Abstract
This study explored the relationship between schoolteachers' beliefs and the frequency of teaching misinformation literacy for critically evaluating online information. Teachers’ beliefs included acceptance of misinformation, awareness of risks of believing misinformation, and the management of misinformation in teaching contexts. The questionnaire survey (n = 462) identified four factors related to misinformation literacy instruction: "verification of information," "characteristics of misinformation," "source reliability," and "control/non-use." For the beliefs regarding the management of misinformation in teaching contexts, two factors were extracted: “misinformation countermeasures” and “educational significance”. Stronger beliefs in “misinformation countermeasures” related to more frequent instruction on "verification of information," "source reliability," and "control/non-use." Beliefs in “educational significance” were associated with instruction on "source reliability" and "control/non-use." Notably, we found an interaction regarding the instruction on "characteristics of misinformation": the effect of beliefs in “misinformation countermeasures” was significant when acceptance of misinformation was low.
