{"id":13871,"date":"2025-04-08T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=13871"},"modified":"2025-03-28T07:30:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T07:30:52","slug":"history-education-media-literacy-critical-thinking-online-misinformation-april-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/history-education-media-literacy-critical-thinking-online-misinformation-april-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Why history instruction is critical for combating online misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n \n
\n Students ask questions during a social studies class on American politics.\n AP Photo\/John Minchillo<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n Lightning Jay<\/a>, Binghamton University, State University of New York<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

Can you tell fact from fiction online? In a digital world, few questions are more important or more challenging. <\/p>\n\n

For years, some commentators have called for K-12 teachers to take on fake news, media literacy, or online misinformation<\/a> by doubling down<\/a> on critical thinking<\/a>. This push for schools to do a better job preparing young people to differentiate between low- and high-quality information often focuses on social studies classes.<\/p>\n\n

As an education researcher<\/a> and former high school history teacher, I know that there\u2019s both good and bad news about combating misinformation in the classroom. History class can cultivate critical thinking \u2013 but only if teachers and schools understand what critical thinking really means.<\/p>\n\n

Not just a \u2018skill\u2019<\/h2>\n\n

First, the bad news. <\/p>\n\n

When people demand that schools teach critical thinking, it\u2019s not always clear what they mean<\/a>. Some might consider critical thinking a trait or capacity that teachers can encourage, like creativity or grit. They could believe that critical thinking is a mindset: a habit of being curious, skeptical and reflective. Or they might be referring to specific skills \u2013 for instance, that students should learn a set of steps to take to assess information online<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Unfortunately, cognitive science research has shown that critical thinking is not an abstract quality or practice that can be developed on its own. Cognitive scientists see critical thinking as a specific kind of reasoning<\/a> that involves problem-solving and making sound judgments. It can be learned, but it relies on specific content knowledge and does not necessarily transfer between fields.<\/p>\n\n

Early studies on chess players<\/a> and physicists<\/a> in the 1970s and \u201980s helped show how the kind of flexible and reflective cognition often called critical thinking is really a product of expertise. Chess masters, for instance, do not start out with innate talent. In most cases, they gain expertise by hours of thoughtfully playing the game<\/a>. This deliberate practice helps them recognize patterns and think in novel ways about chess. Chess masters\u2019 critical thinking is a product of learning, not a precursor. <\/p>\n\n

\n \"Two<\/a>\n
\n Nurman Alua of Kazakhstan, left, and Lee Alice of the U.S. during the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, on Sept. 22, 2024.<\/span>\n AP Photo\/Denes Erdos<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

Because critical thinking develops in specific contexts, it does not necessarily transfer to other types of problem-solving. For example, chess advocates might hope the game improves players\u2019 intelligence, and studies do suggest learning chess may help elementary students with the kind of pattern recognition<\/a> they need for early math lessons. However, research has found that being a great chess player does not make people better<\/a> at other kinds of complex critical thinking<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Historical thinking<\/h2>\n\n

Since context is key to critical thinking, learning to analyze information about current events likely requires knowledge about politics and history, as well as practice at scrutinizing sources. Fortunately, that is what social studies classes are for.<\/p>\n\n

Social studies researchers often describe this kind of critical thinking as \u201chistorical thinking\u201d: a way to evaluate evidence about the past<\/a> and assess its reliability. My own research<\/a> has shown that high school students can make relatively quick progress on some of the surface features of historical thinking, such as learning to check a text\u2019s date and author. But the deep questioning<\/a> involved in true historical thinking is much harder to learn. <\/p>\n\n

Social studies classrooms can also build what researchers call \u201ccivic online reasoning<\/a>.\u201d Fact-checking is complex work. It is not enough to tell young people that they should be wary online, or to trust sites that end in \u201c.org\u201d instead of \u201c.com.\u201d Rather than learning general principles about online media, civic online reasoning teaches students specific skills for evaluating information about politics and social issues<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

