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"Klart man blir lite kritisk när man lär sig hur lätt det är att förvränga fakta" : En studie om källkritik och källtillit i gymnasieskolan / ”Of course you get a little critical when you learn how easy it is to distort facts” : A study about source criticism and source trust in upper secondary schools

Authors
  • Fekete, Lisa
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2022
Source
DiVA - Academic Archive On-line
Keywords
Language
Swedish
License
Green
External links

Abstract

In recent years, theories have emerged about whether the source critical approaches that are encouraged in school affect students’ trust in credible sources. The purpose of this thesis is to illuminate the perspectives of upper secondary students; their experiences of lectures in source criticism, and how the teaching has affected their trust in the credibility of established news media, scientific research, and authorities. The purpose is also to illuminate how educators can encourage upper secondary students to be source critical and at the same time maintain their trust in reliable sources.  In the beginning of 2022, a digital survey was sent out to upper secondary schools in 15 Swedish cities. The empirical material which the study is based on consists of questionnaire responses from 68 Swedish upper secondary students. The analysis is based on pragmatism and John Dewey’s thoughts on teaching to interpret, understand and explain the statements that emerged in the questionnaire responses. The study identified nine aspects related to how educators can balance source criticism and source trust in their teaching. Furthermore, the results show that source trust may need to be given more space in the lectures, and that the students’ trust in credible sources seem to have been maintained and strengthened to some extent by lectures in source criticism, while the teaching also has contributed to critical attitudes towards the same sources in some respondents. Based on this, it is concluded that lectures in source criticism can have a negative impact on individual students trust in credible sources, and that educators need to reflect upon how they teach source criticism; what messages they send out and how these can be interpreted by their students. This is a two-year master’s thesis in Library and Information Science. 

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