Paper pack · print one, photocopy per pupil where marked
KS3 · Years 7 to 9 · Teacher one pager
Misinformation, deepfakes and AI content
Action outcome: I can run three checks before I believe or share something.
Safeguarding note
KCSIE 2026 keeps misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories named as content harms. A pupil may disclose distress about something they have seen or shared. Follow your school safeguarding policy and record in your school system. This platform does not record disclosures.
Objective
Pupils can apply three verification checks to online content and justify a believe, pause, or do not share verdict.
Timing
75 minutes as scripted: starter 11 with the DiGi welcome, teach cycles 29, half time pause 1 with Orbit, spread race 4, paper practice 15, exit checks 4, close 11 with Orbit’s mission and the passport beat. To fit a 55 minute period: run one discussion instead of two, and give paper practice 10 with items five and six as homework.
Statutory coverage (for your records and the subject lead)
KCSIE 2026 content risks · Citizenship media literacy · DfE AI in education · RSHE 2026 (deepfakes statutory at KS3/4 from Sep 2026)
Education for a Connected World strand: 5 · Evidence anchor: KCSIE content risk expansion (2025, retained in KCSIE 2026); Orben 2025 review
Misconceptions to expect
•Videos and voices cannot be faked convincingly (they can, cheaply).
•AI made means false (it is a method, not a verdict, and the lie is the pretending).
•Checking means distrusting everything (the checks end in believe verdicts too).
Differentiation
Support: Pre sorted verdict cards, running checks as a group with the three questions printed as a bookmark.
Stretch: Who benefits when this spreads? Follow the incentive, then connect to how feeds reward reaction.
No screen? No problem
The full lesson runs from the printed pack: retrieval card, three checks bookmark, six item worksheet, exit card. Beats are described in the teacher script if no screen is available.
Guided Childhood Schools · Misinformation, deepfakes and AI content · teacher sheet
Photocopy per 4 pupils · cut along the lines · bookmark
The three checks
Who made this?
What do other places say?
How does it want me to feel?
Under a minute, and pause is a perfectly good verdict.
The three checks
Who made this?
What do other places say?
How does it want me to feel?
Under a minute, and pause is a perfectly good verdict.
KS3 · Years 7 to 9 · Worksheet
The three checks casework
Run the three checks on each item: who made it, what do other places say, how does it want you to feel. Give your verdict and name the check that decided it.
Name
1
A news video about flooding in the north, on the broadcaster's own verified account, matching reports on two other news sites.
BelievePauseDo not share
KS3 · Years 7 to 9 · Worksheet · The three checks casework · sheet 2 of 2
4
A video of a politician saying something outrageous, posted an hour ago, that no news site anywhere is carrying yet.
BelievePauseDo not share
Because
5
An illustration on a science page, clearly labelled as AI generated, showing how a volcano works, matching your textbook.
Teacher copy · one only · do not photocopy
Answer key: The three checks casework
Keep this beside you while they work. The line under each answer is what to say when a child has it the other way round, and it is worth saying even when they have it right.
1. A news video about flooding in the north, on the broadcaster's own verified account, matching reports on two other news sites.
Answer: Believe
Check one and check two both pass: a named source you can follow, and other places agreeing. The checks end in believe verdicts too, checking is not distrusting everything.
2. A voice note that sounds exactly like a famous footballer announcing a free giveaway, posted by a fan account.
Answer: Do not share
Voices can be cloned cheaply and convincingly, so the sound proves nothing. Check one fails, a fan account is not the footballer, and a giveaway plus excitement is check three firing.
3. A screenshot of a headline, with no link, sent to your group chat by a good friend, saying a celebrity has died.
Answer: Pause
A screenshot cuts the claim off from its source, and a friend's name never verifies a claim, it only tells you who passed it on. Check two settles this in under a minute: search the headline and see what other places say.
Teacher copy · one only · do not photocopy
Answer key: the start and exit cards
The letters match the cards as they print. The line under each answer is the one the board says when the class gets it right.
Start card. Warm up from last lesson. A friend offers you a workaround to get past an age check. What matters most before you decide anything?
Answer: C. What the workaround actually exposes you to
Exactly. A workaround does not just skip a rule, it skips every protection behind the rule. That is the risk to weigh.
Exit card, question 1. Exit check. Your neighbour shares a voice message that sounds exactly like a celebrity confessing to something. What do you now know that most people do not?
Answer: C. Voices can be generated too, so it faces the same three checks as any post
Right. A voice is now just another thing a computer can make. Same checks, same verdicts.
Exit card, question 2. True or false: if a picture was made by AI, it is always a lie.
Answer: A. False. Made by AI tells you how it was made, not whether it is honest
Photocopy per pupil · cut in half · start and end of lesson
Start card · remember last lesson
Warm up from last lesson. A friend offers you a workaround to get past an age check. What matters most before you decide anything?
A. Whether everyone else is doing it
B. Whether you would get caught
C. What the workaround actually exposes you to
Goes home · KS3 · Years 7 to 9 · with Orbit
What we taught today, and one thing to try at home
Your child learned that photos, videos and voices can now be manufactured convincingly, and practised three checks: who made this and how do they know, what do other places say, and how is it trying to make me feel.
The three checks
1. Who made this?
2. What do other places say?
3. How does it want me to feel?
Try this at home
Ask your child to run the three checks on one thing in your own feed this week. Let them be the detective, you be the client.
Ask at tea
Can you teach me the three checks for something that might be fake?