📰 Phase 3 - Investigation
🧪 Lab · Path C
⏱ 10 minutes
Task 6 - Path C: The Media Detective
Every sentence in a health post is a choice. Spot the technique behind each one.
Choose your path (you can only fully complete one)
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A: The Scientist
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B: The Fact-Checker
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C: The Media Detective
Health posts use specific techniques to persuade, not just inform. Tap each highlighted phrase below and name the technique it's using.
Step 1 - Tap the hotspots and label the technique
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@healthhacks.now
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"My doctor couldn't believe the results." One patient's amazing transformation story, shared as if it applies to everyone.
"Experts agree" - without naming a single expert or study.
"This supplement outperformed a placebo in one small trial" - leaving out that three larger trials found no effect.
"My doctor couldn't believe the results." One patient's amazing transformation story, shared as if it applies to everyone.
"Experts agree" - without naming a single expert or study.
"This supplement outperformed a placebo in one small trial" - leaving out that three larger trials found no effect.
Which technique is this?
0 of 4 labeled
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Wonder Learning AI
"How do I know if a health post is trying to manipulate me?"
"Look for urgency language, anecdotes presented as universal proof, vague appeals to unnamed experts, and cherry-picked statistics. These techniques are worth extra scrutiny. If a health post uses emotional or persuasive language, that always means the underlying information is false."
Tap the highlighted sentence, then fact-check it:
Good fact-check - this is incorrect. Persuasive or emotional language is a reason to look closer, not automatic proof that something is false - a real public health message can also use urgency (e.g. a genuine outbreak warning). The technique is a signal to verify, not a verdict on its own.
Step 2 - Save your Red Flags List
Which technique do you think is most effective at fooling people, and why?
Spotting the technique is half the battle - now let's meet the other investigators.
What happens in Task 6
A 10-minute Phase 3 - Investigation activity (Path C of 3 - choose one). Students tap four hotspots in a realistic health post and label the persuasion technique each uses, ask the Wonder Learning AI about manipulation, fact-check one claim, answer a check question, then save their red flags list.
🎯 Learning objectives
To recognise common persuasion techniques used in health-related social media content.
♿ SEN Adaptations
- Hotspots read aloud; technique options may be reduced to two per hotspot
🖨️ No-Tech Format
- Lab Booklet pages 4-5: the post printed with four numbered highlights to label