As students search for news online, it鈥檚 increasingly likely that they鈥檒l come across the steady stream of disinformation on the web: conspiracy theories like , manipulated images and videos, false claims that the coronavirus is a hoax.
These stories and statements are regularly debunked by fact-checkers and news outlets. But some students believe them鈥攁nd bring them into social studies classrooms.
These past few months, the election has been at the center of this: President Donald Trump consistently said, with no evidence, that the election had been stolen from him through massive voter fraud. Viral videos that wrongly claimed to show election officials sneaking in extra votes or burning ballots circulated on social media.
Online spread of disinformation and rumor like this has posed new challenges for civics teachers. Confronting it requires a different kind of news literacy education in the social studies classroom, experts say鈥攐ne that goes beyond the common practices of encouraging students to see both sides of an issue and provide evidence to back up their claims.
鈥淵ou need young people to be critical thinkers and question,鈥� said Darcy Richie, the senior director of program and impact at Generation Citizen, an action civics education organization. 鈥淏ut there are also certain things that are true and not true.鈥�
In a recent EdWeek Research Center survey, the majority of teachers, 86 percent, said they had not addressed Trump鈥檚 claims about voter fraud with students. When asked why not, most said that it wasn鈥檛 directly related to their subject, or that their students were too young to understand it. But a number also worried about community reaction: 18 percent said that addressing the topic could lead to complaints from parents, and 14 percent said that they feared being accused of indoctrinating students.
Teachers are 鈥減artnering with families to help [students] develop an understanding of reality,鈥� said Richie. When parents are pushing back on established facts, that can be a 鈥渉ard tightrope鈥� to walk, she said.
In recent weeks鈥攁s state election officials repeatedly confirmed the integrity of the presidential election and the head of the General Services Administration formally recognized the results, starting the transition process鈥攖eachers say that questions about election-related disinformation have died down somewhat.
But the urgent need for information literacy education isn鈥檛 going away, said Sam Wineburg, a professor of education and history at Stanford University, and the executive director of the Stanford History Education Group.
鈥淭he election is a case study. And it鈥檚 an issue that鈥檚 occupying our attention at this moment. But it鈥檚 not merely the election,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are dealing with a profound shift in how human beings access information.鈥� That shift is central to civics education, Wineburg said.
鈥淓very issue of public policy in which dollars and cents matters is an issue that is fought over on the internet,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he idea that [information literacy] is somehow a side issue鈥攏o. This is how we become informed on issues that will affect us in the ballot booth.鈥�
Evaluating Unknown Sources
Fostering critical thinking year-round, and not just when controversial events are in the news, can get students into the habit of vetting information, said Richie. One way teachers do this is by setting 鈥渟tandards of proof"鈥攆or example, requiring students to present multiple sources to support a claim, she said.
Tracy Freeman usually takes this approach in her classes at Normal West High School in Normal, Ill., where she teaches U.S. history and government classes. But election disinformation has forced her to adapt the strategy somewhat.
In the days after the election, one student said they鈥檇 heard that Pennsylvania had bused in ballots bearing the names of dead people. 鈥淭he student wanted to say it was factual,鈥� Freeman said. 鈥淪o then the class automatically said, 鈥榃hat are our sources?鈥欌��
Freeman usually requires that students cite two, and the student did name two outlets: Fox News, and The Gateway Pundit, a far-right outlet that has . But Freeman proposed in class discussion that they expand their search this time: They checked their local news station, which wasn鈥檛 reporting anything about the supposed Pennsylvania incident. And she showed them an interview with a law professor, who explained that there wasn鈥檛 widespread evidence of dead people voting.
Finally, Freeman suggested that they wait a week. They could keep listening to on-the-ground reporting from national news outlets like NPR (鈥淭hey鈥檙e in the middle of rallies with microphones鈥攖hey鈥檒l have people who will find out for us,鈥� Freeman said), and the student could look for other evidence, as well.
When they checked in again, the student was reconsidering his initial claim. 鈥淗e said, 鈥業 think I鈥檓 making a sweeping generalization,鈥欌�� said Freeman.
She generally tries to frame conversations in this way鈥攏ot telling students that they鈥檝e absorbed disinformation but asking them to evaluate it and come to that conclusion themselves.
Still, getting to the facts requires more than just consulting multiple sources and evaluating the evidence, experts agree. Students also need to learn how to evaluate the messenger.
For example, there鈥檚 a difference between standards-based news and 鈥渄emi-news鈥� outlets that are openly partisan, said Peter Adams, the senior vice president of education at the News Literacy Project. Not all sources are created equal, he said.
