Archive · 6 Jan 2026
Educators Teach Students to Spot Deepfakes
Valerie Ziegler is a teacher at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco.
She teaches her students how to spot fake news and deepfakes on social media.
She shows them how to check different sources, recognize angry or fake content, and understand why some people post certain things.
Ziegler and other teachers are working hard to keep up with new technologies like AI.
They use special lessons and activities to help students learn.
For example, they fact-check posts on TikTok and learn about fake verification badges.
Ziegler's students are good at finding trustworthy information, but sometimes it feels hard because there is so much fake content online.
They learned about a politician named Zohran Mamdani, where fake AI-generated images were shared during his election.
Ziegler worries that students might think everything online is fake, but she hopes they learn how to tell what is real.
Valerie Ziegler teaches students at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco to detect deepfakes and navigate social media.
She uses various sources and classroom exercises to help students recognize fake content and understand influencers' motivations.
Educators across the US are updating lesson plans to address new technologies like AI-powered video apps.
Students learn to fact-check posts on platforms like TikTok and understand the dangers of fake verification badges.
Ziegler's students are savvy but sometimes feel overwhelmed by the volume of fake content online.
- Who
- Valerie Ziegler and her students at Abraham Lincoln High School, along with other educators across the US.
- What
- Teaching students to detect deepfakes and navigate social media literacy.
- When
- Ongoing, with specific events like AI expos and classes in recent years.
- Where
- Primarily in California, with examples from other US locations.
- Why
- To prepare students for a rapidly changing online world filled with AI-generated content and misinformation.
- Location
- San Francisco, US
- School
- Abraham Lincoln High School
- Teacher
- Valerie Ziegler
- Age of Teacher
- 50
- Subject
- Social media literacy and AI detection
- Resources Used
- Digital Inquiry Group, Code.org, MIT Media Lab
- AI Class Example
- Defence Against the Dark Arts at Augsburg University
- Notable Event
- Zohran Mamdani's election and related deepfakes