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Fighting “bad science” in the information age: The effects of an intervention to stimulate evaluation and critique of false scientific claims

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Journal of Research in Science Teaching
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Anita S. Tseng
Anita S. Tseng
Anita S. Tseng
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Sade Bonilla
Sade Bonilla
Sade Bonilla
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Anna Macpherson at American Museum of Natural History
Anna Macpherson
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Abstract and Figures

With developments in technology (e.g., “Web 2.0” sites that allow users to author and create media content) and the removal of publication barriers, the quality of science information online now varies vastly. These changes in the review of published science information, along with increased facility of information distribution, have resulted in the spread of misinformation about science. As such, the role of evaluation when reading scientific claims has become a pressing issue when educating students. While recent studies have examined educational strategies for supporting evaluation of sources and plausibility of claims, there is little extant work on supporting students in critiquing the claims for flawed scientific reasoning. This study tested the efficacy of a structured reading support intervention for evaluation and critique on cultivating a critical awareness of flawed scientific claims in an online setting. We developed and validated a questionnaire to measure epistemic vigilance, implemented a large‐scale (N = 1081) Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of an original reading activity that elicits evaluation and critique of scientific claims, and measured whether the intervention increased epistemic vigilance of misinformation. Our RCT results suggested a moderate effect in students who complied with the treatment intervention. Furthermore, analyses of heterogeneous effects suggested that the intervention effects were driven by 11th‐grade students and students who self‐reported a moderate trust in science and medicine. Our findings point to the need for additional opportunities and instruction for students on critiquing scientific claims and the nature of specific errors in scientific reasoning.
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Fighting “bad science”in the information age:
The effects of an intervention to stimulate
evaluation and critique of false scientific claims
Anita S. Tseng
1
| Sade Bonilla
2
| Anna MacPherson
3
1
Graduate School of Education, Stanford
University, Stanford, California, USA
2
College of Education, University of
Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst,
Massachusetts, USA
3
American Museum of Natural History,
New York, New York, USA
Correspondence
Anna MacPherson, American Museum of
Natural History, New York, New York,
USA
Email: amacpherson@amnh.org
Abstract
With developments in technology (e.g., “Web 2.0”sites
that allow users to author and create media content)
and the removal of publication barriers, the quality of
science information online now varies vastly. These
changes in the review of published science information,
along with increased facility of information distribu-
tion, have resulted in the spread of misinformation
about science. As such, the role of evaluation when
reading scientific claims has become a pressing issue
when educating students. While recent studies have
examined educational strategies for supporting evalua-
tion of sources and plausibility of claims, there is little
extant work on supporting students in critiquing the
claims for flawed scientific reasoning. This study tested
the efficacy of a structured reading support interven-
tion for evaluation and critique on cultivating a critical
awarenessofflawedscientificclaimsinanonlinesetting.
We developed and validated a questionnaire to measure
epistemic vigilance, implemented a large-scale (N=1081)
Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of an original reading
activity that elicits evaluation and critique of scientific
claims, and measured whether the intervention increased
epistemic vigilance of misinformation. Our RCT results
suggested a moderate effect in students who complied with
the treatment intervention. Furthermore, analyses of
Received: 5 March 2020 Revised: 13 April 2021 Accepted: 17 April 2021
DOI: 10.1002/tea.21696
|
© 2021 National Association for Research in Science Teaching.
1152 J Res Sci Teach. 2021;58:1152–1178.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tea
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... Osborne and Pimentel (2023) highlight the importance of fostering epistemic insight and critical evaluation skills to navigate misinformation and understand the societal implications of science. Misinformation erodes public trust and hinders informed decision-making (Allchin, 2023;Tseng et al., 2021), highlighting the urgent need for tools that enable critical evaluation of scientific information, a need directly addressed in the Revised Framework through the enhanced Aspect 1: Knowledge of Science. Embedding media literacy into science education prepares learners for digital-age complexities (Hobbs & Jensen, 2013). ...
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... Some only captured prior knowledge/beliefs about the topic, others only prior misinformation-detection competencies (see Appendix Table A1). Only two studies considered both types of prior knowledge (Brodsky et al., 2021;Tseng et al., 2021). Furthermore, only two studies conducted both immediate and delayed posttests (Al Zou'bi, 2022;Osborn, 1939). ...
... In explaining mixed effects, the authors referred to participants' prior beliefs. While all studies on comprehensive curricula accounted for some aspects of prior knowledge, two foregrounded both prior knowledge and beliefs/attitudes in the design of their intervention (Osborn, 1939;Tseng et al., 2021). Mixed effects might reflect both the impact and challenge of explicitly designing interventions that attend to attitude in addition to knowledge. ...
