Using Novel Instructional Materials to Improve Students' Detection of Pseudoscience in Decision-Making about Socially-relevant Real World Issues

由于他们的课程，本科生在一个独特的位置来检测科学的错误信息或虚假信息运动，通常被称为伪科学。 许多问题处于科学知识和日常社会的交叉点，这些问题特别容易受到伪科学的影响。 该项目旨在为培养具有科学素养的公民的国家利益服务。 它将通过制作旨在减轻伪科学日益增长的影响的教学材料来做到这一点。 教材将（1）强调伪科学对决策的有害影响，（2）促进与该问题相关的准确科学内容知识，（3）培养对科学界的信任，（4）提高学生发现伪科学的能力。 该项目旨在提高本科生的实用科学素养，从而使他们能够在生活中有效地使用科学证据和方法。 德克萨斯州农工大学的项目团队将开发12套教学材料，每套教材侧重于不同的社会科学问题，包含三个组成部分：（1）描述与问题相关的科学的入门，（2）解决围绕问题的历史和当代伪科学的故事，以及（3）案例研究。 这些材料将被超过20，000名本科生用于大学的科学专业和非专业课程。 项目小组确定了12个社会科学主题，以确保与面对面和在线模式的现有课程无缝配合。 从这个项目产生的知识将有助于回答学生人口统计，社会因素，伪科学的观点，科学的态度，和他们的社会科学相关的选择之间的关系的问题。 该项目小组将探讨接触教学材料的各个组成部分如何影响学生对科学证据和结论，科学的本质和伪科学的概念和态度。 该项目的成果将通过一个新开发的网站以及科学教育邮件列表和专业会议自由传播。 NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。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。

As a result of their coursework, undergraduate students are in a unique position to detect scientific misinformation or disinformation campaigns, often referred to as pseudoscience. Many issues sit at the intersection of scientific knowledge and everyday society, and these issues are particularly vulnerable to pseudoscience. This project aims to serve the national interest of developing a scientifically literate citizenry. It will do so by producing instructional materials that aim to mitigate the growing influence of pseudoscience. The instructional materials will (1) highlight the harmful impacts of pseudoscience on decision-making, (2) promote accurate science content knowledge related to the issue, (3) foster trust in the scientific community, and (4) improve students' ability to detect pseudoscience. The project intends to improve the functional scientific literacy of undergraduate students, thus preparing them to effectively use scientific evidence and approaches in their lives. The project team at Texas A&M University will develop twelve sets of instructional materials that each focus on a different socioscientific issue and contain three components: (1) a primer describing the science that is relevant to the issue, (2) a story addressing the historical and contemporary pseudoscience surrounding the issue, and (3) a sample case study. The materials will be used by more than 20,000 undergraduate students in science majors and non-majors courses at the University. The twelve socioscientific topics have been identified by the project team to ensure a seamless fit into existing courses in both face to face and online modalities. Knowledge generated from this project will help to answer questions about the relationships between student demographics, social factors, pseudoscientific views, science attitudes, and their socioscientific related choices. The project team will explore how exposure to the various components of the instructional materials affects students’ conceptions and attitudes regarding scientific evidence and conclusions, the nature of science, and pseudoscience. Results from this project will be freely disseminated through a newly developed website, as well as via science education listservs and professional conferences. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.