RAPID: Using Popular Media to Educate Youth About the Biology of Viruses and the Current COVID-19 Pandemic

作为加强非正式环境中学习的总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）项目资助了用于各种环境的创新研究、方法和资源。本RAPID是为回应NSF关于COVID-19大流行的致同事信而提交的。该奖项由学习研究部的AISL项目颁发，资金来自《冠状病毒援助、救济和经济安全（关怀）法案》。该项目将开发和研究一套高质量、可广泛获取的媒体和其他外联材料，旨在让中学生、教育工作者和图书馆了解与COVID-19相关的病毒。目前迫切需要为青年提供准确、吸引人且易于获取的材料，帮助他们了解COVID-19大流行背后的基本生物学知识，包括COVID-19的传播途径和防止其传播的机制。这对那些没有科学背景或兴趣的人来说尤其重要，这样年轻人之间流传的谣言、道听途说和流言蜚语就可以被基于研究的信息所取代。自2007年以来，项目团队和合作伙伴一直致力于开发和研究教育青年和公众有关生物学、病毒学和传染病的新方法。该项目将开发一个可在网上访问的软件包，包括可定制的图形、插图故事和文章——所有这些都可以很容易地纳入自由选择和指导的在线学习，以及6-8年级的基于标准的课程计划。这些资源将广泛免费分发给青年和各类教育工作者，包括学校、图书馆、博物馆和其他已建立的正规和非正规科学教育网络。该计划的网页包将与多个网站相连，这些网站将成为青少年、公众和教育工作者在科学和病毒学方面的重要教育资源。一家著名的大学出版社将出版和推广这些插图故事，并支持免费分发7000份。该项目将研究插图丰富的科学叙事如何影响青少年对科学的理解和好奇心。这项研究将有助于为更好地了解如何对青少年进行COVID-19（以及未来的大流行病）教育奠定基础，同时为在重大意外自然事件期间开展有效的公共科学宣传提供新知识。对于形成性评价，该项目将采用创新的快速反应反馈方法。青年将被邀请通过一个精心策划的门户网站对连载故事提供及时、具体的评论。随着新的节选内容在网上相关，根据特定特征（例如，初始科学兴趣低或高）选择的青少年将面临不同的问题。这些数据将实时指导故事的发展，并提供一种机制来衡量故事的吸引力、可理解性和初始影响。该项目将解决两个研究问题：“插图故事对参与者对COVID-19知识、科学身份、态度和对科学职业的兴趣产生积极影响的效果如何？”以及“故事情节和人物如何对病毒知识、流行病学以及青少年对科学和科学职业的态度产生不同影响？”为了进行这项研究，该项目将使用项目团队先前进行的研究中改编的项目进行在线调查。其他项目将评估COVID-19知识、态度、个人与病毒的经历、福祉以及接触有关该病毒的公共卫生信息的情况。研究成果将被广泛分享，以便在快速演变的全球和教育挑战来临之际，向该领域通报传递科学教育内容的新方法。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of settings. This RAPID was submitted in response to the NSF Dear Colleague letter related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This award is made by the AISL program in the Division of Research on Learning, using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The project will develop and research an integrated package of high-quality, widely accessible media and other outreach materials designed to engage middle school youth, educators, and libraries in learning about viruses in relation to COVID-19. There is an immediate need to provide youth with accurate, engaging, and accessible materials to help them understand the basic biology underlying the COVID-19 pandemic, including the routes of COVID-19 transmission and mechanisms to prevent its spread. This is particularly important for those without science backgrounds or interests so that the rumors, hearsay, and gossip circulating among youth can be replaced with research-based information. Since 2007, the project team and partners have focused on developing and studying new ways of educating youth and the public about biology, virology, and infectious disease. The project will develop a web-accessible package of customizable graphics, illustrated stories, and essays—all of which can be easily incorporated into free-choice and directed on-line learning as well standards-based lesson plans for Grades 6-8. These resources will be disseminated broadly and at no cost to youth and educators of all kinds, including schools, libraries, museums, and other established networks for formal and informal science education. The project web package will be linked to multiple websites that serve as important educational resources on science and virology for youth, the general public, and educators. A prominent university press will publish and promote the illustrated stories and support distribution of 7,000 free copies. The project will conduct research examining how richly-illustrated science narratives impact youth understanding of and curiosity about science. The research will help develop the foundation for better understanding how to educate youth about COVID-19 (and future pandemics) while generating new knowledge about effective methods for public science outreach during a major unanticipated natural event. For formative evaluation, the project will use an innovative rapid response feedback method. Youth will be invited to provide timely, specific comments on the serialized stories through a curated portal. As new excerpts are related online, different questions will be posed to youth who are selected because of specific characteristics (e.g., low or high initial science interest). These data will guide story development in real time and provide a mechanism to gauge the story appeal, comprehensibility, and initial impacts. The project will address two research questions: “How effective are illustrated stories in having positive impacts among participants on COVID-19 knowledge, science identity, attitudes, and interest in science careers?” and “How do story lines and characters have differential impacts on virus knowledge, epidemiology, and youth attitudes towards science and science careers?” To conduct this research, the project will conduct online surveys using adapted items from prior research conducted by the project team. Additional items will assess COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, personal experiences with the virus, well-being, and exposure to public health messaging about the virus. Research findings will be shared widely to inform the field about new ways delivering science education content during the advent of rapidly evolving global and educational challenges.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.