Danah Boyd in ‘did media literacy backfire’ raises good points about how we teach people media literacy by asking them to question sources and authority, and that that’s exactly what people are doing sometimes choosing experience over expertise, but this has created problems when people begin to question even reliable sources or actual facts, and this has created a situation where sometimes actual perpetrators and propagators of 'fake news' take refuge behind people's doubts to spread rumours and actual fake news ('alternative facts'). She brings recent examples like the pizzagate incident, vaccination and autism, and the recent ‘fake news’ debacle surrounding the US election ...
She also brings up another example: STDs and teen education re sexual health. Boyd found that teens are told that wikipedia is untrustworthy, that they should do google search.
But Boyd found that teens had misconceptions and were misinformed about fundamental things.
It is indeed true that students have a widespread belief that wikipedia is untrustworthy. In contrast, I tell them that there is nothing wrong with choosing wikipedia as an initial search option about a topic that you are completely new to. Just an initial source. Nothing more.
Solution: the rule of thumb for us educators should be to train students to never consult one source alone. They should look for information from many sources, do a source critique, ask trusted adults/professionals, and then make up their mind -- and even then be open-minded and willing to listen to opposing viewpoints ....
Perhaps we should engage in this in our curriculum. One idea have is that whenever we discuss climate change my science class, I like to present articles/blogs/sources from both the scientific majority and the unscientific minority (the ‘deniers’). I like to do this without taking sides myself and letting students make up their mind — authentic critical thinking. But it is astounding that even students who have been taught about climate change get very quickly influenced by an article that denies climate change or human impact on climate change.
All this is further exacerbated by the ‘constant state of connectedness’ and social media. Especially dangerous is people’s ability to create anonymous social media accounts on Facebook or Twitter and spread rumours, propaganda, etc …..
I think school boards should have periodic media literacy initiatives and seminars in conjunction with teachers, parents, and the local community experts so that everyone is in the loop ... to convey to parents and students that there are local experts willing to help and answer questions ... that they need not just rely on the internet and social media ...
Then teachers should also interweave source critique and media literacy within their teaching.. For eg. In science we do STSE and issues of controversy — ability to be open-minded and view issues from multiple positions/angles …
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