Middle and high school students encounter health advice and claims on social media, video platforms, and search engines. To help them evaluate this information systematically, Inserm offers educators a workshop for students from 8th to 12th grade. The toolkit, published in September 2026, aims to provide guidance on verification, not to teach young people a fixed list of sources to believe or dismiss.
A modular workshop for students
The « Fake News in Health » module can be delivered in one or two hours. It includes a facilitator’s guide, a slideshow, and worksheets for use with students. The shorter session addresses misinformation and how scientific knowledge is constructed. In the longer format, participants work in groups to verify claims based on online content.
The workshop is designed for teachers and education professionals. It does not replace a science lesson or the advice of a healthcare professional: its objective is to help young people better evaluate the messages to which they are exposed.
Reflexes rather than a list of « good » sources
Information can seem convincing without being solidly supported: it may be based on personal experience, a single study, or someone whose expertise lies outside the subject. The toolkit therefore encourages examining the claim itself: who is disseminating it, what evidence supports it, and whether other reliable sources corroborate it.
A key principle is not to place all evidence on the same level. A single study is not necessarily sufficient to draw a conclusion; it is also necessary to examine how it was conducted and whether its results are consistent with those of other studies. This reasoning applies to health topics circulating online, whether they concern sleep, diet, medication, or vaccines, without assuming that a publication or video is necessarily false.
An initiative that is designed to last.
The kit extends Canal Détox, a program launched by Inserm in 2018 to examine health claims in light of scientific knowledge. According to the report published by the Institute, 24 Canal Détox articles were published in 2025, totaling 1.1 million visits and 2.2 million page views. These figures describe the reach of the content; they do not, on their own, reveal its impact on public beliefs or behavior.
What the kit can — and cannot — provide
Learning to verify information can help you take a step back before sharing it or acting on it. However, a workshop doesn’t guarantee that a student will be able to recognize every piece of misleading content, and simply announcing its availability doesn’t constitute an assessment of its effectiveness. When faced with a personal health question or a decision about treatment, online content is no substitute for consulting a healthcare professional.
The official Inserm page presents the contents of the kit and how to access it for educational teams.
Source: Inserm Press Room
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