In recent years, theories have emerged about whether the source critical approaches that are encouraged in school affect students’ trust in credible sources. The purpose of this thesis is to illuminate the perspectives of upper secondary students; their experiences of lectures in source criticism, and how the teaching has affected their trust in the credibility of established news media, scientific research, and authorities. The purpose is also to illuminate how educators can encourage upper secondary students to be source critical and at the same time maintain their trust in reliable sources.  In the beginning of 2022, a digital survey was sent out to upper secondary schools in 15 Swedish cities. The empirical material which the study is based on consists of questionnaire responses from 68 Swedish upper secondary students. The analysis is based on pragmatism and John Dewey’s thoughts on teaching to interpret, understand and explain the statements that emerged in the questionnaire responses. The study identified nine aspects related to how educators can balance source criticism and source trust in their teaching. Furthermore, the results show that source trust may need to be given more space in the lectures, and that the students’ trust in credible sources seem to have been maintained and strengthened to some extent by lectures in source criticism, while the teaching also has contributed to critical attitudes towards the same sources in some respondents. Based on this, it is concluded that lectures in source criticism can have a negative impact on individual students trust in credible sources, and that educators need to reflect upon how they teach source criticism; what messages they send out and how these can be interpreted by their students. This is a two-year master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Skolan har ett viktigt uppdrag när det gäller att undervisa om källkritik och att träna kritiskt tänkande, som har stärkts ytterligare genom den senaste läroplanen från 2022 för grundskolan. För att värna om demokratins grundpelare där yttrandefrihet är en viktig del, behöver våra unga medborgare lära sig att se igenom desinformation och konspirationsteorier av olika slag. I en värld där information är en färskvara är det också viktigt att kunna bedöma om källan är aktuell och adekvat och att kunna skilja ut de trovärdiga källorna i mängden och våga lita på dessa. Syftet med studien är att genom en vetenskaplig teori kring källkritik och kritiskt tänkande, lyfta fram mellanstadieelevers upplevelse av vad som gör en källa trovärdig eller inte trovärdig, som ett bidrag till den fortsatta forskningen. Det empiriska underlaget samlades in genom tre olika fokusgruppssamtal med elever i årskurs fyra och sex på en mellanstadieskola på en mindre ort i södra Sverige. Studien visar att eleverna utgår från sina erfarenheter och förkunskaper när de bedömer om en källa är trovärdig eller inte. Där eleverna själva saknar kunskaper för att kunna göra en bedömning använder de sitt sociala nätverk för att vikta trovärdigheten hos information och källor. Deras resonemang visade att de hade ett kritiskt tänkande när de sökte information, även om deras kunskaper kring bakomliggande faktorer och dolda agendor var begränsade. Didaktiskt behöver lärare i samhällskunskap vara uppmärksamma på när elevernas förkunskaper gör att de tolkar information och källor på ett mindre kritiskt sätt än de borde. Eleverna behöver kunna ta både det abstrakta och det konkreta i beaktande när de viktar information och källor, förstå processer bakom och på ett djupare plan. ”Kunskap är makt”, som filosofen Francis Bacon uttryckte det. / The school has an important mission in teaching source criticism and training critical thinking, which has been furthermore strengthened by the latest 2022 curriculum for the Swedish middle school. To protect the pillars of democracy where freedom of speech is an important part, we need to teach our young citizens to see through misinformation and conspiracy theories of various kinds. In a world where information is a fresh commodity, is it also important to be able to assess whether the source is current and adequate and to be able to distinguish the credible sources from the crowd and dare to trust them. The purpose of the study is to, through a scientific theory around source criticism and critical thinking, highlight middle school students’ experience of what makes a source credible or not credible, as a contribution to the continued research. The empirical data was collected through three different focus group discussions with pupils in grades four and six at middle school in a small town in southern Sweden. The study shows that students rely in their experiences and prior knowledge when they judge whether a source is credible or not. Where the students themselves lack the knowledge to be able to make an assessment, they use their social network to weight the credibility of information and sources. Their reasoning showed that they had critical thinking when seeking information, although their knowledge of underlying factors and hidden agendas was limited. Didactically, social studies teachers need to pay attention to when pupils’ prior knowledge causes them to interpret information and sources in a less critical way than they should. Students need to be able to take both the abstract and the concrete into account when weighing information and sources, understand processes behind and on a deeper level. “Knowledge is power”, as the philosopher Francis Bacon put it.