The use of the Bad News computer game in the classroom improves students' ability to detect hoaxes (fake news).

Source : Fundación Luca de Tena

One of the best ways to prevent hoaxes from spreading, without jeopardizing press freedom, is media literacy; giving people the tools and knowledge they need to identify and reject hoaxes, wherever they come from. And the effects of media literacy are truly palpable.

This is confirmed by a recent study conducted by Uppsala University, which has shown that a computer game called Bad news significantly improves the ability of upper secondary school students to identify reliable and misleading news. The research, titled “Bad News in the civics classroom: How serious gameplay fosters teenagers’ ability to discern misinformation techniques,” published in the Journal of Research on Technology in Education, involved 516 Swedish students at four different high scho: ““Bad News in the civics classroom:: How serious gameplay fosters teenagers ability to discerning misinformation techniques”,,” pubblicata sul Journal of Research on Technology in Education, ha coinvolto 516 studenti svedesi di quattro diverse scuole superiori.

Thomas Nygren, professor of Education at Uppsala University and one of the study's researchers, stressed the importance of equipping young people with tools to navigate a world full of misinformation.

“This is an important stage in equipping young people with the tools they need to navigate a world full of misinformation,” said Professor Nygren. “We need to get better at identifying manipulative strategies, a process known as prebunking, prebunking, as it is virtually impossible to discern deep fakes, for example, and other AI-generated misinformation by eye alone.”

The Bad News game Bad News places students in the role of disseminators of misleading news, allowing them to experience firsthand the manipulation tactics used in social media. Students participated in the game individually, in pairs or in class groups, and all methods proved effective in improving their discernment skills.

Results showed that students who already had a positive attitude toward trusted news sources were better able to identify misinformation and their attitude toward these sources was significantly strengthened after participating in the game. In addition, it was observed that many students improved their ability to assess credibility and explain with greater sophistication how they identified manipulative techniques.

The study also indicated that the competitive elements of the game increased interest and enhanced the benefits of the game. These findings offer new insights into how serious games can be used in formal education to promote media and information literacy.

 Study details and key findings

The research evaluated the impact of the game in different classroom settings: individual, paired, and group play with a shared score. The study was designed to assess students' ability to discern manipulative techniques in social media posts before and after the intervention.

Game effectiveness: students' ability to identify manipulative social media posts improved markedly after playing Bad News. Game effectiveness was not significantly influenced by game modality (individual, pair, or group).

Attitudes toward trusted sources: students who positively valued trusted sources before the study tended to improve more in their ability to discern information after the intervention.

Interaction and fun: the competitive aspects of the game made the experience more interesting and beneficial for students, suggesting that gamification can play an important role in media education.

Importance of credibility: After playing the game, students valued more the importance of accessing reliable news sources, reflecting a greater awareness of the relevance of verifying the information they consume.