Countering false information
How do we know what information we can trust and what we can’t? We live in a world where it is becoming increasingly difficult – and increasingly important – to be able to sort facts and robust information from ‘fake news’– disinformation and misinformation.
Navigating false information
“When it comes to navigating false information on the internet, it’s like everyone’s driving cars without a licence.”
Illustration by Gavin Mouldey.
Digital literacy
The internet has changed our world. Vast repositories of scientific information are only a finger tap away.
To be able to operate and contribute to the world we live in, accurate information is important. We want students to be able to understand science and science ideas so that they can participate in decisions and develop solutions for the issues they face. These issues range from socio-scientific problems on a world scale like climate change to personal decisions around things like health and wellbeing.
The nature of science strand ‘Participating and contributing’ has a focus on students using their growing science understanding to participate and contribute to their own lives and to society.
For students to contribute as scientifically literate citizens of Aotearoa and the world, they need to:
develop their scientific vocabulary and understanding of science conventions – see more in The ‘Communicating in science’ strand
be able to identify reliable information sources
recognise the ways in which information can be subverted.
Sorting fact from fiction online
Students need to be explicitly taught tools to identify information they can trust online. A Stanford University study identified that less than 6 hours of instruction helps high-school students learn to spot dubious sources online.
The rapidly changing online and social media environment: artificial intelligence, new platforms, rising time spent online, platforms changing and adapting, and deepfakes increasingly confront young people. The ability to decipher which information is credible is critical, and support to develop dispositions and attitudes which help young people interact positively online are urgently needed.
Of course, digital literacy is not limited to scientific issues – it is needed across all aspects of online engagement.
Research by Stanford University identified that high school students have difficulty in discerning fact from fiction. In positive follow-up research, they also identified that it does not take much to learn how to spot misinformation online.
Making sense of it all
With vast amounts of information available to students via social media and online forums, how do we help them to make sense of it all?
To counter false information, students need to understand:
the different types of false information and the motivating factors behind it – as explained in the Connected article Fake facts
how digital technology can intentionally or unintentionally manipulate the information we receive with algorithms and artificial intelligence
how information can be manipulated – for example, with the use of logical fallacies.
To understand why people believe false information and what makes it so sticky, read Making sense of our information environment.
Each of these resources encompass a ‘big idea’ in digital literacy and can be incorporated into the Understand, Know, Do framework. This framework works to deepen student understanding as they explore a context (know) via critical inquiry (do). The articles provide real-life examples of the big ideas, which can be used as the context for inquiry.
Fake news in the online world
The term ‘fake news’ has been in use for more than two centuries. ‘Fake news’ meant exactly what it sounds like – the news was not true. However, in recent times, the term has become a way to shut down conversation and discredit information whether it is factual or not.
Digital literacy – competencies and capabilities
Digital literacy encompasses each of the New Zealand Curriculum’s key competencies. As we become increasingly dependent on digital resources for news, research and entertainment, it is important for all of us to be able to:
find, evaluate and create digital content using critical thinking skills
understand and use language and symbols – including how language is used to inform, persuade and/or manipulate information and ideas
relate to others safely and effectively as we participate in and contribute to the online world.
The science capabilities have a strong emphasis on:
making careful observations to ensure robust explanations – including the inferences we draw from observations
the use of evidence to support ideas and explanations
being able to evaluate the trustworthiness of data – including visual data/representations
engaging with real-life issues.
Growing these competencies and capabilities should become transferable skills across all subject areas of the national curriculum.
Supporting resources
These activities are designed to help students learn how to counter false information:
There’s lots of jargon when we talk about the online world – Countering false information – key terms will help unpack some of it.
A Guide to Spotting Bad Science can help to equip students with the basics when looking at science news and opinions.
Related content
The Connected article Fake facts defines misinformation, malinformation and disinformation – how they are used in online media, with examples of each. It also delves into the human brain and how it deals with information and fake news.
Climate change, science and controversy looks at fake facts – from Galileo to the present.
Information on wicked problems – those that are incredibly complicated to solve – can be undermined by fake facts. Use one of these as a context for exploring misinformation, malinformation and disinformation:
1080 – a wicked problem (This article discusses how to use the science capabilities to check the objectivity and/or accuracy of information.)
The ClimateViz citizen science project needs help interpreting climate change graphics to help counter misinformation and support scientific communication.
The Hub has an Ethics thinking toolkit and there are several related articles designed specifically to support teachers in exploring ethical thinking with their students. These include Frameworks for ethical analysis and Teaching ethics.
Use the article The ‘Participating and contributing’ strand to find more examples of socio-scientific issues/resources and how to include them into a science programme.
This PDF includes examples of bad science, misinformation, disinformation, common logical fallacies, and debunking and corrections of science reporting.
Our Science communication – sorting fact from fiction Pinterest Board curates resources that will aid educators in looking not only at science communication but also science and society.
Useful links
Netsafe has a useful resource Misinformation and disinformation that explains the different types of false information and why we can be misled by false information.
The News Literacy Project (NLP) is an American educational programme that teaches students how to sort fact from fiction in the digital age. It offers several resources and services for educators, including an online learning platform, a free weekly newsletter, professional development opportunities, a variety of classroom materials and more.
The Disinformation Project operated between 2020 and 2024 as New Zealand’s only independent research group providing best-practice monitoring, research and consulting on disinformation and its impacts. Several of its plain-language reports have been archived here.
In 2024, a study of 2,115 adults suggested the vast majority of Australians were struggling to verify information online, regardless of their age.
These two The Conversation articles look at how young people can struggle to identify false information:
Some of the people behind the Stanford research mentioned above helped create Civic online reasoning. This website provides free lessons and assessments that teach students to evaluate online information.
Acknowledgement
This resource has been developed with the help of The Workshop, who are experts in framing – the conscious and unconscious choices people make about how to present an issue. They conduct research and draw on data and insights from various disciplines, including psychology, linguistics and oral storytelling. Their work on false information draws specifically on the work of Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw from her book A matter of fact: Talking truth in a post-truth world.
The Workshop shares their work under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike International Licence, encouraging people to pick up and use it for non-commercial purposes.
