RAPID: Responding to an Emerging Epidemic through Science Education

目前，全球都在关注2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）及其在美国和其他国家成为流行病的可能性。过去关于学生对流行病的理解以及学校如何教授流行病的研究报告表明，教师不愿教授这些材料，因为鉴于证据的新兴性质，科学尚不清楚，或者因为他们自己也不太了解。课程资源有限。因此，许多学生不得不独自应对可能影响他们及其家人的潜在公共卫生紧急情况。社交媒体可能传播的错误信息使问题进一步复杂化。公众对病毒的科学及其传播方式、感染的风险、治疗或疾病的严重程度了解较少。该研究项目将制作课程材料，旨在帮助学生了解病毒流行病作为一个科学和社会问题。它将使学生参与流行病的科学建模，并对媒体和有关病毒的公共卫生信息进行批判性分析。这种方法帮助学生将课堂学习经验与学校以外的生活联系起来，这是科学素养的一个关键特征。这个项目是科学教育如何既吸引人又相关的一个例子。 北卡罗来纳州大学和密苏里州大学的研究人员一直在研究如何教授科学和社会问题的交叉点，如社区健康;他们开发了一个框架，以建立课程材料，重点是学生通过建模和探究学习这些复杂的问题。对于这项关于2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的研究;首先，研究人员将真实的研究学生对疫情的反应，收集有关学生初步理解和担忧的数据。然后，利用这些信息，他们将与7名熟悉其框架的高中科学教师合作，建立一个原型课程单元，并在4所高中的教室中进行测试，这些高中是根据社会经济和种族/种族多样性而选择的。这项研究将收集学生对这一流行病的兴趣，以及学生如何通过各种形式的媒体获取有关信息，以及他们如何审查新闻报道和社交媒体的数据。研究人员还将使用测试前和测试后的数据来评估学生的学习。在初步颁布为讲授这一流行病而编写的课程材料之后，研究人员和教师将修订课程材料，使其更加有效。最终产品将是一个课程单元，该单元将随时可用并可修改，用于教授和学习未来的流行病，以及更好地了解学生如何处理大量影响其直接生活的社会问题及其背后的科学信息。发现研究preK-12计划（DRK-12）旨在显著提高科学，技术，工程和数学preK-12学生和教师，通过研究和新的创新和方法的发展。DRK-12项目中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究以及为项目提供理论和经验依据的先前研究和开发工作的基础上。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

At this moment, there is global concern about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its potential to become an epidemic in the U.S. and other countries. Reports of past studies on student understanding of epidemics and how they are taught in school indicate that teachers are reticent to teach the material because the science is unclear given the emerging nature of evidence, or because they don’t understand it well themselves. Curricular resources are limited. Consequently, many students are left on their own to grapple with a potential public health emergency that could affect them and their families. The problem is further complicated by misinformation that may be spread through social media. There is less public understanding about the science of the virus and how it spreads; the risk of being infected; treatment, or, the severity of the illness. This research project will produce curricular materials designed to help students learn about viral epidemics as both a scientific and social issue. It will engage students in scientific modeling of the epidemic and in critical analyses of media and public health information about the virus. This approach helps students connect their classroom learning experiences with their lives beyond school, a key characteristic of science literacy. This project is an example of how science education can be both engaging and relevant. Researchers at the University of North Carolina and the University of Missouri have been studying how to teach about issues at the crossroads of science and social concerns such as community health; they have developed a framework to build curriculum materials focused on student learning of such complex issues through modeling and inquiry. For this study on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); first, the researchers will study student responses to the epidemic in real time, collecting data on student initial understandings and concerns. Then, using this information, they will work with 7 high school science teachers familiar with their framework to build a prototype curriculum unit, and test it in classrooms in 4 high schools selected for their socio-economic and ethnic/racial diversity. The study will gather data on student interest in the epidemic, as well as how students access information about it through various forms of media, and how they vet news reports and social media. The researchers will also use pre- and post-test data to assess student learning. After this initial enactment of the curriculum materials developed to teach about the epidemic, researchers and teachers will revise the curriculum materials to make them more effective. The final products will be a curriculum unit that will be readily available and modifiable for teaching and learning about future epidemics, as well as greater understanding about how students deal with vast amounts of information about societal issues that affect their immediate lives and the science behind them.The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics by preK-12 students and teachers, through the research and development of new innovations and approaches. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for the projects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.