Within the framework of the Fake News Busters Erasmus+ project, a second-year class (IIE) of the Guarasci-Calabretta Lyceum of Soverato (Calabria, Italy), took part in the testing of a three-phase training module designed by JUMP Association over the past months. The module aimed at fostering active listening, digital literacy, and critical thinking, equipping students with the skills necessary to recognize, analyze, and counter misinformation and fake news in digital environments.
The first phase was characterised by the Active Listening Lab, during which students were encouraged to listen attentively to a presentation and engage by repeating, rephrasing, or initiating discussion on its content. Specifically, the JUMP facilitator delivered a formal presentation in English entitled “Empowering Society to Combat Fake News: The European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025”. At selected moments during the presentation, the speaker was deliberately interrupted by a disturber, in a coordinated manner, who rolled a large dice to activate student participation.
At the beginning of the activity, each student received a post-it note marked with a number from 1 to 6. Based on the number rolled on the dice, students holding the corresponding number were invited to interact with the presenter by carrying out one of the tasks drawn from six cards, such as repeating the information or expressing agreement or disagreement with the presenter’s content.
In an intermediate phase, a brainstorming activity on key terms related to digital and media literacy was carried out in order to provide students with the basic English vocabulary necessary to further develop phase two.
The second phase started with the Editorial Staff Simulation, a workshop in which students acted as a newspaper editorial team. They worked together to understand fake news and decide which news should be given priority and published in their group newspaper or magazine.
JUMP trainers guided the class throughout the entire activity. Students were divided into four groups and, using the school’s Computer Lab, they were asked to create a presentation for their newspaper, choosing a newspaper name and assigning editorial roles within the group.
At the end of the activity, each group had to rank 12 news items according to the priority they wanted to give them in their newspaper. Additionally, students were asked to choose individually the news they found most interesting, with the aim of further investigating these stories during the Christmas break by checking facts and verifying information.
The last phase of the training module will involve testing their knowledge with an Online Game produced by the JUMP Association.
This pilot module offered students hands-on experiences to strengthen their ability to navigate the digital world, encouraging them to approach information more thoughtfully and responsibly. In the coming months, additional classes will be involved in the same training module enabling more students to develop their digital and critical thinking skills, while learning to identify and combat disinformation.
Look for more photos about the Development of the Training Module by JUMP in the Media section of the website: https://www.fakenewsbustersproject.eu/media/
Author: Giusy Froio (JUMP staff, Italy)