Benjamin Herold (Digital Education) reports on research by Elena Forzani from the University of Connecticut.
In a study of 1,429 7th grade students from 40 districts across two northeastern states, Forzani found that fewer than 4 percent of students could correctly identify the author of an online information source, evaluate that author’s expertise and point of view, and make informed judgments about the overall reliability of the site they were reading.
The ability to evaluate online sources and their reliability is an essential skill nowadays, so this type of research should inform classroom instruction.