Melissa Koenig, Ph.D., a professor in the Institute of Child Development, recently published a commentary in NBC News Think on how we can help children think critically in the era of “fake news.”

Koenig collaborated with Valerie Tiberius, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Philosophy Department at the University of Minnesota, on the piece.

In the commentary, Koenig and Tiberius discuss recent child development research that shows that young children are able to identify false information without prior training and that children prefer to learn from those who are familiar, dominant, or attractive.

According to Koenig and Tiberius, this research suggests that “children would benefit from seeing their culturally favored sources — parents, teachers, family, clergy, political leaders — admit to the limits of their knowledge, openly discuss their mistakes, profess their doubts and make their uncertainty clear.”