I think that's what the author is trying to accomplish, creating an engaging way to practice critical thinking and good research. Giving a student a paper and telling them to find the errors isn't terribly exciting. I think giving them a chance to create the story themselves helps with engagement. It's almost like a game, create a story and find the inaccuracies. To do that you're going to have to "see" the issues your story might have and do research to correct them.