Battling Disinformation About Climate Change in a Non-Science Majors Lecture/Lab Course One Website At a Time

With all of the news and social media outlets available, it is easy for anyone to post information for the world to see. This can result in misinformation being shared, especially when it comes to “hot button” topics such as climate change. It is important, therefore, to teach our students how to be both scientifically and informationally literate. This communication describes an assignment used in an environmental science class designed for non-science majors in which climate change is the overarching theme. This assignment helps students learn to identify appropriate sources of information which can then reliably inform them about the effects of climate change. Students can then expand upon this approach outside of class and use it to research any information that they find in the news or on social media. This allows them to critically analyze the sources before reaching an informed decision as to whether it is factual or misleading information.