Toward a Remedy for the Post-Truth Condition: Integrating Critical Media Epistemology in Secondary Classrooms

• In Event: Youth Learning in Action: Moves Toward Civic, Digital, and Media Literacy

Abstract

Among educators, several approaches have emerged as promising responses to the “post-truth” phenomenon. One emphasizes increased attention to media literacy. A second emphasizes students’ epistemic cognition. In this paper, I discuss the results of a six-month case study exploring ways in which educators and researchers can respond to mis- and disinformation and other aspects of “post-truth” by incorporating critical media epistemology, an innovative framework that integrates critical media literacy and epistemic cognition into existing curricula. The findings suggest that collaborative efforts to integrate CME into curricula can enrich teachers’ and students’ understanding of and ability to respond to post-truth through critical engagement with digital media texts throughout a curriculum. This integrated framework has important implications for literacy scholars and practitioners.

Author

• Benjamin N. Lathrop, Purdue University