About the project
From November 3 to 5, 2021, the Aspen Institute Germany brought together around 60 interested and committed students from the Dathe-Gymnasium in Berlin, the Marie-Curie-Gymnasium in Dresden and the German International School of Silicon Valley, California, for a virtual conference. In an exchange with high-ranking politicians, active diplomats, renowned scientists, renowned experts and respected media representatives, the topic was intensively discussed and solutions developed. In the process, students were able to learn how to deal competently with fake news and conspiracy ideologies, how to expose them, and how to counter them in a targeted manner. The exchange took place mainly in German via Zoom.
Background
The young generation of 14- to 19-year-olds has witnessed many changes and turbulences in recent years. Exemplary recent events have included the Fridays For Future demonstrations, the Black Lives Matter movement, election interference through social media and fake news campaigns. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated the shift of public debate and discourse into the digital space. Keeping track of current events and developments in the information jungle while distinguishing facts and trustworthy information from fake news has become a real challenge for many people. At the same time, targeted misinformation and conspiracy theories are spreading rapidly on social media. Against this backdrop, adolescents and young adults in particular are at great risk, as they often consume their news exclusively via social media. Media literacy and the ability to analyze the credibility of information are therefore crucial.
Especially with the current issues of climate change, structural inequalities and racism, and health and COVID-19 in conjunction with media literacy in the transatlantic context, these issues are critical and the views of the emerging young generation are particularly important.
Outcomes
We recorded the results of our student conference in two different publication formats:
Our Media Literacy Handbook/Manual
Our publication “The Media Literacy Handbook Mastering Media Literacy” includes tips, experiences and quotes from students for students. The online edition of our handbook is published in German and is available here:
Dr. Stormy-Annika Mildner und Daniel Kirchhof (Hrsg.): Medienkompetenz meistern – Tipps von Schüler*innen für Schüler*innen, Januar 2022.
At this point, we would like to express our sincere thanks to the students who not only helped us with the podcast, but also gave us valuable feedback on our media literacy handbook and enriched our publication with their own quotes on the topic of media literacy.
We would like to express our gratitude in particular to:
- Aline Fiebig, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Duc Nam Doan, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Götje Hansen, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Josephine Klingebiel, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Lena Nicoletti, German International School of Silicon Valley
- Simon Rakel, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Pascal Renner, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Katharina Stähr, German International School of Silicon Valley
Our Media Literacy Podcast
Together with selected experts and students from our conference, we have put together a three-part podcast on the findings of our conference under the direction and leadership of our podcast producer Roberta Ahlers, which you will soon be able to listen to here. The episodes will be released on February 02, February 03, and February 07, 2022 and will be available in German: https://www.aspeninstitute.de/de/publikationen/.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our experts who contributed to the podcast:
- Valentin Abel, Parliamentary Group of the Free Democrats, Member of the German Bundestag
- Dr. Johannes Dimroth, Head of the Political Communication Department, Press and Information Office of the German Federal Government
- Dr. Jens-Uwe Grooß, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Stratosphere Division (IEK-7), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
- Lutz Güllner, Head of division, strategic communication, task forces, and information analysis (SG.STRAT.2), European External Action Service,
- Nora Löhle, Program Director, Energy and Environment, Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America
- Dagny Lüdemann, Chief Science Reporter, ZEIT ONLINE
