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

RAPID：利用大众媒体对年轻人进行病毒生物学和当前 COVID-19 大流行的教育

• 批准号: 2028026
• 负责人: Judy Diamond
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-05-01 至 2022-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2028026&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Using; Popular; Media; Educate

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.

作为增强非正式环境学习的整体战略的一部分，前进的非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划为在各种环境中使用的创新研究，方法和资源提供了资金。这一快速是为了回应NSF亲爱的同事的信，与COVID-19的大流行有关。该奖项是由AISL计划在学习研究部中颁发的，使用冠状病毒援助，救济和经济安全（CARES）法案的资金。该项目将开发和研究一套高质量，广泛访问的媒体和其他外展材料的综合包装，旨在吸引中学青年，教育工作者和图书馆，以了解与Covid-19有关的病毒。迫切需要为青年提供准确，引人入胜且可及的材料，以帮助他们了解Covid-19大流行的基本生物学，包括COVID-19的传播途径和防止其扩散的机制。对于那些没有科学背景或兴趣的人来说，这尤其重要，因此可以用基于研究的信息代替橡胶，传闻和八卦。自2007年以来，项目团队和合作伙伴一直致力于开发和研究新的关于生物学，病毒学和传染病的教育的方法。该项目将开发一个可自定义图形，插图的故事和论文的可访问包装的包装，所有这些都可以轻松地纳入自由选择中，并定向在线学习以及基于标准的6-8年级的基于标准的课程计划。这些资源将广泛地传播，并不为各种青年和教育者提供任何代价，包括学校，图书馆，博物馆以及其他用于正规和非正式科学教育的网络。项目网络包将链接到多个网站，这些网站是针对青年，公众和教育工作者的科学和病毒学重要的重要教育资源。著名的大学出版社将发布和推广7,000份免费副本的插图故事和支持分布。该项目将进行研究，以研究丰富的科学叙事如何影响青年对科学的理解和好奇心。这项研究将有助于建立基础，以更好地理解如何教育青年关于Covid-19（和未来大流行），同时在一次重大的意外自然事件中为公共科学宣传的有效方法产生新的知识。为了进行形成性评估，该项目将使用创新的快速响应反馈方法。将邀请青年通过精心策划的门户对序列化故事进行及时，具体的评论。由于新的极端是在线相关的，因此由于特定特征（例如低或高初始科学兴趣）而被选为青年的不同问题。这些数据将实时指导故事的发展，并提供一种机制来评估故事的外观，可理解性和最初影响。该项目将解决两个研究问题：“参与者对COVID-19知识，科学身份，参与者和对科学职业的兴趣的积极影响的有效性如何？”和“故事情节和角色如何对病毒知识，流行病学和青年人的参与科学和科学职业产生不同的影响？”为了进行这项研究，该项目将使用项目团队进行的先前研究的改编项目进行在线调查。其他物品将评估COVID-19的知识，与会者，有关病毒福祉的个人经验以及有关该病毒的公共卫生消息传递的知识。研究发现将被广泛分享，以告知该领域，以了解在迅速发展的全球和教育挑战期间提供科学教育内容的新方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响来评估标准。