The nature of misinformation in education

In this opinion piece, we review and characterize the nature of misinformation in education and discuss the implications for corrective efforts. In education, misinformation manifests at three different levels: the individual, the community, and the system. At the individual level, misinformation manifests as naive beliefs or misconceptions students hold before they receive instruction or because of instruction. At the community level, misinformation manifests as shared flawed views or misconceptions about certain topics often around risk factors and treatments of learning disabilities. At the system level, misinformation manifests as state or district educational policies and practices that have no scientific evidence. Thus, corrective efforts in education must be implemented at all three levels and follow best practices.

On predictors of misconceptions about educational topics: A case of topic specificity

A large variety of misconceptions about learning, teaching, and other educational topics is prevalent in the public but also among educational professionals. Such misconceptions may lead to ill-advised judgments and actions in private life, professional practice, and policymaking. Developing effective correction strategies for these misconceptions hinges on a better understanding of the factors that make individuals susceptible to or resilient against misconceptions. The present study surveyed students from educational and non-educational fields of study to investigate whether the endorsement of four typical educational misconceptions can be predicted by study-related variables (i.e., field of study and study progress) and by students’ cognitive ability (i.e., numeracy), epistemic orientations, general world views (i.e., conservative orientation), and education-related values (i.e., educational goals). A sample of N = 315 undergraduates in teacher education and education- and non-education-related fields of study completed an online survey. Results from structural equation models showed that the pattern of effects strongly varied across the specific misconceptions. The two misconceptions related to teaching factors (i.e., class size and effectiveness of direct instruction as a teaching method) were the most strongly affected by the field of study and had an association with conservative orientation. In contrast, the misconception about the effectiveness of grade retention as an educational intervention was more prevalent among the students emphasizing conventional educational goals, such as discipline. None of the investigated explanatory variables proved predictive of the misconception about the “feminization” of education as an educational-equity topic. Moreover, neither numeracy nor epistemic orientation was found to have any effect on the endorsement of educational misconceptions. These findings emphasize the topic dependency of the factors that make individuals susceptible to misconceptions. Future research and intervention approaches need to consider the topic specificity of educational misconceptions.

Nevertheless, partisanship persisted: fake news warnings help briefly, but bias returns with time

Politically oriented “fake news”—false stories or headlines created to support or attack a political position or person—is increasingly being shared and believed on social media. Many online platforms have taken steps to address this by adding a warning label to articles identified as false, but past research has shown mixed evidence for the effectiveness of such labels, and many prior studies have looked only at either short-term impacts or non-political information. This study tested three versions of fake news labels with 541 online participants in a two-wave study. A warning that came before a false headline was initially very effective in both discouraging belief in false headlines generally and eliminating a partisan congruency effect (the tendency to believe politically congenial information more readily than politically uncongenial information). In the follow-up survey two weeks later, however, we found both high levels of belief in the articles and the re-emergence of a partisan congruency effect in all warning conditions, even though participants had known just two weeks ago the items were false. The new pre-warning before the headline showed some small improvements over other types, but did not stop people from believing the article once seen again without a warning. This finding suggests that warnings do have an important immediate impact and may work well in the short term, though the durability of that protection is limited.

Factors associated with the intention of Syrian adult population to accept COVID19 vaccination: a cross-sectional study

Background and objectives

With global efforts to develop and deliver a COVID-19 vaccine rapidly, vaccine hesitancy stands as a barrier to these efforts. We aimed to estimate the proportion of Syrian adult population intending to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and, principally, to assess the demographic and attitudinal factors associated with it in order to approach suitable solutions.

Methods

An anonymous online questionnaire was conducted between 23rd December 2020 and 5th January 2021 in various provinces in Syria. A total of 3402 adults were sampled to reflect the population demographic factors. Attitudinal factors included Covid-19 fears, risks, and beliefs on the origin. Vaccination hesitancy and knowledge were also measured. The intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19 was the primary endpoint.

Results

According to their statements, 1222 participants (35.92%) will consent to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Our findings indicate that male gender, younger age, rural residence, not having children, smoking, fear about COVID-19, individual perceived severity, believing in the natural origin of the coronavirus, and high vaccination knowledge were positive predictors of embracing COVID-19 vaccine when it is available.

Conclusion

COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rate is considerably poor across Syrian population compared to populations in developed countries. Vaccine hesitancy is closely bound to the fear of side effects and doubts about vaccine efficacy. Factors such as conspiracy beliefs and myths about the vaccine lower vaccine uptake. Thus, interventional educational campaigns are increasingly required to overcome misinformation and avert low vaccination acceptance rates.

