Considering that the world is spending more and more time online — and with access to unbearable family WhatsApp forwards — it is paramount that consumers can tell what’s real. This is especially necessary now, an era when
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A new study has marked the first scientific exploration of the effectiveness of the game ‘
The study engaged 516 Swedish upper secondary school students across various programs, employing different gameplay settings, including individual play, paired sessions, and whole-class competitions. All three methods yielded positive results, enhancing students' abilities to identify manipulative techniques and differentiate between reliable and misleading news.
"The students improved their ability to identify manipulative techniques in social media posts and to distinguish between reliable and misleading news," explains co-author Thomas Nygren.
Interestingly, students who had a positive attitude towards “trustworthy” news sources were already better at telling disinformation during the game. Not only did Bad News amplify this pertinent ability, many other students could also identify manipulative tactics better after their gaming sessions.
The researchers also observed that the inclusion of competitive elements within the game may have played a pivotal role in its efficacy. By fostering a sense of competition, the game succeeded in captivating students' interest, thereby enhancing its educational impact. Nygren seized upon this insight to advocate for the broader integration of serious games in educational settings, emphasising the urgent need to promote media and information literacy — an imperative in today's digital landscape.
“We all need to become better at identifying manipulative strategies — prebunking, as it is known — since it is virtually impossible to discern deep fakes, for example, and other AI-generated disinformation with the naked eye," Nygren notes.
If you want to give Bad News a shot, the free-to-play video game can be accessed here.
Meanwhile, the findings of this research have been published in Journal of Research on Technology in Education and can be accessed here.