Developed in partnership with Education Services Australia

International research shows that children’s learning benefits significantly when they discuss books, films, television, current affairs and ‘big issues’ with their parents. Use these ideas to nurture your child’s ability to discuss, analyse, and express opinions about the news:

• talk about catchy and 'clickbait' headlines
  
  That headline really grabs your attention, doesn't it? Did you think the story was as important as the headline suggested?
  
  Why do you think so many articles are called 'Five top ways to...' or 'The seven best ...'?
• discuss news articles 
  
  What did you think of the top news story today? Did you think it was really newsworthy?
  
  It's interesting how differently stories can be presented in different publications. What did you think of these two?
• discuss topical issues, and encourage your child to think about different perspectives
  
  Did you think that news story about retail workers was fair? Why would two experts have such different views?
• analyse how graphs and tables are used in media
  
  Did you see the graph in that article? I didn't think they were very relevant - what did you think? 
• check your child's understanding of large numbers, and how precise they might be
  
  When it says the football team's revenue grew by $5.3 million, do you think that's an exact number, a rounded number, or an estimate?
• make sure your child can convert between fractions, decimals and percentages to make accurate comparisons.
  
  The graduation rate for this university course is 75%, and for that one it's four in five. Which one is better?