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9th Grade  Project 6 weeks

Predator Pitch: Rhetoric Unmasked

Sarah F
Updated
9-10SL4
9-10W1
RH.6
RST.6
Academically Prepared
+ 4 more
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The Challenge

You encounter persuasive gaming-app ads that often blur the line between entertainment and marketing by emphasizing rewards, scarcity, and social pressure while omitting key information about spending, data collection, odds, or long-term engagement tactics. This creates a broader consumer-protection challenge because people must judge credibility and risk in media environments where point of view, bias, and omission are built into what is shown and repeated.

Challenge Question

How might we address confusion about predatory marketing in gaming apps in NYC so that parents and students served by a local consumer advocacy nonprofit can identify misleading ads and make informed choices?

Standards

  • [New York] 9-10SL4 - Present claims, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically; organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
  • [New York] 9-10W1 - Write arguments to support claims that analyze substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
  • [New York] RH.6 - Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view, stance, or purpose (e.g. rhetorical language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts, images, visuals, etc.).
  • [New York] RST.6 - Identify purpose and/or point of view when an author is presenting information, describing a procedure, discussing an experiment, etc. Compare and contrast the information gained from two or more experiments, simulations, videos, multimedia sources, readings from texts, graphs, charts, etc. on the same topic.

Competencies

  • Academically Prepared - Demonstrates a strong foundation in the New York State learning standards and is equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve success in college, careers, civic engagement, service, and life.
  • Effective Communicator - Articulates ideas clearly and confidently through speaking, writing, and the use of different types of media for various purposes, while engaging with diverse audiences and actively listening to different perspectives.
  • Reflective and Future Focused - Engages in self-reflection to identify strengths and areas for growth, sets meaningful goals, uses social awareness to maintain supportive relationships, and demonstrates responsible decision-making that prioritizes social, emotional, and mental well-being.
  • Critical Thinker - Analyzes information thoughtfully, evaluates evidence critically, and identifies patterns and connections between different pieces of information (across multiple content areas) to address complex issues and navigate the world with insight.
  • Global Citizen - Acts responsibly and ethically within local, global, and digital communities, employing civic knowledge, skills, and mindsets to promote global sustainability and contribute positively to a culturally diverse, democratic society.

Learning Partners and Clients

A local nonprofit consumer advocacy group in NYC serves as the client and needs a parent-student resource pack with annotated examples, discussion prompts, and an evidence-based ad-rating system focused on predatory marketing in gaming apps. The News Literacy Project can provide expert feedback and lesson materials to help students identify point of view, omission, repetition, and evidence in persuasive media. The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection can ground the work in real consumer-protection concerns, share complaint trends related to deceptive marketing, and help distribute the final resource pack through community outreach channels.

Phase Overview

Phase Key Experiences
Discover
I can investigate a set of real and simulated gaming-app ads, notice what they include, omit, emphasize, and repeat, and identify why families in NYC may be confused by predatory marketing so I can define the problem our nonprofit client needs us to address.
Examine
I can annotate gaming-app ads and multimedia examples to identify each creator’s purpose, point of view, and persuasive choices using evidence from words, images, sounds, and missing information. I can compare articles, charts, videos, and consumer-protection sources to explain how predatory marketing affects teens and families and which claims are most supported by evidence. I can study complaint trends and guidance from consumer advocacy sources to determine common patterns in deceptive marketing and connect them to a clear ad-rating system. I can write and discuss evidence-based claims about whether an ad is misleading, using valid reasoning and feedback from peers and experts to strengthen my analysis.
Engineer
I can develop an annotated ad-rating package, discussion prompts, a one-page recommendation, and a short audio or video explainer for a parent-student resource pack that helps a local nonprofit clearly teach families how to recognize and evaluate predatory gaming ads.
Do
I can pilot our ad-rating tools and explainer with classmates, families, or nonprofit partners, gather feedback and usage data on what is clear or confusing, and analyze the results to determine how effectively our resource pack helps people identify predatory marketing.
Share
I can share our resource pack, ad-rating recommendations, and explainer in an interactive community showcase with families, peers, school staff, and nonprofit partners, answer questions about our evidence and decisions, and reflect on how I grew as a critical thinker, communicator, and more aware media consumer.