Classroom-based media literacy lessons help students identify misinformation: Study

A large-scale study has found that classroom-based media literacy lessons can significantly improve children’s ability to identify misinformation and strengthen their trust in credible, science-based sources.

Published in the American Political Science Review, the study titled "Countering Misinformation Early: Evidence from a Classroom-Based Field Experiment in India" is the first to measure the long-term causal effects of sustained, school-based media literacy training.

Conducted through a randomized control trial (RCT) involving more than 13,500 students across Bihar, the research found that adolescents who participated in the media literacy sessions were more accurate in distinguishing facts from falsehoods, shared less misinformation, and demonstrated greater confidence in scientific information than those who did not receive the training.

The program, implemented between November 2023 and March 2024, reached students from grades 8 to 12 across 583 villages in 32 districts.

Participants attended four 90-minute classes over a 14-week period as part of the curriculum designed to strengthen media and information literacy.

The intervention was carried out in partnership with the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS), popularly known as Jeevika, which integrated the program into its official school offerings.

To maintain consistency, a separate pool of instructors was recruited rather than using existing government teachers.

The curriculum focused on combating health-related misinformation, promoting scientific understanding, and developing students’ critical thinking and responsible information consumption. It also sought to reshape community attitudes toward misinformation.

While the treatment group received media literacy education, the control group attended conversational English classes to ensure both groups were equally engaged but exposed to different content.

When surveyed four months after completion, the students who had taken part in the media literacy program continued to perform better at recognizing misinformation, including political falsehoods.

Researchers attributed this to the program’s emphasis on analytical reasoning rather than rote knowledge.

The study also found a "trickle-up effect," showing that parents of students in the treatment group became better at identifying misinformation themselves.

"As many countries seek long-term solutions to combat misinformation, these findings highlight the promise of sustained classroom-based education," the report states.

The research was conducted by Sumitra Badrinathan from American University (United States); Priyadarshini Amar and Simon Chauchard from University Carlos III Madrid and Instituto Carlos 3; Juan March (Spain); and Princeton University (United States).