Sourcing against misinformation: Effects of a scalable lateral reading training based on cognitive apprenticeship

Abstract

The pervasive problem of misinformation requires fostering Internet users' information literacy. Existing interventions raise the question of how the skills enabling the discernment of truthful vs. fake news can be efficiently trained, and which training approaches may be scalable. We conducted a lateral reading training based on cognitive apprenticeship and assessed its effects on N = 312 participants using an online news credibility test. The quantitative, 3 × 2 experimental design included the factors training type (no training vs. cognitive apprenticeship with written instructions vs. cognitive apprenticeship with human trainers) and trainer education (undergraduate freshmen vs. graduate students of education). Overall, we found significant effects of the training type and marginal effects of the trainer education, but no significant differences between cognitive apprenticeship with written instructions and cognitive apprenticeship with human trainers. The training effects pertained mainly to participants' fake news identification ability, whereas their truthful news evaluation was changed little. In sum, participants’ discernment of truthful vs. fake news was improved. Consequently, lateral reading training based on written instructions appears to be an effective and scalable media education intervention.