In a world of “fake news,” “advertorials,” “sponsored posts,” and other potentially misleading content, the ability to properly vet social and political information online has become a vital skill. But are we properly teaching it to students?

A new study led by Stanford University’s Sarah McGrew finds that students at nearly all levels – from middle school through college – struggle to evaluate online information, and often fail to ask essential questions regarding the origins and motives of various content.

McGrew sits down with CPRE Research Specialist Robert Nathenson to discuss her findings and offer some tips and free resources to those hoping to bring “civic online reasoning” to the classroom.

Featured research: Sarah McGrew, Joel Breakstone, Teresa Ortega, Mark Smith & Sam Wineburg (2018) Can Students Evaluate Online Sources? Learning From Assessments of Civic Online Reasoning. Theory & Research in Social Education, 46:2, 165-193