Squiz Kids + Miroma Project Factory relaunch ‘Newshounds’ to help kids spot fake news
Together with Squiz Kids, Miroma Project Factory (MPF) has relaunched Newshounds, now live across thousands of classrooms. The refreshed experience blends game-led learning with curriculum alignment to help teachers build confident, savvy news readers in the primary years.
Originally launched three years ago and now rebuilt for today’s classrooms, Newshounds engages kids aged 8–12 through gamified storytelling, teaching essential skills for navigating the digital world. With more than 4,500 classrooms already using the tool, MPF and Squiz Kids are giving teachers a playful, practical way to grow the next generation of critical thinkers.
“Kids have more information coming at them than at any other time in history,” says Bryce Corbett, Director for Squiz Kids. “It’s why there’s never been a more important time for them to learn, at an early age and before they have a smartphone in their hands, how to tell online fact from fiction. Newshounds teaches them just that. And we were so pleased to have MPF help us reimagine the resource to make it even more engaging.”
Newshounds puts kids in the paws of Squiz-E – the world’s first internet detective dog. As they progress through animated scenes, interactive newsrooms, and real-world-inspired media challenges, players learn how to question sources, spot misinformation, and distinguish between facts, opinions, and clickbait.
The experience is grounded in a comprehensive learning framework developed by Squiz Kids with support from media literacy experts and educators. MPF worked closely with Squiz Kids to bring this vision to life as an immersive, responsive web-based game playable on any device, with minimal barriers to access for schools and families.
Developed in alignment with national education outcomes and tested in real classrooms, Newshounds represents the kind of digital-first learning experience Australian schools are increasingly seeking. The program now aligns with media literacy becoming part of the national curriculum – a timely and much-needed shift toward building critical thinking skills in the digital age.
Working to a Squiz Kids remit to overhaul version 1.0 of Newshounds, MPF provided the technical expertise to transform the piloted, static classroom toolkit into a dynamic, interactive-based experience tailored for primary students aged 8-12.
The platform features:
• Gamified modules exploring truth, bias, misinformation, and source evaluation.
• Age-appropriate quizzes, videos, and prompts to support class discussion and reflection.
• A teacher dashboard for lesson planning and tracking student progress.
• Scaffolded content mapped to cognitive development and curriculum standards.
As noted in a Squiz Kids newsletter, “Media literacy becomes part of the curriculum! Oh happy day!” (Squiz Kids Weekly Newsletter, May 2025), Newshounds is well-positioned to become a flagship tool – making media literacy not only accessible, but engaging, for teachers and students alike.
By making critical thinking fun, interactive and easy to deliver, Newshounds helps lay the foundation for a generation of young Australians who know not just how to consume information, but how to question it.