How good are you at spotting fake news?

Why is this important? 

Teaching students to spot fake news is key in today’s information-rich world. Misinformation spreads quickly through social media and digital platforms, so students must learn to critically evaluate sources, check facts, and distinguish between reliable information and false or misleading information. These skills help students to make more informed decisions, to think independently, and to become responsible digital citizens who contribute to a more well-informed society.

The University of Cambridge developed the first validated “Misinformation Susceptibility Test (MIST)”.

The University of Cambridge developed a quick two-minute quiz that gives a solid indication of how vulnerable a person is to being tricked by fake news headlines. The first survey they did found that – on average – adult US citizens correctly classified two-thirds (65%) of headlines they were shown as either real or fake.

Interesting, it was found that “younger adults are worse than older adults at identifying false headlines. When it came to age, only 11% of 18-29 year olds got a high score (over 16 headlines correct, out of 20), while 36% got a low score (10 headlines or under correct). By contrast, 36% of those 65 or older got a high score, while just 9% of older adults got a low score. “

Source: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/misinformation-susceptibility-test

Try the Test for Yourself!

The misinformation susceptibility test is free to try and only takes two minutes. Try it out and see how many fake vs real news headlines you can spot!

Here is the link to the test from the University of Cambridge:

https://yourmist.streamlit.app/

(If you want to try it, scroll down to the bottom of that link and click “Yes, I consent” and then you can choose between the version with 20 questions or 16 questions).