Lesson Plan 6: Fact Checking George Washington Timeline
Added: 27 Jul 2024
Contributor:
Patrick Hickey
Resource type:
Lesson 6, "Fact Checking George Washington Timeline", focuses on developing students' critical analysis skills using an AI-generated timeline of George Washington's life. Key aspects of this lesson include:
1. Students are presented with an AI-generated timeline of George Washington's life that contains numerous inaccuracies and potential biases.
2. The lesson emphasises the importance of fact-checking and verifying historical information, even when it appears authoritative or well-presented.
3. Students act as "detectives" to identify errors in dates, events, and achievements in Washington's life.
4. The activity encourages students to use multiple credible sources to cross-reference and verify historical facts.
5. It highlights how AI can produce convincing but incorrect historical timelines, emphasising the need for human critical thinking in historical research.
6. The lesson teaches students to approach all information, especially digital or AI-generated content, with a critical and questioning mindset.
7. It also touches on how legends and myths often accompany important historical figures, adding another layer of complexity to historical fact-checking.
This lesson aims to enhance students' historical knowledge about George Washington while developing crucial skills in critical thinking, information literacy, and historical research. These skills are applicable not just in history, but across all subjects and in evaluating information in everyday life.
How it maps to the curriculum
- JC
- History
Strand: 1. The Nature of History
Strand unit: 5. Job of the Historian
Suggestions for use: Here are two simpler, shorter suggestions for using the George Washington timeline fact-checking lesson: 1. Daily Warm-Up: Start each history class with a quick fact-check of one AI-generated statement about Washington or another historical figure. This reinforces the habit of critical thinking and keeps fact-checking skills sharp. 2. Create-and-Correct: Students write one intentionally incorrect fact about Washington, then exchange and correct each other's statements using reliable sources. This exercise practices both critical analysis and research skills in a concise, engaging format.
Key Skills:
- Being Creative
- Communicating
- Managing Information and Thinking
- Staying Well
- Working with Others
- Literacy
- Numeracy
- Managing Myself
