Fit to Problem-Based Learning Unit

About this curriculum

NAGC Curriculum Award-Winner! In Fit to Print , students assume the role of newspaper editors during the late 1800s who work for the struggling New York Times . Their competition, the New York Journal , has begun practicing yellow journalism. The students must decide how to cover the news—particularly the the impending Spanish-American War—without sensationalizing it and yet still maintain enough of an audience to keep the paper solvent. National Association for Gifted Children Curriculum Award-Winner! The foundation of  Fit to Print  is the issue of journalistic responsibility. Students assume the role of newspaper editors during the late 1800s who work for the struggling  New York Times , which is in fierce competition with the  New York Journal . In order to boost sales, the  Journal  has descended into publishing the attention-grabbing headlines of yellow journalism, which the owner of the  Times , Adolph Ochs, refuses to allow. Students must decide how to cover the news without sensationalizing it and yet still maintain enough of an audience to keep the paper solvent. The backdrop for this problem is the situation in Cuba and the impending Spanish-American War…