Across the globe, there is an increasing concern about the ease with which people accept false or misleading information, even when there is good evidence to the contrary. Some have called this a “Post-Truth” era (McIntyre, Post-truth, MIT Press, 2018). Whether it is the idea that the earth is flat, that vaccines cause autism, or that climate change is a hoax, the willingness of individuals to accept ideas that have no empirical evidence is concerning. Some of these beliefs—for instance, that vaccines are harmful—endanger not only the lives of those who hold them but the whole community which depends on a high level of vaccination to ensure its health. In this paper, we seek to address the question of what contribution science education can and should make to improve young people’s capability to sort reliable information from that which is false or misleading—be it intentional or unintentional. We do this by offering a theoretical argument for the needs of the majority of citizens—individuals who do not have the requisite scientific expertise to evaluate the evidence and arguments for themselves. In doing so, we describe the knowledge and competencies required to be a “competent outsider” to science (Feinstein, Science Education 95(1):168–185, 2011).