When preservice teachers' prior beliefs contradict evidence from educational research

BACKGROUND

Knowledge from educational research frequently contradicts preservice teachers' prior beliefs about educational topics. Such contradictions can seriously affect their attitudes towards educational research and can counteract efforts taken to establish teaching as a research-based profession.

AIMS

Inspired by Munro's (2010, J. Appl. Soc. Psychol., 40, 579) work on science discounting, this study examined whether preservice teachers tend to devalue the potency of educational research when evidence contradicts their beliefs.

SAMPLE

We used data from 145 preservice teachers from different German universities.

METHODS

In an experimental design, participants indicated their prior beliefs about an educational topic (i.e., effectiveness of grade retention) before and after reading either confirming or disconfirming scientific evidence. Dependent variables were, first, whether participants devalued the potency of science to study this focal topic and whether they generalized this devaluation to further related and unrelated topics; second, whether participants preferred non-scientific over scientific sources to inform themselves about the focal topic as an indirect measure of science devaluation.

RESULTS

Interaction effects on both outcome variables confirmed that participants devalued educational research and its sources when scientific evidence conflicted with their prior belief. Yet, results did not corroborate any generalization of devaluation to further topics. Despite the devaluation, participants indicated belief revision in the direction of the evidence read.

CONCLUSIONS

Preservice teachers may indeed critically question educational research when scientific evidence conflicts with their prior beliefs. However, they may also adapt their assumptions in light of strong evidence. More research is needed to clarify the conditions of devaluation and belief revision.

Constraints and Affordances of Online Engagement With Scientific Information-A Literature Review

Many urgent problems that societies currently face—from climate change to a global pandemic—require citizens to engage with scientific information as members of democratic societies as well as to solve problems in their personal lives. Most often, to solve their epistemic aims (aims directed at achieving knowledge and understanding) regarding such socio-scientific issues, individuals search for information online, where there exists a multitude of possibly relevant and highly interconnected sources of different perspectives, sometimes providing conflicting information. The paper provides a review of the literature aimed at identifying (a) constraints and affordances that scientific knowledge and the online information environment entail and (b) individuals' cognitive and motivational processes that have been found to hinder, or conversely, support practices of engagement (such as critical information evaluation or two-sided dialogue). Doing this, a conceptual framework for understanding and fostering what we call online engagement with scientific information is introduced, which is conceived as consisting of individual engagement (engaging on one's own in the search, selection, evaluation, and integration of information) and dialogic engagement (engaging in discourse with others to interpret, articulate and critically examine scientific information). In turn, this paper identifies individual and contextual conditions for individuals' goal-directed and effortful online engagement with scientific information.

Assessing the risks of 'infodemics' in response to COVID-19 epidemics

During COVID-19, governments and the public are fighting not only a pandemic but also a co-evolving infodemic-the rapid and far-reaching spread of information of questionable quality. We analysed more than 100 million Twitter messages posted worldwide during the early stages of epidemic spread across countries (from 22 January to 10 March 2020) and classified the reliability of the news being circulated. We developed an Infodemic Risk Index to capture the magnitude of exposure to unreliable news across countries. We found that measurable waves of potentially unreliable information preceded the rise of COVID-19 infections, exposing entire countries to falsehoods that pose a serious threat to public health. As infections started to rise, reliable information quickly became more dominant, and Twitter content shifted towards more credible informational sources. Infodemic early-warning signals provide important cues for misinformation mitigation by means of adequate communication strategies.

How behavioural sciences can promote truth, autonomy and democratic discourse online

Public opinion is shaped in significant part by online content, spread via social media and curated algorithmically. The current online ecosystem has been designed predominantly to capture user attention rather than to promote deliberate cognition and autonomous choice; information overload, finely tuned personalization and distorted social cues, in turn, pave the way for manipulation and the spread of false information. How can transparency and autonomy be promoted instead, thus fostering the positive potential of the web? Effective web governance informed by behavioural research is critically needed to empower individuals online. We identify technologically available yet largely untapped cues that can be harnessed to indicate the epistemic quality of online content, the factors underlying algorithmic decisions and the degree of consensus in online debates. We then map out two classes of behavioural interventions-nudging and boosting- that enlist these cues to redesign online environments for informed and autonomous choice.

Why Is Reconciling Divergent Views a Challenge?

Reconciling divergent accounts is a metacognitive task of a high order. It entails deep thinking about the thought processes of other people, as represented in multiple accounts that may be at odds with one another and with one’s own ideas. Here I emphasize the epistemological foundations of such attempts to understand other people’s thinking as well as the conceptual and strategic aspects of not just the skill but also the disposition to represent, connect, evaluate, compare deeply, and seek to reconcile explanatory accounts of both simple and complex phenomena. Development of multivariable mental models is a key contributor, and continuing engagement and exercise are essential to foster proficiency.