Learning path News in the Classroom

Preschoolers are very focused on themselves and their parents. They move in the world like little islands, regularly connecting to play with each other, but shortly afterwards moving away to play with others. They fluctuate between their imagination and very concrete things. They are not yet able to structure and abstraction is difficult. News is therefore rather over their heads, or just overwhelming and frightening.

Therefore, with preschoolers, we will only explore a few information carriers and name them. From the third year in kindergarten, they learn step by step to find information in a provided information carrier with help.

Finished as a toddler, but not yet used to all the structure of that first "big school", children in the first grade of primary school are fully adapting to it. They have a lot to learn: reading, writing, counting, etc. and still excel in impulsiveness, imagination and fleeting "friendships". Their parents remain their main source of information, although their teacher is becoming more important. News and information are still very abstract and overwhelming.

With children in the first grade of primary education, we are mainly going to help to structure their world a little more. They learn to recognise and name different carriers of information and try to find out what the purpose of some specific provided forms of information might be. With a little help, they can find information in a given source that is at their level.

Students in second grade elementary school are increasingly hanging out with their brothers, sisters and pets at home, at school their teacher is the person who knows everything and they increasingly have obvious friends and enemies. Encouraging playing and working together is important to avoid bullying groups, especially when it comes to differences of opinion about the brands, characters and objects they think are currently cool.

By now, the children know and recognise a number of information carriers and also learn to distinguish and name a number of 'information forms' and their purpose. With some assistance, they can formulate a simple search question about a topic they are given and look for the answer in a given (non-)digital source. For the first time, they try to assess the reliability of that source in different steps (who, what, where, when and how). With some help, they can store the information they find in a specific (non-)digital place. They explore how some information forms they know well are produced.

Third grade primary school students are often very physically active and make their first close friendships. They are real trend watchers and surf from craze to craze. They can become very absorbed in a subject or discipline that interests them and build up large collections of facts, knowledge and objects about it. Although they still look up to their teacher, their friends are the most important at school. Cliques and strong bullying behavior grow around their interests or activities. At home, their family is still very important, but they do not like to be patronised in public (read in front of their friends). Their sense of justice is strong: everything must be done according to the rules and fairly, and that is often very black and white for them.

The children learn to recognise and name a variety of information media and forms. They can give new examples themselves. They can identify the purpose of a number of information forms. With some help, they can formulate a simple search question about a given theme and search in a number of given (non-)digital sources. In doing so, they increasingly try out the different steps to check the reliability of a source (who, what, where, when and how). They can store the found information in a certain (non-)digital place and process the information with some help using the method you provide them. They know and recognise how some of the provided information forms are produced and can give examples from their own living environment.

First grade secondary school students are in the middle of change. A different school, a different way of teaching and learning, other children on the playground, different teachers ... but most of all: a body that changes and becomes very uncomfortable in the process. Home and friends are on the same level, but their peers are starting to pull harder. They want to know and be able to do a lot and are starting to think more abstractly. They are fascinated by the storylines of soaps and sports competitions. The gates of their living environment to a larger world are opening ajar. They ask themselves questions about what is happening around them and in society. They develop their own opinions, and some values and standards, but these are often not yet taken seriously by adults. Shocking images can make them very sad. They can explore themes to determine their own boundaries.

They can name a variety of information media and determine the objectives of a variety of provided information forms. They learn to use a search strategy to answer a search question on a given topic based on a number of (non) digital sources. They know and recognise the different steps to check the reliability of a source (who, what, where, when and how) and can apply them to an offered source. They manage information according to a given structure and can process it using a given method. They know how a number of offered forms of information are produced and give examples of this from their own living environment and their own role in it.

Now that their bodies are beginning to take shape, second-grade secondary school students are especially searching for how their identity fits into the society around them. They constantly compare their own identity with those of their peers and with ideal images from the media. They question the choices of their parents and teachers and judge society on its justice. They want to explore the world and push their limits and want some autonomy to do so. They see the world in black and white, idealistic or just not at all. They are prone to extremes, because they are looking for their own way, standing out from the crowd and experimenting with roles, which sometimes turn out to be very different. Now and then a serious discussion is possible.

Meanwhile, the students know the different purposes of the information forms they explore themselves. They use a search strategy to answer a search question on a given topic based on a number of (non-)digital sources. They know the different steps to check the reliability of a source (who, what, where, when and how) and can apply these to a number of provided sources and compare them. They can store information according to a structure of their choice and process it using a number of provided methods. They know how a number of offered forms of information are produced, give examples from the wider society and know their own role in it.

Third grade secondary students can take all kinds of data into account when they assess a situation. Their use of language is very diverse. They notice that they have influence on their surroundings, but also on themselves. They do struggle with that. Their parents continue to determine their children's values and views on social issues such as politics, the environment, migrants, tolerance, and so on. At the same time, they scrutinise everything when it comes to the way things are done. They have a lot of ideals, which are not always accompanied by actions. Those ideals are an important exercise in daring and willing to think about things, because they are looking for their own set of 'values and standards'. They learn to place concrete situations in the context of general ideological views, and to evaluate them critically. They form a viewpoint on many social, ethical and political issues such as euthanasia, drugs, foreigners, capital punishment, homosexuality, etc. Sometimes they are extreme and strongly opposed to the prevailing values and norms. On other issues, they tend to follow the general views, perhaps against all odds. They are searching: the values they adopt now can change later. The living environment of those who are in a vocational or a general education is growing more and more apart. The challenge is to help them make positive choices.

The students know the different purposes of the information forms they use. They use their own search strategy to answer their own search question on a self-defined topic with a number of (non-)digital sources. They apply the different steps to check the reliability of a source (who, what, where, when and how) to a number of self-selected sources and compare them. They manage information according to a structure of their choice and can process it using their own method. They know how information forms are produced, give examples of its influence on society, know their own role and that of others in this and use strategies to influence it.