How games can support misinformation education: A sociocultural perspective

Abstract

This study uses a sociocultural perspective, which views literacy as embedded in people's daily practices and shaped by social contexts, to explore how a misinformation escape room can support learning about misinformation. While the sociocultural perspective has a rich theoretical foundation, it has rarely been used to examine, much less evaluate, information and media literacy interventions. In this paper, we posit that the topic of misinformation makes a strong case for using the sociocultural model and explore a misinformation escape room through this lens. We present findings of a nationwide study of an online misinformation escape room with post‐game debrief discussion conducted at 10 public libraries that hosted 53 game sessions involving 211 players. The mixed methods study finds the game and accompanying debrief supported players in reflecting upon social media platform infrastructures, the psychological and emotional dimensions of misinformation, and how their personal behaviors intersect with online misinformation. We discuss how the sociocultural perspective can enrich our understanding of the role played by certain attributes of the game—narrative, debrief, and collaboration—thereby providing insights for the design of media and information literacy interventions.