Facts and fakes – a systematic literature review on how primary school students deal with fake news from the perspective of geography education

In today’s world, dealing with fake news, especially about controversial or complex geographical topics, has become an important issue. This paper aims to provide an overview of the current state of research on primary school children’s evaluation of fake news. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted. The analysis of 15 studies published between 2007 and 2023 revealed a variety of research methodologies. The results of the studies show that, for example, source information and prior knowledge are decision criteria used by children when evaluating fake news. The research methodologies include only a few geographical topics on fake news. The methodological diversity and findings of the analysed studies underline the need for further research in this area and highlight desiderata for future exploration.