Misinformation: What Can We Trust?

This 5-section course is designed to help students identify misinformation, understand why people fall for it, and explain how we can navigate a world filled with it.

In the first section of this course, you will learn the psychological reasons why people fall for misinformation. Among other things, we will cover

• how human bias and group identity can lead us astray

• an examination of conspiracy theories and their appeal

In the second and third sections, we focus on learning about and recognizing various forms of misinformation. We address

• the characteristics of good journalism

• examples of misinformation in the media and social media

• how to parse and research specific claims

• how to judge the credibility of websites or articles

• how to ask challenging questions when presented with information

In the fourth section, you will learn how to think scientifically. We will cover

• the difference between scientific and unscientific thinking

• how people reach bad conclusions by not understanding certain statistical and scientific concepts (no math done in class!)

The final class is an immersive exercise where everything is put into practice. We will read an article with a comment section, and then assess the quality of this information. We then learn more about this topic through internet searches and supplementary articles.

There are few things more important than separating fact from fiction. Come join us in this highly relevant course to learn how to protect against misinformation!

Fair warning: This will be a fun class, where silly examples of misinformation will be given, and with fun exercises to engage students. However, it will not be limited to just that. Misinformation is worth learning about because it affects important topics. Serious, real-life examples will be discussed, as well, including those that involve violence. I do not delve deeply into these topics, but they do get brought up. Also, if it bothers you to scrutinize Democrats, Republicans, left-leaning media, right-leaning media, and uninformed social media posts, this class is not for you!