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In today’s world, students are bombarded with constant misinformation. Online content negatively impacts students’ self-images and makes it harder to know what’s true. So what can schools do?

During the edLeader Panel “Building Resilient Students: Addressing Health and Science Misinformation Through District Partnerships,” Elliott Goodman and Dr. Brittney Smith, Directors of District Fellowships at The News Literacy Project, spoke with Karen Kelsall-Lagola, Instructional Technology Coach at Beverly Hills High School, and Dr. Eli Cahan, Neonatology Fellow at Stanford University and Investigative Journalist for Rolling Stone, about helping students develop the skills needed to identify factual information and avoid misinformation.

Where Do Students Get Their Information?

Most students get information from social media, which has damaged their trust in institutions. They’re more likely to trust influencers, seeing large followings as a sign of expertise. What institutional trust they DO have usually comes from their families. This all means students have a much harder time identifying actual experts.

It’s difficult to direct students towards reliable sources of information. If teachers simply tell students where to go and who’s trustworthy, students may just reject those sources. Instead, teachers should recommend that students look further into sources, identify credentials, and recommend their own sources.

Also, it’s helpful for teachers to know of influencers and sources across multiple platforms to make it easier to guide students, no matter the platforms they use. And, it’s especially important to consider how people communicate and techniques to help people keep open minds in order to steer students towards positive online sources.

Combatting Health and Science Misinformation

In particular, there is a lot of health and science misinformation among students. Online diet trends and workout routines cause body image issues and other anxieties. Students see the healthy-looking influencers pushing those trends and try to emulate them.

Combatting misinformation involves thinking about the origins of the misinformation, the questions students and their families have, and how to establish the trust needed to change someone’s mind. Professionals must consider what someone’s fundamental concerns are when listening to their questions.

Reasoned conversation depends on where the misinformation originated and how many sources support it. Schools must be able to address all the concerns students and families have, or risk not convincing them. Additionally, trying to outright discredit sources of misinformation can cause entrenchment. Instead, examine students’ relationships with their sources.

Depending on where students are from, there are different patterns of health and science misinformation. As students don’t tend to seek out science and health information themselves, most of their misinformation comes from their families, so it’s critical for schools to engage in family outreach.

The more insular a community, the more likely it is for community members to put a greater weight on the word of community members over outsiders—a tendency seen a lot in rural and minority communities. Similarly, groups with strong religious institutions are more likely to listen to religious officials than experts from outside the religion. When managing misinformation in such groups, it’s important to focus less on the issues and more on where people get their information and what that means for the conversation.

There are ways schools can help students think critically about online health and science information. Examples that the expert panelists shared include:

• PE teachers can share articles and discuss online trends. Today’s students don’t typically watch news programs, getting their information instead from social media and influencers, so PE classes can discuss health trends.
• Biology classes can also keep students informed, and both biology and PE classes can give students places to share and discuss what they’re hearing online, steering them toward positive online influences.
• Schools can provide students with exposure to positive role models, such as doctors or journalists in the community, from an early age. This helps them see that experts are people too, and that expertise comes from education. Civil discussions with role models help students learn to think critically about information and follow up on what they hear.

While it may seem like today’s students are inundated with misinformation from many different sources, schools can still help them think critically about what they’re hearing and direct them to experts who can keep them informed.

Learn more about this edWeb broadcast, Building Resilient Students: Addressing Health and Science Misinformation Through District Partnerships, sponsored by News Literacy Project.

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The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan education nonprofit, provides educators in all 50 states with the resources they need to ensure every student graduates with the ability to thoughtfully evaluate news and information. For nearly 20 years, the News Literacy Project has offered free resources to help educators make news literacy engaging and accessible for their students. Our mission is simple: Help young people become critical consumers of news and information so that they can make more informed decisions throughout their lives and within their communities.

Article by Jon Scanlon, based on this edLeader Panel