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... De hecho, los resultados de investigaciones recientes evidencian que esta población muestra dificultades tanto en la gestión de la desinformación (Herrero-Curiel y La-Rosa, 2022; Herrero-Diz et al., 2021) como en la capacidad para argumentar críticamente ante la misma (Castells et al., 2022), lo que compromete su capacidad para valorar e interpretar críticamente informaciones conflictivas. Considerando que la formación que reciben en torno a estos aspectos es escasa (Pérez et al., 2018), resulta fundamental diseñar intervenciones para enseñar al alumnado a enfrentarse de forma crítica a los textos, fomentando su conciencia crítica o vigilancia epistémica ante las informaciones que leen a diario en la red (Gierth y Bromme, 2020a;Tseng et al., 2021). ...
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... Epistemic vigilance and reasoning are important components of health literacy in the current information landscape. Individuals encounter misinformation in science (Tseng et al., 2021), pseudoscientific information in health and medicine (Garcia-Arch et al., 2022;Li et al., 2018), paranormal and conspiracy beliefs (Jastrzębski & Chuderski, 2022), and health misinformation (Swire- Thompson & Lazer, 2022). Furthermore, medical advice and health recommendations are constantly changing (Levy, 2018). ...
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... Reasoning evaluation is the second dimension under the content presentation lens. In the words of Tseng andcolleagues [2021, p. 1156], evaluating scientific claims "involve[s] the assessment of scientific arguments for validity of reasoning and the quality of evidence that is used". Furthermore, reasoning evaluation can become a decisive practice in the case of recent GenAI technologies that often neglect identifying the source or rather do so incorrectly. ...
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Article
  • Nov 2019
Background/Context The Internet has democratized access to information but in so doing has opened the floodgates to misinformation, fake news, and rank propaganda masquerading as dispassionate analysis. Despite mounting attention to the problem of online misinformation and growing agreement that digital literacy efforts are important, prior research offers few concrete ideas about what skilled evaluations look like. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Our purpose in this study was to seek out those who are skilled in online evaluations in order to understand how their strategies and approaches to evaluating digital content might inform educational efforts. We sampled 45 experienced users of the Internet: 10 Ph.D. historians, 10 professional fact checkers, and 25 Stanford University undergraduates. Analysis focused on the strategies participants used to evaluate online information and arrive at judgments of credibility. Research Design In this expert/novice study, participants thought aloud as they evaluated live websites and searched for information on social and political issues such as bullying, minimum wage, and teacher tenure. We analyze and present findings from three of the tasks participants completed. Findings/Results Historians and students often fell victim to easily manipulated features of websites, such as official-looking logos and domain names. They read vertically, staying within a website to evaluate its reliability. In contrast, fact checkers read laterally, leaving a site after a quick scan and opening up new browser tabs in order to judge the credibility of the original site. Compared to the other groups, fact checkers arrived at more warranted conclusions in a fraction of the time. Conclusions/Recommendations We draw on insights gleaned from the fact checkers’ practices to examine current curricular approaches to teaching web credibility as well as to suggest alternatives.
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A review of educational responses to the “post-truth” condition: Four lenses on “post-truth” problems
Article
Educators have been increasingly concerned with what can be done about “post-truth” problems—that is, threats to people's abilities to know what is true—such as the spread of misinformation and denial of well-established scientific claims. The articles and commentaries in this special issue present diverse perspectives on how “post-truth” problems related to scientific and socio-scientific issues might be educationally addressed. The goal of this introductory article is to review and analyze the educational responses to the “post-truth” condition that are reflected in this special issue and in the literature at large. We argue that these responses have employed four lenses that focus on different underlying factors related to people's ways of knowing: not knowing how to know, fallible ways of knowing, not caring about truth (enough), and disagreeing about how to know. Each of these lenses offers different explanations of how education might aggravate or mitigate “post-truth” troubles.
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Post-truth GPS: Detour at truth, take the long route to useful knowledge
Article
  • Jul 2020
It would be easier to navigate our information world if we had a navigational system to guide us. Absent such a system, the authors of the five articles in this special issue propose different ways to help learners engage with scientific information, in light of the post-truth condition. I suggest that the contribution of these articles lies in their emphasis on encouraging deliberation-oriented practices, and in presenting a qualified view of science. I further argue that greater knowledge of this qualified science, as well as privileging science, may be necessary components. In order to have an impact on learners’ lives, I encourage adopting a framework of mastery and appropriation, and giving greater attention to issues of appropriation.
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Evaluating sources of scientific evidence and claims in the post-truth era may require reappraising plausibility judgments
Article
  • Mar 2020
When individuals have questions about scientific issues, they often search the Internet. Evaluating sources of information and claims they find has become more difficult in the post-truth era. Students are often taught source evaluation techniques, but the proliferation of “fake news” has resulted in a misinformation arms race. As searchers get more sophisticated identifying misleading information, so do purveyors of information who intend to mislead. We draw on a theoretical model of plausibility judgments and current theory and research in source evaluation to suggest that the post-truth era elevates the need for critical evaluation of online information about scientific issues. We argue that explicitly reappraising plausibility judgments may be a crucial addition to evaluating the connections between sources of information and knowledge claims. Individuals who search for and read a scientific article online should ask themselves: Is this explanation plausible, and how do I know?
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