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New multiplayer game teaches students about the Bill of Rights

PHILADELPHIA — Just in time for Bill of Rights Day (Dec. 15), Annenberg Classroom has released the multiplayer version of a game for middle and high-school students that challenges them to apply their knowledge of the Constitution to everyday legal scenarios. Annenberg Classroom’s “That’s Your Right” game lets students compete against each other online in

Is it a hoax? How to spot bogus claims in email

As the holidays approach, with their inevitable dinner-table debates among friends and extended family, FlackCheck.org has released a short video that can help people sort fact from fiction when considering email and viral social-media claims. In “Spotting Bogus Claims,” FlackCheck.org, the political literacy site, runs down seven key characteristics of bogus email claims. The three-minute

A handgun being fired

Parents Become Less Sensitive to Violence and Sex in Movies: Study

Parents can become desensitized to violence and sex in movies after watching only a few scenes with disturbing content, according to a new study published in Pediatrics that was conducted by researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. The study comes as scenes of sex and violence become more prevalent in movies aimed at youth. A 2013 study in Pediatrics from APPC researchers showed that the amount of violence in PG-13 movies tripled in the most popular movies since 1985.

Annenberg Public Policy Center to study the Science of Science Communication

To mark its 20th anniversary, the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania is opening a new area of study, the Science of Science Communication, to investigate how scientific evidence can be more effectively conveyed to the public. APPC also announced that FactCheck.org, which has focused on political speech, has received funding from the Stanton Foundation to expand its mission to include monitoring the use and misuse of scientific evidence.

Eugene Kiely, Director of FactCheck.org

FactCheck.org collaborates with U.S. Vote to provide political news to voters

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Vote Foundation (US Vote) and the nonpartisan site FactCheck.org have developed an alliance through which FactCheck.org will provide relevant, timely and accurate political information to voters who create an individual “My Voter Account” on the US Vote website. The project, supported by the Democracy Fund, was created to make it easy for voters to find unbiased, fact-checked news from within their private Voter Accounts.

Chinese journalists visit Annenberg Public Policy Center

A group of five Chinese journalists visited the Annenberg Public Policy Center on Sept. 23, meeting with APPC director Kathleen Hall Jamieson. The journalists took part in the 2014 China-United States Journalists Exchange, on a study tour in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Dr. Jamieson, co-founder of the policy center's FactCheck.org project, said the group talked about practices in Chinese vs. U.S. journalism...

Detail of the Homeland Security Flag

Former Homeland Security Secretaries Urge Oversight Reform

On the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the three former U.S. Secretaries of Homeland Security recommended that Congress streamline its oversight of the Department of Homeland Security as “a matter of critical importance to national security on which there is broad bipartisan agreement.”

Civics Renewal Network launches on Constitution Day

Constitution Day, Wednesday, Sept. 17, and the 225th anniversary of the drafting of the Bill of Rights will be celebrated by events spanning the nation, including naturalization ceremonies at iconic sites, students taking the “Preamble Challenge,” a panel in Washington examining the role of civics in American life, and the start-up of an online resource for civics education. The daylong commemoration will launch the Civics Renewal Network, a collaboration among 26 groups, including the Annenberg Public Policy Center.