Media and Mental Health

This synthesis-focused worksheet is designed for students in Grades 9, 10, and 11 to strengthen critical reading, comparison, and evidence-based writing skills using real-world informational texts. Students analyze two passages-a news article and a psychology study-about social media and mental health, identifying central claims, key findings, and overlapping evidence to develop a balanced understanding of how media affects psychological well-being.

Learning Goals

• Synthesizing Multiple Texts (Grades 9-11)
  Students integrate ideas from two different sources on the same topic.
• Identifying Claims & Evidence
  Learners determine main claims, supporting evidence, and research findings in each text.
• Balanced Argument Writing
  Students write a unified paragraph that fairly represents both perspectives.
• Health & Psychology Literacy
  The activity builds understanding of mental health concepts related to media use.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource
  Designed by educators to align with secondary ELA and interdisciplinary literacy standards.
• Cross-Disciplinary Focus
  Connects English language arts with health and psychology topics.
• Structured Synthesis Support
  Guided prompts help students move from comparison to integration.
• Flexible Classroom Use
  Ideal for nonfiction units, research skills practice, discussion prep, or assessment.

This printable worksheet gives students meaningful practice with synthesizing informational texts, evaluating evidence, and writing balanced analytical responses. By comparing journalistic and scientific perspectives on media and mental health, learners strengthen critical thinking, comprehension, and academic writing skills while engaging with an important real-world issue. Suitable for classroom instruction or homeschool use, this no-prep resource supports confident synthesis and thoughtful analysis across disciplines.

This worksheet is part of our Grade 11 Reading Comprehension collection.