NPR

As Bad Information Spreads, Florida Schools Seek To Teach 'Digital Literacy'

Many Florida high schools now teach a cybersecurity program. There's a larger plan to help students figure out what is and isn't true online. Organizers hope it will become a nationwide model.
Jason Felt teaches a cybersecurity class at Countryside High School in Clearwater, Fla. The group Cyber Florida has helped organize the program in many parts of the state, and is planning to expand its "digital literacy" campaign to include topics like disinformation.

At Countryside High School in Clearwater, Fla., 16-year-old Sage Waite is already taking a class in cybersecurity, and she'd welcome one that's in the works on cyber disinformation.

"For the longest time, I didn't actually know what disinformation was," said Waite, who's in the 11th grade. "There was always the idea that things could be wrong in what you're hearing and what you're being told. But the idea of misinformation and disinformation wasn't in my day-to-day."

This past "The whole, 'Don't get your kids vaccinated because it could cause all sorts of things,' stuff like that. It's like, well, where did that come from?" she said. "My friends and I definitely started looking into stuff more and doing more research after that."

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