Effective Strategies for Learning and Teaching in Times of Science Denial and Disinformation

The modern information landscape offers an abundance of options to learn about science topics, but it is also ripe for the spread of mis- and disinformation and science denial. Science education can play a pivotal role in mitigating harm from untruthful information, strengthening trust in science, and fostering a more informed and critically engaged public. Across the articles in this special issue, 10 pedagogical strategies to address mis- and disinformation in the classroom were synthesized. These strategies include: acknowledging the social nature of knowledge and building epistemic networks, addressing mis- and disinformation directly, building Nature of Science (NOS) knowledge, ensuring topics are socially relevant and meaningful, modeling critical evaluation of how power and privilege influence information, offering multiple sources of information, offering opportunities for students to reflect, providing explicit instruction on how to evaluate information, supporting the development of scientific reasoning skills, and supporting student perspective-taking. In addition, areas for future research were identified. In particular, more foundational research is needed to understand the complex interactions between social identities and information processing. From this knowledge base, more applied research is needed to create effective educational interventions to address mis- and disinformation.