Among a variety of workshops, students could choose to learn more about democracy and the impact of conspiracy theories, the importance of the economy in democracy, populism, or the role of fake news in everyday school life. While Thieß Petersen from the Bertelsmann Foundation spoke about the economic causes of populism, Jörg Habich from the Liz Mohn Foundation highlighted the dangers to democracy posed by the spread of false information. Although fake news has always existed in history, the digital world offers a simplified distribution path, thus having a significant influence on opinions and trends. This can also strongly affect the voting behavior of citizens.
The 15 participants started the Liz Mohn Foundation workshop with a Kahoot game. The task was to distinguish fake news from real news. This was followed by a lively discussion about their own experiences with fake news. Finally, the students were confronted with questions about democracy via Mentimeter: Do you think you can always express your opinion everywhere? Are you satisfied with democracy in our country? The results were very diverse and revealed quite controversial opinions.
The Democracy Day was held for the entire school with other actors besides the foundations.
