2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Resources and Exercises for STEM Educators and Students Navigating the "Misinformation Age"

Presented at Teaching Tools: Communication (NEE)

College students are currently weathering what has been termed the “Misinformation Age” or an “infodemic.” As social psychologists have shown, the ways in which societies consume media have changed. In this rapidly evolving media landscape, students are right to be cautious in their approach to source evaluation, yet for educators, the topic can be intimidating.

Educators often teach source evaluation by having students narrow their searches to peer-reviewed scholarly works—a strong first step due to these resources' rigorous editorial standards. However, peer-reviewed works are not always the timeliest sources on emerging topics due to their lengthy publication processes, nor do they offer students much opportunity to strengthen their information literacy skills. Mass media (broadcast, print-based, and online) news sources give students more authentic, real-life opportunities to evaluate sources for inaccuracies or bias.

STEM students must learn to recognize high-quality sources in real time to match the pace of today's information flow, and STEM educators have a professional and an ethical responsibility—perhaps now more than ever before—to help students develop critical-thinking-based research strategies blending a variety of source evaluation techniques.

This paper provides new STEM educators with applicable research; pedagogical best practices; and practical, discussion-based, collaborative activities to teach source evaluation techniques in the STEM classroom.

Authors

Ms. Alexis P. Nordin Mississippi State University [biography]

Alexis is currently an instructor in the Shackouls Technical Communication Program in Mississippi State University’s James Worth Bagley College of Engineering. She has taught technical writing and various other writing- and communication-based courses at MSU since 2004. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Mississippi State University and Louisiana State University and is certified as a Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
Mr. John Aaron Louis Grimes Mississippi State University [biography]

John Aaron Grimes is an instructor in the Shackouls Technical Communication Program at Mississippi State University. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English from Mississippi State University, where he has taught various writing and communication-based courses since 2014.
Ms. Amy K. Barton Mississippi State University [biography]

Amy Barton is the coordinator of the Shackouls Technical Communication Program in the Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State University. She is also an instructor of technical writing. In 2013, she was inducted into the Bagley College of Engineering's Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Her research interests include engineering ethics, writing in the disciplines, and the development of professional skills.
Shelly Sanders Mississippi State University [biography]

Shelly is currently an instructor in the Shackouls Technical Communication Program in Mississippi State University's James Worth Bagley College of Engineering and has taught technical writing as well as various English composition and literature courses at MSU since 2005. She also tutored writing with the English department's Writing Center from its inception in the early 2000's until 2015. She holds a bachelor's degree in English from The University of Alabama and a master's degree in English from Mississippi State University.

Download paper (1.03 MB)

Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.

» Download paper

« View session

For those interested in:

Faculty
New Members