Misinformation is content that is false, inaccurate or misleading, even if it is spread unintentionally. A 2016 research study by the Stanford Education Research Group showed that many young people (not unlike adults) often can’t tell the difference between a real news story and “sponsored content” (or an advertisement). Yet, young people also say they want help learning how to investigate news and information in the digital age. In fact, 84% of youth surveyed nationally by the MacArthur Research Network on Youth and Participatory Politics said they thought that they and their friends would benefit from instruction in how to tell if a given source of online news was trustworthy.

In fact, studies have shown that passive sharing rather than intentional malice, could be the bigger issue in spreading misinformation. The diffusion of misinformation has been exacerbated by our everyday quick, low-cost and relatively easy access to online content and social media. Our students and families, like most Americans, are vulnerable to misinformation because it is targeted and abundant.

We know from research that younger people’s age, not their political beliefs, lead them to believe and share misinformation. Based on this critical information, we, as educators, can model for our students how to fact-check what they read and hear, question whether the information they are seeing has already been fact-checked and determine if the sources of information are authentic and reliable.

We must provide students with basic media literacy — teaching them about the historic role of the free press, the various types of new reporting and current threats to freedom of expression, as well the historical role of misinformation and propaganda.

Read the full article about misinformation by Debra Duardo at EdSource.