- Marie Richter, Managing Editor Germany, NewsGuard Technologies
- Derya Şahan, Consultant, specialist unit on distancing from extremism at the Baden-Württemberg Democracy Center, and broadcasting councillor of the Southwest German Broadcasting Corporation (SWR)
- Roberta Schmid, Media Analyst, NewsGuard Technologies
- Katharina Schulze, Member of the Bavarian State Parliament, Chairwoman of the Alliance 90/The Greens Parliamentary Group
- Dr. Cornelia Sindermann, Research Associate, Faculty of Engineering, Computer Science and Psychology, Institute for Psychology and Education, University of Ulm
- Dr. Sonja Thielges, Senior Research Associate, Pathways to Sustainable Energy, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. (IASS)
- Dr. Charlotte Unger, Senior Research Associate, Climate Action in National and International Processes, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. (IASS)
We would also like to thank our students who contributed to our podcast:
- Wenke Behm, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Duc Nam Doan, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Aline Fiebig, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Götje Hansen, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Gustav Mehlau, Dathe-Gymnasium, Berlin
- Lena Nicoletti, German International School of Silicon Valley
- Simon Rakel, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Pascal Renner, Marie-Curie-Gymnasium, Dresden
- Katharina Stähr, German International School of Silicon Valley
Conference Schedule
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
The time corresponds to Pacific Daylight Time, starting at 8:30 a.m. (16:30 Uhr MET)
| 8:30 am | Opening and Introductions |
| 8:35 am | Menti-Meter-Survey |
| 8:50 am | Breakout Sessions : 3×10 Minutes – Introduction/Brainstorming/Teambuilding |
| 9:25 am | Short Break |
| 9:30 am | Subject Block 1 – Introduction to Media Literacy |
| Dr. Johannes Dimroth, Head of the Political Communication Department, Federal Press and Information Office | |
| Lars Thies, Director Think tank, Vodafone Foundation Germany gGmbH | |
| 10:00 am | Short Break, End of Subject Block 1 – Media Literacy |
| 10:10 am | Subject Block 2 – Fake News, Fact Checking and Credibility of Information |
| Dr. Cornelia Sindermann, Research Associate, Faculty of Engineering, Computer Science and Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, University of Ulm, Germany | |
| Marie Richter, Managing Editor Germany, NewsGuard Technologies | |
| Roberta Schmid, Media Analyst, NewsGuard Technologies | |
| 10:30 am | Group Work (3 Breakout Rooms): Fact Checking |
| Each group received a text on the topic of health which contains elements of fake news. The groups should have discussed how to recognise Fake News. Role of the Moderator: Supervision and potential assistance | |
| 11:00 am | Break |
| 11:10 am | Presentation of Results: Presentation of the Group Work |
| The groups presented their results and in their presentation they justified why they thought the articles or pictures were true/fake. | |
| 11:30 am | Conspiracy Theories, Post-Factual Age |
| Sabrina Spieleder, Team Leader, Policy Strategy and Global Priority Issues (PSG), Division Strategic Communications and Information Analysis (STRAT.2), European External Action Service | |
| Prof. Dr. Tobias Schlicht, Lichtenberg Professor of Philosophy, Leader of the NRW Junior Research Group on Intentionality, Ruhr-University Bochum | |
| 11:50 am | Short Learning Test (Menti-Meter) and Conclusion of the Lessons Learned |
| 12:00 pm | End of Subject Block 2 – Fake News, End of the Conference Day 1 |
Thursday, November 4, 2021
| 8:30 am | Opening of the second day of the conference |
| Ricklef Beutin, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Washington, DC | |
| 9:00 am | Topic block 3 – Climate and environment |
| Dr. Jens-Uwe Grooß, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Stratosphere Division (IEK-7), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH | |
| Dr. Charlotte Unger, Senior Research Associate, Climate Action in National and International Processes, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. (IASS) | |
| Nora Löhle, Program Director, Energy and Environment, Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America | |
| 9:30 am | Break |
| 9:40 am | Group work: Effects of fake news in dealing with climate change |
| Part 1: Procedure: 3 breakout rooms, 20 min: each group got a short text about climate change. They had to complete it with three false reports | |
