ABSTRACT
This chapter lays the groundwork for educators to strengthen their own ability to differentiate between fact and fiction. It includes an activity that readers and students can use to learn strategies designed to help them recognize one type of incorrect information called counterknowledge. The chapter provides a set of questions for reflection and a list of suggested resources. For better or worse, the words that people say, write, read, and hear influence their perceptions of the world—perhaps far more than one might think. Incorrect information in the media is referred to using several different terms. The commonly used terms are: misinformation, disinformation and counterknowledge. The words misinformation and disinformation are often used interchangeably, but they do not mean the same thing in the strictest sense of the words. Misinformation is spread innocently by someone who believes it to be true, whereas disinformation describes an organized campaign to deceptively distribute untrue material intended to influence public opinion.
