Despite various headlines decrying the death of social media, the evidence suggests that it is just as popular as ever. With 30% of people using social media to get their news, and concerns around disinformation in the form of fake news being used to manipulate voters in elections, it's clear there is a need to consume social media with a healthy dose of critical thinking.

The first step, though, is to recognise the problem. While we often label our students as digital natives, this doesn't mean we don't need to actively teach them media literacy skills. After all, under the research umbrella of the IB's Approaches to Learning, we have media literacy. 

This video explains two theories from the field of social psychology that help to explain what is going on when we read our social media feeds, the problems this can cause, and how we can take action. In addition to this page, there's also a TASKS page that you can assign for students to work on independently. If you'd prefer to use this resource and the corresponding questions in a more structured way, read on!

Lead In: Connect to prior knowledge

Language

Write anagrams of the words "filter, bubble, echo, and chamber" separately on the board, or display the box below on the screen in your classroom. Get students to work in pairs to unscramble them. Can anyone use these words in a sentence? What part of speech do they belong to? Do any of these words collocate with each other? Introduce the 2 pairs: Filter Bubbles & Echo Chambers.

Content

Ask students how they access their news. Is it via apps, websites, or social media? If they tell you they don't read the news, remind them that IB students should be inquirers, principled, knowledgable, balanced, etc. and that universities aren't interested in applicants who don't care about what's going on in the world around them! If they say social media, ask them to identify any potential problems with accessing the news this way. What are the benefits?

Tell students that they're going to watch a video to a) learn about two theories from social psychology and b) practise their listening skills for the Paper 2 exam (and other real-world applications of this important skill!).

Text (play with sound only while students answer the questions)

The text is an explainer video that includes on-screen graphics and text to accompany the voiceover. Much of the audio text, and therefore, answers to the questions, is visible if you display the whole video. Given that listening is a discreet skill, separate from reading, it would make sense to play the video the first couple of times with sound only.

Here is the handout with the questions, in a format similar to the Paper 2 exam.

Remind or elicit from your students the timings on the paper 2 listening exam. While the 4 minutes of reading time before the first play of each audio text may seem like overkill (it is, isn't it?), students can still make use of the time to activate schema, identify keywords, consider synonymns/antonyms, and predict answers. The five true statements and multiple-choice questions this task can be approached in such a way. You can either display the handout above or give students a paper/digital copy and have them annotate before they listen.

Encourage students to jot down some keywords as the listen. They don't need full sentences or even phrases; sometimes just a few words is enough to jog their memory in between plays and after.

After the first play, get them to look at their notes and consider their answers. Depending on how you want to assess your students, you could have them work completely independently or discuss their ideas in pairs. For the latter, you could give them some sentence frames for discussion:

Play the video again a second time and have students finalise their answers. Discuss the answers and have students note how synonyms and antonyms are used to convey similar/conflicting meanings. Elicit the skill of paraphrasing and ask students which other contexts they need to use this. (Paper 2 Reading - E.g. true/false justification questions; academic writing E.g. Extended Essay).

Reflection

Remind students that reflecting on their performance in any assessment can help them improve next time. While the content of the video is unlikely to come up again (although I have used a reading text that later came up on the real reading exam!), students can reflect on their listening skills (and subskills), identify what they need to do to improve, and set a goal to do so. 

Follow-up activities

This topic could lead to a variety of written or spoken responses. Here are a few ideas that you might like to try.

Speaking

Have students engage in a Socratic Seminar, fishbowl style, where they discuss the ideas mentioned in the video. The diagram below shows one configuration of this seminar. Have the observers in the outer circle take notes on the ideas discussed by the inner circle. After the seminar, they could write a summary of the main points of the discussion. Next, switch the groups around and repeat the process but with different questions. This activity encourages constructive discussion rather than debate and active listening. 

Possible questions to discuss:

1. What are filter bubbles and echo chambers? Can you explain these concepts in your own words?

2. Why do you think filter bubbles are formed on social media? Discuss some of the ways these can happen.
3. How do filter bubbles and echo chambers impact our understanding of the world? Share examples or experiences you might have had.
4. Do you believe filter bubbles and echo chambers can affect democracy and political discussions? How so?
5. What are the differences between receiving information from social media versus traditional media like newspapers or television?
6. Can filter bubbles have any positive effects? Consider situations where they might be helpful.
7. How can one recognise if they are in a filter bubble or an echo chamber? What signs might indicate this?
8. What strategies can individuals use to break out of filter bubbles and echo chambers? Discuss how effective these strategies might be.
9. How does the language used within echo chambers reinforce the beliefs of the group? Consider the role of persuasive language and rhetoric.
10. Should social media platforms and search engines try to minimise filter bubbles and echo chambers? What would be the benefits or drawbacks of such actions?

Writing

Students could produce a written response to the ideas in the video. Below is a possible prompt: