I gave my students the following assignment: Find an article from a newspaper or magazine that is about some new scientific study. Then find an article on the same study from at least one scientific journal, including any journals mentioned in the news article. Critique the news article based upon what you have learned of statistics and what you have learned from the scientific article(s).
I was reasonably happy with the results of this assignment but feel like I could improve it by being a bit more explicit. Here is a wording that gives the student a bit more guidance: Find an article from a newspaper or magazine that is about some new scientific study. Briefly describe the study as reported in the news article. Assess as well as possible from the news article the validity of the results of the study and generate a list of concerns you have about the results, making it clear whether these concerns are explicitly raised in the article or are raised in your mind but omitted from the article. Then find one or more articles about the findings of this study, including but not limited to any articles mentioned by the news article. Using these articles write a brief assessment of the validity of the study reported in the news article and a brief critique of the accuracy of the news article.