Still, learning to think like a historian does not necessarily prepare someone to be a skeptical news consumer. Indeed, a recent study found that professional historians performed worse than professional fact-checkers<\/a> at identifying online misinformation. The misinformation tasks the historians struggled with focused on issues such as bullying or the minimum wage \u2013 areas where they possessed little expertise.<\/p>\n\n

Powerful knowledge<\/h2>\n\n

That\u2019s where background knowledge comes in \u2013 and the good news is that social studies can build it. All literacy relies on what readers already know<\/a>. For people wading through political information and news, knowledge about history and civics is like a key in the ignition for their analytical skills.<\/p>\n\n

Readers without much historical knowledge may miss clues that something isn\u2019t right \u2013 signs that they need to scrutinize the source more closely. Political misinformation often weaponizes historical falsehoods, such as the debunked and recalled<\/a> Christian nationalist book claiming that Thomas Jefferson did not believe in a separation of church and state, or claims that the nadir of African American life came during Reconstruction<\/a>, not slavery. Those claims are extreme, but politicians and policymakers repeat them<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

For someone who knows basic facts about American history, those claims won\u2019t sit right. Background knowledge will trigger their skepticism and kick critical thinking into gear.<\/p>\n\n

\n \"A<\/a>\n
\n A teacher in North Carolina conducts a lesson about the D-Day invasion of Normandy in an Advanced Placement class.<\/span>\n AP Photo\/Gerry Broome<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

Past, present, future<\/h2>\n\n

For this reason, the best approach to media literacy will come through teaching that fosters concrete skills alongside historical knowledge. In short, the new knowledge crisis points to the importance of the traditional social studies classroom.<\/p>\n\n

But it\u2019s a tenuous moment for history education. The Bush- and Obama-era emphasis on math and English testing resulted in decreased instructional time<\/a> in history classes, particularly in elementary and middle schools. In one 2005 study<\/a>, 27% of schools reported reducing social studies time in favor of subjects on state exams.<\/p>\n\n

Now, history teachers are feeling heat from politically motivated culture wars<\/a> over education that target teaching about racism<\/a> and LGBTQ+ issues<\/a> and that ban books from libraries and classrooms. Two-thirds of instructors say that they\u2019ve limited classroom discussions<\/a> about social and political topics.<\/p>\n\n

Attempts to limit students\u2019 knowledge about the past imperil their chances of being able to think critically about new information. These attacks are not just assaults on the history of the country; they are attempts to control its future.\"The<\/p>\n\n

Lightning Jay<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership, Binghamton University, State University of New York<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students ask questions during a social studies class on American politics. AP Photo\/John Minchillo Lightning Jay, Binghamton University,…\n","protected":false},"author":1125,"featured_media":13875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/d\/d6\/HP_Pavilion_Computer_laptop_keyboard_closeup.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[6576,6594,6589,6587,6580,6591,6585,6593,6577,6575,6590,6596,6569,6573,6570,6588,6579,6571,6586,6568,6583,6572,6584,6574,6581,6592,6582,6595,6578],"class_list":{"0":"post-13871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-history","8":"tag-background-knowledge","9":"tag-civic-online-reasoning","10":"tag-critical-thinking","11":"tag-digital-literacy","12":"tag-education-policy","13":"tag-fact-checking-skills","14":"tag-fake-news-education","15":"tag-historical-thinking","16":"tag-history-and-civics-education","17":"tag-history-curriculum-challenges","18":"tag-history-education","19":"tag-information-evaluation","20":"tag-k-12-media-literacy","21":"tag-knowledge-crisis","22":"tag-media-bias-detection","23":"tag-media-literacy","24":"tag-media-literacy-programs","25":"tag-media-skepticism","26":"tag-misinformation-awareness","27":"tag-misinformation-in-education","28":"tag-news-literacy","29":"tag-online-fact-checking","30":"tag-online-misinformation","31":"tag-political-misinformation","32":"tag-political-misinformation-strategies","33":"tag-social-studies-curriculum","34":"tag-social-studies-in-schools","35":"tag-social-studies-teaching","36":"tag-teaching-critical-thinking","37":"cs-entry","38":"cs-video-wrap"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13872,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13871\/revisions\/13872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}