Five PBS LearningMedia Resources to Strengthen Students’ Information Literacy

Information literacy equips students with the critical skills necessary to become independent lifelong learners. PBS LearningMedia provides resources that address information literacy skills underlying the basic tenets of Common Core State Standards.

The introduction of the Common Core State Standards explains, “To be ready for college, workforce training, and life in a technological society, students need the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize, and report on information and ideas, to conduct original research in order to answer questions or solve problems, and to analyze and create a high volume and extensive range of print and nonprint texts in media forms old and new.”

Here are five PBS LearningMedia resources that teachers can use to support the enhancement of students’ information literacy skills in three ways: gathering, evaluating, and analyzing information.

Gathering Information

Exploring Social Media With #Hashtags | Grades 6-13+
Students will learn all about hashtags and see them in action across different social media platforms with this video from KQED.

Evaluating Information

ARTHUR’S Guide To Media Literacy | Grades PreK-4
Each lesson uses a different ARTHUR episode to launch a guided discussion and classroom activities based on a media literacy theme.

Evaluating the Validity of Information – Did the Chinese Discover America in 1421? | Grades 6-8
Students will evaluate evidence regarding the Chinese building a massive fleet for naval exploration then determine whether the evidence presented is valid. They will be asked to use skills to both critically analyze and validate the accuracy of the new material presented.

Analyzing Information

Analyzing Information – Can Pigs be Pets? | Grades 3-5
Students will identify a main idea by analyzing, evaluating and interpreting new information and using personal experiences and prior knowledge to write a paragraph stating whether or not pigs make good pets. Includes “Pigs as Pets” video.

Media Arts: How to Be a Critical Viewer | Grades 6-13+
Students will learn how to be critical viewers by applying the key concepts of media literacy to these ads for cigarettes.

About the Author

Sue Heraper is the Teacher Librarian at Newbury Park High School and the Vice President of Communications for California School Library Association.