| 10:00 am | Part 2: The texts were exchanged between the groups. The other group was to analyze the text and record their and record their approach. |
| 10:20 am | Break |
| 10:30 am | Topic Block 4 – Health, COVID-19 and Fake News |
| Dagny Lüdemann, Chief Science Reporter, ZEIT ONLINE | |
| 11:30 am | Short Learning Test (Menti-Meter); Conclusion of the Lessons Learned |
| 12:00 pm | End of Subject 4 – Health, COVID-19 und Fake News, End of Conference Day 2 |
Friday, November 5, 2021
| 8:30 am | Opening Day 3, Brief Round of Introduction |
| 8:40 am | Subject Block 5 – Racism, Stuctural Discrimination and Forms of Extremism |
| Katharina Schulze, Member of the Bavarian State Parliament, Chairwoman of the Bündnis ’90/Grüne Parliamentary Group | |
| Marc Reinelt, Prevention Unit – 010, State Criminal Police Office Baden-Württemberg | |
| Derya Şahan, Consultant, specialist unit on distancing from extremism at the Baden-Württemberg Democracy Center, and broadcasting councillor of the Southwest German Broadcasting Corporation (SWR) | |
| 9:10 am | Group Work: Non-Disciminatory Information |
| Moderators: Katharina Schulze, Mark Reinelt, Derya Şahan | |
| 3 Breakout Rooms, 20 min: Each speaker presented a real case that he/she has dealt with in the past or has experienced him/herself. In cooperation with the speaker, strategies/approaches for dealing with hate speech are developed. | |
| 9:30 am | Plenary: The groups present their developed strategies/approaches |
| The speaker accompanies the discussion | |
| 9:40 am | Short Break, End of Subject Block 5 – Racism and Stuctural Discrimination |
| 9:50 am | Subject Block 6 – Transatlantic Relations |
| Clark Price, Chargé d’Affaires, Embassy of the United States of America, Berlin | |
| Marc Berman, California Assemblymember | |
| 11:20 am | Menti-Meter survey on the conference among the students |
| 11:30 am | Digital Literacy Education |
| Ten point plan on how to promote media literacy. A student’s perspective. Dealing with fake news: Recommendations from students to students. | |
| 11:50 am | Evaluation, compilation of work results, coordination for the manual / podcast date |
| 12:00 pm | End of Subject Block 6, End of Conference Day 3 |
The conference was moderated by:
- Dr. Stormy-Annika Mildner, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Germany, and
- Daniel Kirchhof, Project Manager and Program Officer in the Digital Program, Aspen Institute Germany
Our speakers and experts
We would like to thank our speakers for their valuable contributions to our conference.
Our thanks go in particular to:
- Marc Berman, California Assemblymember
- Ricklef Beutin, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Washington, DC
- Dr. Johannes Dimroth, Head of the Political Communication Department, Federal Press and Information Office
- Dr. Jens-Uwe Grooß, Institute for Energy and Climate Research, Department Stratosphere , (IEK-7), Research Institute Jülich GmbH
- Nora Löhle, Program Director, Energy and Environment, Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America
- Dagny Lüdemann, Chief Reporter Science, ZEIT ONLINE
- Clark Price, Charge d’Affaires, U.S. Embassy Berlin
- Marc Reinelt, Prevention Unit – 010, State Criminal Police Office Baden-Württemberg
- Marie Richter, Managing Editor Germany, NewsGuard Technologies
- Prof. Dr. Tobias Schlicht, Lichtenberg Professor of Philosophy, Head of the NRW Junior Research Group on Intentionality, Ruhr-University Bochum
- Derya Şahan, Consultant, specialist unit on distancing from extremism at the Baden-Württemberg Democracy Center, and broadcasting councilor of the Southwest German Broadcasting Corporation (SWR)
- Roberta Schmid, Media Analyst, NewsGuard Technologies
- Katharina Schulze, Member of the Bavarian State Parliament, Chairwoman of the Bündnis ’90/Grüne Parliamentary Group
- Dr. Cornelia Sindermann, Research Associate, Faculty of Engineering, Computer Science and Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, University of Ulm, Germany
- Sabrina Spieleder, Team Leader, Policy Strategy and Global Priority Issues (PSG), Division Strategic Communications and Information Analysis (STRAT.2), European External Action Service
- Lars Thies, Director Thinktank, Vodafone Foundation Germany gGmbH
- Dr. Charlotte Unger, Senior Research Associate, Climate Action in National and International Processes, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. (IASS)
Our sponsor
The project was made possible by the kind support of the US Embassy in Berlin
