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Trace the Information: Can you be arrested for crimes committed … on the Moon?

SKILL: Trace the Information

DIFFICULTY: Simple

SUBJECT(S): Science

Posted: October 29, 2022

This article claims that Canada is expanding its criminal code to include crimes committed by astronauts on the moon. By using the “click through and find” technique to trace this information backwards students will learn that this claim is substantially true.

Related Lesson

Verification Skills Lesson 4: Trace the Information (sign-in required)

Link to Example

"Canada’s criminal code to soon include crimes committed on the moon" (article)
Cop car photoshopped in front of a full moon.

Background

NASA has planned the launch of a new space station to orbit the moon, called the Lunar Gateway Project. The project will involve international astronauts and scientists, including some from Canada. While the Canadian criminal code already covers actions by astronauts on the International Space Station, part of the proposed project also includes having astronauts land on the moon. This has prompted the federal government to update the criminal code to include actions on the moon itself.



About the Example

The article comes from a website called “Mobile Syrup,” which is unlikely to be a familiar source. There is also little information about the reliability of the source to be found on Wikipedia or elsewhere online, and the headline sounds like clickbait. These factors might lead students to have the instinct that the claim is false.

The claim, however, is true, and the article is reporting information from an article from the CBC. While the original article is much more easily identified as reliable, there are also some subtle differences in the way the information is presented.



Activities

  1. Ask students what their initial reaction is to the headline. Does it sound made-up? What would be the need for laws on the moon, anyway?
  2. Ask students to read the article, and describe its contents.
  3. To trace the information have students locate where the article references the source where its information is coming from. Ask them to click through to get to the CBC article “Crimes on the moon could soon be added to Canada’s Criminal Code.”
  4. Ask students to compare the two articles. What are some of the biggest differences between the CBC article and the Mobile Syrup article?

 



Review and Discuss Key Concepts (optional)

  1. Play a game of “reporting on reporting” from Lesson 4: Trace the Information. Use the Mobile Syrup article as a starting point.
  2. Discuss the concept of clickbait — “a text or a thumbnail link that is designed to attract attention and to entice users to follow that link and read, view, or listen to the linked piece of online content, being typically deceptive, sensationalized, or otherwise misleading.” In this case the story is true, although the headline has been altered a bit to make it more enticing.


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