Building resilience against online misinformation: A teacher-led training promoting evaluation strategies among lower secondary students

Abstract

In a world characterized by widespread dissemination of misinformation online, it is crucial for individuals to acquire evaluation strategies at an early stage to make informed decisions about what and whom to trust. Drawing on the bidirectional model of first- and second-hand evaluation strategies, this study evaluated the effectiveness of a teacher-led strategy training for 7th and 8th grade students (n = 366). The training promoted sourcing and corroboration strategies over four 90-min lessons, also incorporating novel exercises aimed at fostering corroboration for assessing potential deepfake videos. Trained participants were compared to an active control group that was taught a comprehensive understanding of misinformation. Three skill-based and two knowledge-based dependent variables were assessed at three measurement points. Results indicated that strategy training participants outperformed controls at both posttest and follow-up-test in their sourcing ability, demonstrated through increased discernment between credible and non-credible sources, as well as in corroborating misleading online claims. Additionally, the strategy training group demonstrated enhanced metastrategic knowledge about sourcing and corroboration. Contrary to the hypotheses, the training did neither improve performance in corroborating deepfake and genuine videos, nor did it reduce metastrategic knowledge about utilizing superficial appearance evaluation strategies for identifying deepfakes. The findings suggest that experienced teachers can effectively implement learning materials designed to cultivate evaluation strategies with moderate preparation efforts, yielding robust educational benefits for students. Overall, the results provide preliminary evidence that a training designed to promote sourcing and corroboration can enhance lower secondary students’ capacities to identify reliable information and credible sources.