Philipp L. Marten, Sandra Aßmann, Carolin Baumgarten-Kelm, Marc Stadtler (2025)

The prevalence of misinformation calls for new approaches to enhance students' critical reading skills. This study examined the effectiveness of a training to promote the combined use of two epistemic strategies—sourcing and corroboration—to strengthen online information evaluation skills. A total of 210 seventh- and eighth-graders received either the strategy training or a control training on misinformation. Contrast analyses revealed that strategy-trained students outperformed their peers in discerning credible sources and in debunking information from social media posts through corroboration. They also demonstrated superior metastrategic knowledge on both strategies. Training gains in source discernment and debunking, but not metastrategic knowledge, were stable over a period of approximately 4 weeks after the intervention. Additional analyses of five reader characteristics indicated that higher reading proficiency positively predicted responding to the strategy training. Findings suggest that cultivating sourcing and corroboration may be more effective than a training providing conceptual knowledge about misinformation.

Learning and Individual Differences, 122, Article 102685.