This study discusses the findings of a survey designed to capture students' allocations of credibility to online materials resembling social media posts. The survey respondents were 1,019 undergraduate students at a medium-sized Canadian university. The students came from a range of programs and years of study in those programs. The survey…

This work reports on the implementation of a self-contained data-literacy exercise designed for use in undergraduate classes to help students practice data literacy skills such as interpreting and evaluating evidence and assessing arguments based on data. The exercises use already developed data-visualizations to test and develop students' ability…

This paper set out to explore online users' perceptions, attitudes, and practices towards mis/disinformation on social networking sites and investigate how they engage with, identify, and evaluate information disorder on social networking sites. The correlation study provides empirical insights into the complex relationship between digital media…

The explosion of the Internet and prominence of social media platforms have created a dynamic online information ecosystem. The roles of traditional gatekeepers of credible information (e.g., news organizations) have been diminished, and individuals are often on their own in evaluating an abundance of information online coming from more sources…

Informed scientific thinking is a vital component of engaging all socioscientific issues (SSI) such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, socioscientific engagement may be influenced by sociocultural factors and mis/disinformation efforts to the widespread detriment of human and environmental well-being. The purpose of this…

Purpose: This paper aims to address some limitations in existing approaches to the study of mis- and dis-information and offers what the authors propose as a more comprehensive approach to framing and studying these issues, geared toward the undergraduate level of learner. In doing so, the authors prioritize social shaping of technology and…

While academic librarians have been quick to respond to the crisis of misinformation through information literacy instruction and tool development, little research exists on the extent to which they are teaching news literacy skills in the classroom. This study explores academic librarians' perspectives on misinformation and whether they are…

The problem of propagating disinformation (a.k.a. "fake news") on social media has increased significantly in the last few years. There are several initiatives around the world to combat this serious problem. Maybe the most promising ones involve training people to identify "fake news." The use of digital educational games…

Fake news and artificial intelligence are phenomena addressed in academia and research within the fields of communication and audiovisual education. As a medium and language, cinema has mirrored these challenges, exemplified by the short film "Deep Soria." The primary objective proposed in this study is to ascertain whether this short…

Misinformation has been extensively studied as both maliciously intended propaganda and accidentally experienced incorrect assumptions. We contend that "conceptual contamination" is the process by which the learning of incorrect information interferes, pollutes, or otherwise disrupts the learning of correct information. This is similar…

Educational inequities between White Americans and Black and Latinx Americans have grown in recent decades. However, the present research documents that many members of the public may be misinformed about this reality. Three initial studies, with 813 undergraduates and online participants, demonstrate that many individuals overestimate the…

More and more, people are abandoning the active pursuit of news, assuming instead that important information will be pushed to them via their social media networks. This approach to news makes people susceptible to the vast amounts of misinformation online, yet research on the effects of this kind of engagement is mixed. More research is needed on…

An analysis of 640 posts from the social media platforms of 14 students at a historically Black university revealed that entertainment accounted for 68% of their social media content, "uplift" 17%, and empowerment 14%. Educators worry that students may be squandering online resources that could help improve their lives when they choose…

Misconceptions or inaccurate ideas about Alzheimer's disease (AD) can be found in college students from health-related careers. Refutation texts explicitly introduce inaccurate information, refute it, and introduce alternative, more accurate information. This study examined the role of refutation texts in revising misconceptions about AD in…

The spread of misinformation has underscored the importance of cultivating citizens' competency to critically evaluate popular accounts of scientific evidence. Extending the prevailing emphasis on evidence in the natural sciences, we argue for fostering students' understanding of psychological evidence and its communication in the media. In this…