Digital Literacy Curriculum and Learning Study

 A recent study found that high school students who received only six 50-minute lessons in digital literacy were twice as likely to spot questionable websites as they were before the instruction took place, using a Stanford-created curriculum. 

Wineburg, S., Breakstone, J., McGrew, S., Smith, M. D., & Ortega, T. (2022). Lateral reading on the open Internet: A district-wide field study in high school government classes. Journal of Educational Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000740

COVID-19 impact studies

The coronavirus pandemic along with remote instruction are affecting students' academic progress, as well as their overall well-being, according to a CDC study. Of parents surveyed, 25% of those whose children are learning remotely said their children's mental or emotional health had worsened -- compared with 16% of those whose children are learning in person.

Verlenden JV, Pampati S, Rasberry CN, et al. Association of Children’s Mode of School Instruction with Child and Parent Experiences and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic — COVID Experiences Survey, United States, October 8–November 13, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:369–376. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7011a1

---

Oral reading fluency stalled for many second- and third-grade students last spring, according to a study by researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Education. found that students currently in second and third grade are now approximately 30% behind what would be expected in a typical year in reading fluency. Additionally, the study found that there was an inequitable impact, with students in historically lower-achieving districts — which often serve a greater share of low-income and minority students — developing reading skills at a slower rate than those in higher-achieving ones. The study adds that these are populations that were disproportionately affected by the pandemic in ways that impinge on their readiness to learn, including lack of access to computers, reliable internet access or a parent at home.

Dominique, B., et al. (2021). Changing patterns of growth in oral reading fluency during the COVID-10 pandemic. PACE.

https://edpolicyinca.org/publications/changing-patterns-growth-oral-reading-fluency-during-covid-19-pandemic

News literacy study

In a report released in November, the researchers evaluated the ability of 3,446 students – from 16 urban and suburban school districts in 14 states – to judge the credibility and accuracy of digital sources of information.  Overall, on four of the assigned six tasks, over 90 percent of students received no credit at all. Out of all of the student responses, fewer than 3 percent earned full credit. Students continued to display a troubling tendency to accept websites at face value. A few of the lowlights from the report:

• Fifty-two percent of students believed a grainy video claiming to show ballot stuffing in the 2016 Democratic primaries constituted “strong evidence” of voter fraud in the U.S. The video was actually shot in Russia. Among more than 3,000 responses, only three students tracked down the source of the video –  even though a simple Google search would have quickly exposed the ruse.
• Two-thirds of students couldn’t tell the difference between news stories and ads (set off by the words “Sponsored Content”) on Slate’s homepage.
• Ninety-six percent of students did not consider why ties between a climate change website and the fossil fuel industry might lessen that website’s credibility. Instead of investigating who was behind the site, students focused on the site’s aesthetics, its top-level domain (.org or .com), or how it portrayed itself on the About page.

 Breakstone, J. et al. (2019). Students' civic online reasoning. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University. 
https://sheg.stanford.edu/students-civic-online-reasoning

Credibility of Digital Information

This study observed historians, professional fact checkers, and Stanford University undergraduates as they evaluated live websites and searched for information on social and political issues. Historians and students often fell victim to easily manipulated features of websites, such as official-looking logos and domain names. They read vertically, staying within a website to evaluate its reliability. In contrast, fact checkers read laterally, leaving a site after a quick scan and opening up new browser tabs in order to judge the credibility of the original site. Compared to the other groups, fact checkers arrived at more warranted conclusions in a fraction of the time. The study contrasts insights gleaned from the fact checkers’ practices with common approaches to teaching web credibility.

Wineburg, S., & McGrew, S. (2017). Lateral reading: Reading less and learning more when evaluating digital information. Stanford, CA: Stanford. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3048994