People are flooded with manipulative information that drowns out credible information. IREX’s Learn to Discern approach fosters the knowledge, skills, and strategies that people need to recognize and resist manipulative information.

The Learn to Discern curriculum and trainer’s manuals are designed for educators in formal and informal education environments in different contexts around the world. These resources provide step-by-step guidance and interactive exercises for helping learners of all ages recognize why and how manipulative content works, gain skills to reject manipulative tactics, and practice strategies for developing safer and healthier digital relationships. These issues are especially important for preventing the spread of health-related manipulative information and preparing citizens for elections and civic engagement.

Topics include:

• The information and media space and its features: Navigating different types of platforms and content, distinguishing between facts and opinions, recognizing professional journalism, and more.
• Information manipulation: Why everyone is vulnerable, and how to recognize and overcome cognitive biases and biased information.
• Resisting manipulative information: Practical skills, tools, and strategies for recognizing and rejecting manipulation, assessing credibility, and choosing credible content.

Learn to Discern Trainer’s Manuals

• U.S. Curriculum (English)
• My Mind My Media: U.S. Middle School Curriculum (English)
• Building Resilience to Manipulative Information During Elections (English)
• Baltics
  • Estonia (Estonian, Russian)
  • Latvia (Latvian, Russian)
  • Lithuania (Lithuanian, Russian)
• El Salvador (Spanish)
• Georgia (Georgian)
• Libya (Arabic)
• Mali (French)
• Montenegro (Montenegrin)
• North Macedonia 
  • Trainer’s Manual (Macedonian, Optimized for Blind and Low Vision Readers)
  • Parents & Caregivers Guide (Macedonian, Albanian)
• Serbia
  • Trainer’s Manual (Serbian)
  • Very Verified Facilitator’s Manual (Serbian)
• Tunisia: Guide for Youth Leader Trainers (English & Arabic)
• Ukraine
  • Citizen Media Literacy Trainer’s Manual (English)
  • L2D-Ed Online Manual (Ukrainian)

How to use the manual

Educators can use the entire curriculum from any of the manuals or choose the modules that work best for their context.

• To decide which modules would work best for your learners, go to the “Principles” section – the U.S. manual and many of the other manuals contain this section.
• To consider what modules would work best for your time frame, go to the “Choosing Lessons” section – the U.S. manual and many of the other manuals contain this section.

IREX offers training for educators who would like formal instruction in using the curriculum.

Methodology

These curricula and manuals are based on our peer-reviewed and internationally recognized Learn to Discern approach to media and information literacy. It focuses on building the skills, agency, and resilience of those who interact with media and information. It is not about prescribing a list of “good” or “bad” content or sources or criticizing participants’ choice of media. 

Learn to Discern starts with building awareness of how the information space and its new features (such as speed, volume, and reach of information) interplay with human cognitive biases and emotional needs to produce filter bubbles, limit our choices, and push us into split-second decisions. It then gradually leads learners toward regaining control over their information space by honing their critical-thinking skills and abilities to identify and verify credible information. It concludes with building healthier information engagement habits, increasing demand for credible information, and strengthening participants’ commitment to sharing information responsibly. 

By first grounding learners in their information environment and then exploring the biases that affect how they interact with information, this approach builds a foundation that allows for sustainable, long-term change.

Contact 

Email: R. Alan Berry, rberry@irex.org, or Jenna Presta, jpresta@irex.org.