Today’s students spend substantial time on the Internet, and use it as a source of science information. The Internet has become an increasingly popular space for discussion of controversial science issues by more laypeople than scientists through new Web media. With the ease of self-publication and a lack of traditional gatekeeping on the Internet, there is more information about science available to the public. At the same time, the pervasiveness of science misinformation is problematic for students due to limited content knowledge for evaluating science claims, and a greater tendency to accept claims without question. Valid interpretation of scientific claims requires understanding how scientific inferences are made, and evaluating and critiquing the information. Therefore, in today’s information landscape, it is crucial for science students to be critical readers who question scientifically questionable claims. This study evaluated the types of background knowledge used by students to evaluate an inaccurate Web article about a science issue, and their assessment of its veracity. To collect data on reasoning while reading, 14 AP Biology students participated in a Think Aloud activity, voicing their thoughts while reading concurrently. Discrete thought units were identified from transcript data and qualitatively analyzed for frequency of critiques and emergent themes in background knowledge referenced. Data suggested that students' evaluations of the article's claims were wide-ranging. For a subset of very critical students, there was a large frequency of critiques about the scientific reasoning of the author (42% of critiques) and writing style (44%), but little reference to content knowledge. In contrast, students who accepted the claims made their assessments based largely on weak or incomplete content knowledge from school science, and their inaccurate perceptions of appropriate scientific reasoning. Results suggest that students can effectively evaluate science-based misinformation with a general knowledge of appropriate scientific reasoning and critical reading practices, and content knowledge from secondary level school science alone is only helpful to a limited degree. Implications for science education include increased emphasis on evaluation and critique of science information, as well as the characteristics of appropriate scientific reasoning and common flaws in the interpretation of scientific claims.

High school students and critical reading of science misinformation and inaccurate claims

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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