Again, experts say that teachers shouldn鈥檛 be the ones handing down judgments about which sources are trustworthy and which aren鈥檛. They can teach students how to do this work themselves.
One technique for this is 鈥渓ateral reading,鈥� taught in the Civic Online Reasoning curriculum from the Stanford History Education Group. It prompts students to ask who鈥檚 behind the information they鈥檙e reading, and whether that entity has an agenda. When presented with an unfamiliar website, lateral readers look at what other trusted sources have to say about that site.
Research that while this is how professional fact-checkers approach the web, it鈥檚 not how college students do. Instead, students generally close-read the original, unfamiliar site, looking at the 鈥淎bout鈥� page, embedded links, and the site鈥檚 domain address. These are techniques that schools have long taught for evaluating online information. But, a , they aren鈥檛 effective ways to determine if a site is attempting to hide partisan affiliation, or worse, spread disinformation.
It seems 鈥渄eceptively simple,鈥� Wineburg said, but 鈥渋f you want to know if an unfamiliar website is unreliable, don鈥檛 study it鈥攍eave it.鈥�
鈥楢sking Them to Think鈥�
This discovery process can be empowering for students and make them feel like savvy consumers, said Daniel Bachman, a government teacher at Massapequa High School in New York.
He remembered earlier in the election cycle, when one student identified a manipulated video, a 鈥渄eepfake,鈥� of then-presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren. 鈥淭hey enjoy finding out that it鈥檚 fake more than they enjoy defending that it鈥檚 real,鈥� Bachman said.
Showing students how easy it is to be misled can help them acknowledge the threat of fake news, said Wineburg. 鈥淣o adolescent wants to be an easy mark,鈥� he said.
鈥淭o watch yourself fall into a puddle with supreme confidence, and then to wipe yourself off and wash the mud out of your hair, is a much more powerful experience than someone telling you, look there鈥檚 a puddle, be sure not to step in it,鈥� Wineburg added.
Freeman says encouraging students to lead the information-vetting process can also put parents鈥� minds at ease.
鈥淚鈥檓 not telling them to challenge your beliefs,鈥� she says she tells parents at back-to-school night, every year. 鈥淚鈥檓 asking them to think.鈥�
This year, though, she didn鈥檛 have the opportunity for that presentation: Her school started the year online and didn鈥檛 have an in-person parent-teacher night. But she knows parents are still paying attention, either listening in on classes or discussing with their children: Some parents have mentioned specifics from her lessons in emails, in passing.
Fred Cole, a high school social studies teacher in Marquette, Mich., is in the same situation, with some students learning from home. But having spent 20 years teaching at Marquette Senior High School, he鈥檚 banking on his reputation for being even-handed. 鈥淚 think it would be much harder for a new teacher,鈥� he said.
The best move is to inform families 鈥渆arly and often鈥� about what you鈥檒l be talking about in class, how it will be covered, and why, said Richie.
鈥淎 lot of the conversations about the integrity of the election hinge on patriotism as a value,鈥� said Adams. 鈥淪o [teachers can frame] conversations in that way, saying the integrity of the election is important, and so are free and fair elections. So, it鈥檚 important for us to get to the facts.鈥�
Empowering Students to Make Choices
News literacy has been a hot topic this presidential election cycle, but it鈥檚 always relevant in civics education, said Richie.
It鈥檚 especially important for students to have these vetting skills when they search for information about state and local issues, she said.
These issues aren鈥檛 always covered as widely in the national press: If students are looking for regular coverage of homelessness in their communities, she said, 鈥渢hey鈥檙e not going to get that from the New York Times.鈥� Students may have to evaluate sources they鈥檙e not as familiar with.
And there鈥檚 an entire universe of falsity and disinformation outside of politics. For example, said Freeman, students have asked her this year whether it鈥檚 true that wearing a mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus can cause cancer. (There鈥檚 no evidence that it can).
Patricia Hunt, a social studies teacher at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., makes information literacy a focus of her government classes. Her students study news coverage for what it can teach them about politics and civic processes, but they also analyze the coverage itself, dissecting about 30 articles each year. Her goal, Hunt said, is to empower students to make informed choices in society鈥攊n politics, but also in areas like health and finance.
In thinking about how news literacy and civics are so linked, Hunt comes back to a , a political philosopher most well-known for her analysis of power and authoritarian governments:
What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.
News literacy feels urgent for the health of democracy, Hunt said. 鈥淲e rely so much on people making choices. And if people are misinformed, then we won鈥檛 be making the right choices. That鈥檚 why I spend so much time on this. It鈥檚 fragile.鈥�
