On Thursday, March 11, the Lab hosted its second talk in our Learning in a ‘Post-Truth’ World series. Drawing on recent collaborations with Sarit Barzilai and Ravit Golan Duncan, Dr. Clark Chinn (Rutgers University) presents an overview of how educators can effectively respond to the “post-truth” challenges of misinformation, conflicting information, and mistrust in formerly trusted institutions of knowledge (e.g. science, media). Dr. Chinn begins with an analysis of apt epistemic performance as the goal of epistemic education. This analysis identifies five aspects of apt epistemic performance; many post- truth challenges can be viewed as involving breakdowns in these five aspects of apt epistemic performance. Dr. Chinn then outlines a set of design principles to improve education and address these breakdowns. These principles specify new ways to design learning environments that can foster the individual and collective abilities needed to think well in the modern world.
Watch a recording of the talk below.