Driven by EduCaixa, in collaboration with Maldita.es and Verificat, 'El laberinto de la información' is a project that provides educational resources for both teachers and families. It addresses topics such as information and disinformation, fact-checking, advertising and persuasion, as well as digital coexistence. This resource offers a series of interactive challenges in which students, accompanied by three explorers—Mel, Ever and Ari—must make their way through a complex maze full of challenges with the help of the Brains, their critical thinking assistants.
“Today more than ever, it is essential that classrooms are able to distinguish between information and disinformation, given the vast amount of digital content students are exposed to,” highlights Clara Jiménez Cruz, CEO of Maldita.es. “We developed this interactive resource to capture their attention and allow them to play while they learn: identifying hoaxes, recognising advertising content, navigating safely and developing critical thinking. In addition, the resource includes activities that can be carried out both in the classroom and at home, involving teachers and families in the learning process,” she added.
The project responds to growing concerns about disinformation and the need to foster media and information literacy skills from an early age. This has been identified through various focus groups carried out by the three organisations with primary school teachers, as well as through analyses of the educational environment, which have highlighted the lack of specific tools to address these issues in the classroom.
“We live in a world where it is increasingly difficult to identify information sources and distinguish facts from opinions. El laberinto de la información aims to respond to these needs and introduce concepts of disinformation, critical thinking and information verification into the classroom,” notes Cristina Figueras, Head of Education at Verificat.
The resource includes four thematic modules, each made up of two 50-minute sessions, and offers downloadable teacher guides with detailed objectives and explanatory videos. Teachers can use Genially so that students can play, or use worksheets to work offline. In addition, it includes family activities that allow students to test the knowledge acquired at home. All materials are available in Spanish and Catalan.
From EduCaixa, the educational programme of the ”la Caixa” Foundation, director Maria Espinet stresses that “children and adolescents have access to an overwhelming amount of information, and it is urgent that we equip them with tools to critically analyse its reliability, understand its impact on their mental health, and ensure they have the cognitive skills needed to make informed decisions. For this reason, as part of our long-standing commitment to educational transformation and improvement, we are promoting this partnership so that teachers can work on students’ responsibility and digital skills in the classroom.”
Upcoming launch events
On 19 October, The Information Labyrinth will be presented in a demo in Madrid during the Fundación Atresmedia’s Mentes AMI event. In addition, on 24 October, CaixaForum Valencia will host the project’s presentation in the Valencian Community, coinciding with Global Media and Information Literacy Week, with the participation of teachers, experts and families.