Combine conflicting-document discussion, declarative source knowledge, and contrasting-case practice to train source evaluation¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 5 claims (4 for, 1 against) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article proposes a training recipe for source evaluation skills that "seems to combine: a) the identification of conflicting information dealing with the same topic, b) explicit declarative knowledge about source features and/or dimensions, and c) intensive practice, including comparative cases and informative feedback." The intervention instantiated this recipe in three one-hour workshops, each dedicated to one source dimension, with group discussion of contradictory web pages, explicit explanation of the dimension, and rating practice on contrasted cases until class consensus was reached.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Several workshops with contents repeated and consolidated across sessions
• Practice tasks using contrasted cases to disentangle the target dimension from related constructs such as personal experience

Constraints¶

• Benefits appeared on less reliable links and near-transfer tasks but not on the far transfer conclusion question

Target Learners¶

• ninth-grade secondary students in regular content-area classes

Target Learning Goals¶

• critical evaluation of source reliability in multiple-document reading

Affordances¶

• Content Source Integration Model Csi

Claims¶

• Students could partially discriminate link reliability before training, rating good links highest and bad links lowest [+W]
• Trained ninth-graders became more critical toward less reliable links than controls, with the effect persisting three weeks for the least reliable (bad) links [+W]
• Trained students outperformed controls at selecting the more reliable of two contradictory texts, at both post-tests [+W]
• No intervention benefits on source references in students' written conclusions (far transfer question) [-W]
• Trained students increased references to the more reliable source in justifications, specifically for the more reliable source [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Compare and Contrast Sources
• Multiple Texts
• Interleave Practice Types
• Website Evaluation Checklist
• Teach sourcing across all online inquiry phases with explicit instruction, controversial tasks, prompts, and collaborative group work

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Ana Pérez, Anna Potocki, Marc Stadtler, Mônica Macedo-Rouet, Johanna Paul, Ladislao Salmerón, Jean-François Rouet. (2018). Fostering Teenagers' Assessment of Information Reliability: Effects of a Classroom Intervention focused on Critical Source Dimensions. Learning and Instruction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.04.006