Jordan Peele using deepfake technology. Deepfakes could pose a greater threat than the fake news and Photoshopped memes that littered the 2016 presidential election because they can be hard to spot and because people are -- for now -- inclined to believe that video is real. But it's not just about individual videos that will spread misinformation: it's also the possibility that videos like these will convince people that they simply can't trust anything they read, hear or see unless it supports the opinions they already hold. Experts say fake videos that will be all but impossible to identify as such are as little as 12 months away."

"Since the 2016 election, a number of independent media organizations and industrious individuals have set out on an ambitious task: to fix the truth. Can a new wave of fact-checking solve the fake news problem?"

"At the secondary level, core computer science (CS) concepts and practices are taught in courses typically within the information technology (IT) career cluster under the umbrella of career and technical education (CTE). However, CS concepts and practices are also increasingly being incorporated into academics and also electives (and are influenced by art and design). No matter the discipline, creating computational artifacts is one of the core CS practices students should consistently experience to become better problem-solvers. Computational artifacts may include images, videos, presentations, audio files and computer programs. Precise and consistent practice in computer programming (CP) will help students construct cross-curricular knowledge in tandem with both academic and CS concepts and practices. As CP is the process of writing a program from start to finish, students receive exposure in the amalgamation of practices 3-6 found in the K-12 Computer Science Framework. So, how can we successfully engage students in CP? Here's how we can do so in four major steps."

"Information literacy has been a hot topic of recent conversation. Many folks believe that web sites that traffic in false information and 'fake news' may have influenced the last United States presidential election. Traffic on the Snopes web site, which debunks false rumors, has never been greater. Ideological separation also is being driven by the ways that we sort ourselves in our schools, neighborhoods, friendship groups, political affiliations, and faith institutions. Already often isolated from the dissimilar-minded, we then also self-select into individualized news media and online channels that can result in walled-garden 'echo chambers' or 'filter bubbles.' To combat our growing concerns about fake news and filter bubbles, we're going to have to take the task of information literacy more seriously. And that means rethinking some organizational and technological practices."

""Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President"; "ISIS Leader Calls for American Muslim Voters to Support Hillary Clinton." These examples of fake news are from the 2016 presidential election campaign. Such highly partisan fabricated stories designed to look like real reporting probably played a bigger role in that bitter election than in any previous American election cycle. The fabrications spread on social media and into traditional news sources in a way that tarnished both major candidates' characters. Sometimes the stories intentionally damage a candidate; sometimes the authors are driven only by dollar signs. Questions about how and why voters across the political spectrum fell for such disinformation have nagged at social scientists since early in the 2016 race. The authors of a new study address these questions with cognitive experiments on familiarity and belief."

"In this post-election period, there has been a lot of discussion about fake news, particularly about how it is spread and shared online, and whether it influenced the recent presidential election. On November 22, Stanford University released an influential study showing that middle and high school students-and even some in college-have trouble distinguishing which online resources are credible. The inescapable fact is that young people need to be prepared for the Wild West of information that they live in and will grow up in. It is also imperative that we, as educators, prepare young people for the important job of responsible and informed citizenship"

"If the most recent U.S. Election has taught us anything it's that we live in an era of fake news and sites. With accusations flying of manipulation of stories, the media and voters, it's truly hard to know if what we read on blogs, social media and other sites is actually the truth or a tale spun to generate clicks. To further compound the problem a recent study from Stanford shows that the vast majority of students can't determine it what they read on websites is true or baloney. The study showed More than two out of three middle-schoolers couldn't see any valid reason to mistrust a post written by a bank executive arguing that young adults need more financial-planning help. And nearly four in 10 high-school students believed, based on the headline, that a photo of deformed daisies on a photo-sharing site provided strong evidence of toxic conditions near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, even though no source or location was given for the photo. With many schools and districts rolling out 1:1 initiatives and a push to digitize learning, helping students understand where their information comes from, and if it is reliable and accurate are critical skills, not just for learning for but life as well."

"I used to teach a class called photojournalism. I usually referred to it as "digital journalism," because people assumed we were a photography class. Students created videos, podcasts, documentaries, and blogs with the goal of sharing their work with an authentic audience. On the surface, this might not seem all that practical. After all, newspapers are slashing their budgets and laying off staff. Why teach an elective class in a subject that doesn't connect to a decent job market? But here's the thing: whether we feel like it or not, we are all citizen journalists. We are all researchers. We are all sharing information online and publishing it on social media. We are all curating and producing content even if only a fragment of the population creates videos, podcasts, or blog posts. Social media is a fusion of space (social) and publishing (medium). Although it can simply feel like a place to hang out, every social media platform uses elements of traditional media. Just look at the terms: subscribers, news feed, followers, publish."

It is difficult to have not noticed that the Presidential Election in the United States of America has been somewhat controversial. The same conclusion can be drawn about 'Brexit'. The implications of these events will keep historians, political analysts and indeed educators busy for many years. Regardless of your political leanings there are genuine implications for educators in these events and a considered response now and in the coming months (even years) will be required. 

"Encouraging diverse participation in STEM in middle school is crucial. Students who do not have STEM opportunities in middle school and high school are very unlikely to take those opportunities in college. We are committed to offering creative learning experiences and the best career opportunities for all kids. How do we recruit and retain a diverse student body in elective STEM classes such as computer science and engineering? For your students who don't typically identify as "engineers"-many female and minority students as well as some boys-what motivates them to sign up for, and become invested in, an engineering class or activity? While we don't claim to have completely cracked the code, focusing on this effort has made us better, more culturally inclusive teachers, and we believe our students will be better off in the long term because of sustained efforts to broaden access to CS and engineering."

"I am always curious to see the words and ideas that are growing.  It was from individual classrooms and schools that ideas around self-regulation, inquiry and digital access have exploded.  I have also written before about the growth of outdoor learning among other trends that are taking hold.  It is sometimes hard to track their growth - it comes from students, teachers, parents and the community and when they stick - they become the new normal. The two ideas this fall that I would add to the list and I think are just beginning to blossom are coding and robotics.  When I look at the growth plans of staff, or the inquiry questions of our Innovation teams, or listen to the interests of parents, these ideas are coming up more and more. Coding is not new, and it is part of the ICT 9-12 curriculum.  In part driven by the global Hour of Code initiative, there are efforts to expose all students to the possibilities around coding not just those who select it as a secondary school elective.  More and more we are hearing from students, teachers and parents that we want to engage younger learners with these skills.  Cari Wilson has done a wonderful job leading the Hour of Code initiative in our district - getting into elementary and secondary classrooms.  Given the Star Wars theme this year I am sure students in classrooms and at kitchen tables across our community will be engaging with coding."

"Creator's Studio is a 7th/8th grade elective course taught by John Umekubo, Director of Technology for St. Matthew's Parish School. This video explores the essential elements of this course, from electronics, to mechanical motion, and robotics. Students work through these three modules before taking on their own personal project. Hear reflections from the instructor and students as you view a number of sample student project"