Idaho Social Studies 9-12.US2.44
The Standard
Evaluate how the rise of alternative media, social media, and technology, including smartphones, have affected United States culture, society, and politics.
Idaho Content Standards: K-12 Social Studies · Globalization, Information Technology, Terrorism, Political and Social Polarization 1992- Present
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how independent news outlets, social platforms, and smartphones changed how Americans get news, share culture, and take part in politics. They use specific examples to weigh gains and costs for daily life and public debate.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can link a dated example, such as a phone video of a protest, to a change in public debate. They can weigh faster access against missing context or false claims without assuming everyone reacted alike.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat alternative media as either always false or always more honest than established news outlets. They may mistake a post's popularity for accuracy or assume one viral clip caused a political outcome by itself.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Compare a 1990s talk-radio call-in show with a political post viewed on a smartphone. Who can respond to each, and how might that difference help and harm public debate?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups a printed talk-radio transcript, blog post, and phone feed; have them mark who can respond to each and how quickly.
Ask: How might smartphone videos change public debate about a protest, and what context could a short clip leave out?
Run a claim-tracing race: teams follow a printed post through reposts to its original source, then compare the wording.
Show a sample election news alert on a phone screen; students write two ways it might change a family's conversation or voting plans.
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