Fictional Science (FiSci) – promoting text competence in critically dealing with fake news
Course start: 17. prosinca 2025
Fictional Science (FiSci) – promoting text competence in critically dealing with fake news
Internationales Projektteam FiSci
Scientific classification:
Course start: 17. prosinca 2025
Fictional Science (FiSci) – promoting text competence in critically dealing with fake news
Internationales Projektteam FiSci
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Scope: 3 units
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Effort: 2 hours/week
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Current participants: 50
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Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Course start: 17. prosinca 2025
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Course end: -
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Current status: Upcoming course
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Available languages:
Course details
General information about the course
Dear German teachers!
Welcome to the self-learning course "Fictional Science (FiSci) – Promoting Text Competence in Critical Dealing with Fake News"!
Thanks to digital transformation, 21st-century learners have more opportunities to obtain information quickly and easily than any previous generation. However, the spread of misinformation is increasing rapidly, especially on social media, and assessing the reliability of information and texts as sources of information poses major challenges for learners. In order to verify the factuality of digital text content, they need not only technical know-how and knowledge, but also text competence in critical dealing with fake news. This is the fundamental ability to recognise false information in texts and to be able to refute it.
Our FiSci project is developing a new approach to promoting text competence in critical dealing with fake news, based on inoculation, i. e. preventive measures to develop skills in dealing with means of manipulation and disinformation.
One of the didactic innovations of the approach FiSci is that learners are initially confronted with false information in the form of didactically constructed fake news texts. This allows learners to focus on acquiring the skills needed to identify disinformation and misinformation in the field of science without spreading real fake news.
Together, we prepare our learners for a digital world in which they can competently distinguish between facts and misinformation as professional fact checkers.
FiSci MOOC
The FiSci MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is a teacher training course that aims to introduce the didactic approach FiSci and provide teaching and learning materials for secondary levels I and II. It is aimed at all interested in the subject, multipliers, teachers and educators who teach German as a first, second or foreign language.
This course is specifically designed to provide you with tools and methods that you can use to effectively support your learners in critically dealing with fake news. You will learn about types of misinformation and practical strategies that both raise awareness of textual characteristics for recognising misinformation and enable verification and argumentative countering.
Another key aspect of FiSci is that learners are initially confronted with false news using didactically constructed fake news texts. This allows learners to focus on acquiring the skills to identify disinformation without being distracted by preconceived opinions or information (worldview backfire effect).
Course content
The FiSci MOOC consists of three lessons that guide you through the theoretical concepts of promoting text competence in critical dealing with fake news for secondary levels I and II and provide insights into the teaching materials on the digital learning platform.
In addition to imparting a fundamental understanding of basic concepts and terms related to misinformation, you will gain an overview of the FiSci digital learning platform with teaching materials for secondary levels I and II, as well as ideas for implementing them in your own teaching.
Learning goals
Lesson 1 – Fake news and misinformation:
This lesson introduces the main objectives and concepts of the project. This lesson covers the didactic and theoretical foundations of the approach FiSci. After completing this lesson, you will be familiar with the objectives and products of the FiSci project for secondary levels I and II and its theoretical, didactic and empirical foundations.
Lesson 2 – FiSci platform:
In this lesson, you will learn about the FiSci digital learning platform and its basic functions and learning objectives. After completing this lesson, you will be familiar with the layout and architecture of the digital learning platform and will be able to use it effectively in your German lessons. For example, you will know how to register yourself and your learners, manage groups, give your learners feedback and design your lessons using gamification elements on the learning platform. This will enable you to use the learning platform in secondary levels I and II.
Lesson 3 – Best practice tips:
In this lesson, you will receive specific tips and advice on how to implement the learning platform in your teaching practice and learn about accompanying materials for the learning platform. The tips and advice are based on the experiences of teachers from various teaching and learning contexts who have already used the learning platform in their lessons. After completing this lesson, you will be able to reflect on practical suggestions for integrating the learning platform into your own teaching.
Prerequisites
No special prior knowledge is required to attend this MOOC. The course is primarily aimed at teachers of German as a first, foreign language and second language, but is also open to anyone interested in the didactic approach to developing skills in dealing with misinformation.
Course schedule
The FiSci MOOC is structured in modules that allow you to learn about the approach and materials at your own pace.
Each lesson is divided into subchapters and contains media content (educational videos, podcasts) and informational texts, as well as practical instructions and brief explanations. The theoretical and empirical foundations are illustrated using concrete materials. You can also try these out from a student's perspective and reflect on how they can be used in your own teaching.
Certificate
Licence
This MOOC and all materials contained are licensed under Creative Commons - NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Additional content
Course Instructor
Internationales Projektteam FiSci
Partners
The FiSci project was funded with support from the European Commission.

The FiSci MOOC developed and created by
Universität Graz
Západočeská univerzita v Plzni
Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Deutsches Haus-Kyiv
University of Graz
University of West Bohemia in Pilsen
University of Zagreb