I read an interesting article yesterday about fact-checking. The article by Sam Wineberg (2015) entitled Why Historical Thinking is Not about History reiterated a point we need to drive home to our students, information needs to be verified — this is especially true about information found on the internet.

Wineberg talks about a Virginia textbook author who included unverified information from the internet in her 4^thgrade Virginia history textbook. He also mentions a group of California teachers who inadvertently convinced some students that the Holocaust was ‘propaganda’ and a ‘hoax’ by providing the students comparative information retrieved from the internet as a sole source.

As Wienberg says, “The Internet has obliterated authority” (p. 14) and everyone and anyone can fall victim to easy information. Easy information, which is free floating, a top Google search result, not cited, etc. is easy to grab, absorb, and retell as fact. But we need to be careful about the redistribution of internet information and teach our students to examine sources critically.

To this point, Wienberg (2015) speaks of the need to train everyone to think like a historian in order to avoid such conundrums of information overload in the digital age. We can do this by equipping students with the skills to think like historians. By having students investigate primary sources, dig deep into the origins of information, and act with civic intelligence we will help students filter out the noise and focus on true and valid information.

A dense social studies education both implicitly and explicitly provides this foundational dexterity. This digital citizenship will help students through the informed decision-making process and perhaps even take the confusion (and argument) out of sifting through the copious amounts of information found on the internet.

In the end, training students to think like a historian will train them to make decisions through the lens of critical examination — for all information presented throughout their lives.  From reading the newspaper and social media posts to making decisions regarding finances and career; when a student is able to ferret out accurate information they are able to make informed decisions. It is our job as educators to teach students the application of skills to be successful in life’s endeavors.