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<\/p>\nFrom books in the classroom to information online, researchers say learning how to think critically about what we read is becoming increasingly important for students.<\/p>\n
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Researchers at McGill University<\/a> created a digital literacy program aimed at helping elementary students evaluate sources, question information and recognize misinformation<\/a> online.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents as young as nine years of age search for information on the internet on a daily basis, and it\u2019s a skill that they need to develop right from the beginning,\u201d said Krista Muis, McGill University professor.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tAnd as students spend more of their lives online, researchers say teaching kids how to question what they see may become just as important as learning the information itself.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tJonathan Hayward\/THE CANADIAN PRESS\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cSo for us, it was really important to begin to develop curriculum materials for teachers to implement in classrooms so that (teachers) could learn the skills and the students could learn the skills as to how to navigate the internet and how to identify false information from truthful information.\u201d<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n The study involved more than 200 Quebec students in grades 4 through 6.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.<\/p>\n Researchers say the lessons became more challenging over time, encouraging students to think more critically about the information they come across online.<\/p>\n \u201cFor students, it becomes overwhelming, especially if they have very little prior knowledge to be able to identify what is accurate,\u201d said Muis. \u201cSo it\u2019s an important skill for them to develop.\u201d<\/p>\n At Marie-Claire Academy on the West Island, students who weren\u2019t part of the study say figuring out what\u2019s true online can sometimes be difficult \u2014 especially with so much information constantly being shared.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore on Canada \u201cIf it\u2019s on YouTube, I usually go see the channel and if it\u2019s verified,\u201d said Grade 6 student Donna Mahmoody. \u201cI also see the followers. If there\u2019s 10 followers, it\u2019s probably fake, versus if it has 1 million followers \u2014 that probably tells me it\u2019s a reliable source.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers say students need skills to be able to decipher information, especially at a time when AI-generated content is becoming harder to identify.<\/p>\n \u201cKids our age need to know the dangers of being online and what happens when you see fake information and how to check if it\u2019s true and reliable,\u201d said Arianna Cook, another Grade 6 student.<\/p>\n And as students spend more of their lives online, researchers say teaching kids how to question what they see may become just as important as learning the information itself.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:06 \n\t\t© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From books in the classroom to information online, researchers say learning how to think critically about what we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,549,16644,42905,2338,251930,64],"class_list":["post-688359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-education","tag-mcgill-university","tag-misinformation","tag-montreal","tag-montreal-study","tag-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Get](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/national.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCanadians seeing rise of AI-generated content on social media\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n