Information for this post was published in the Hechinger Report
Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning, is a new study produced by researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. They measured the ability of students to accurately gauge the validity of information they encounter online. The researchers created 56 tasks for students in 12 states, and collected 7,804 student responses from January 2015 until June 2016.
The study found that the overwhelming majority of young people are unable to sift through online information and separate fact, fiction and opinion. With so much information available online, much of it often conflicting, it is necessary that people know how to determine what is a reliable and valid source of information.
The report suggests that schools must teach students the skills they need to be savvy consumers of news and information they encounter online.
