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

使用新颖的教学材料提高学生在与社会相关的现实世界问题决策中对伪科学的识别能力

• 批准号: 2111199
• 负责人: Benjamin Herman
• 金额: $ 59.99万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2111199&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Using; Novel; Instructional; Materials; Improve

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.

由于他们的课程作业，本科生处于独特的地位，可以发现科学错误信息或虚假信息活动，通常被称为伪科学。许多问题处于科学知识与日常社会的交叉点，并且这些问题特别容易受到伪科学的影响。该项目旨在服务于培养具有科学素养的公民的国家利益，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实现这一目标。教学材料将（1）强调伪科学对决策的有害影响。 , (2)促进与问题相关的准确科学内容知识，(3) 培养对科学界的信任，以及 (4) 提高学生发现伪科学的能力 该项目旨在提高本科生的功能性科学素养，从而为他们有效地做好准备。德克萨斯农工大学的项目团队将开发十二套教学材料，每套教材侧重于不同的社会科学问题，并包含三个组成部分：(1) 描述与该问题相关的科学的入门材料。 ，（2）一个讲述历史和围绕该问题的当代伪科学，以及（3）样本案例研究 该材料将由项目团队确定的 20,000 多名科学专业和非专业课程的本科生使用。确保以面对面和在线方式无缝融入现有课程 该项目产生的知识将有助于回答有关学生人口统计、社会因素、伪科学观点、科学态度及其社会科学相关问题之间的关系。项目团队将探索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、科学本质和伪科学的概念和态度。该项目的结果将通过新开发的网站自由传播。以及科学教育列表服务和专业会议，NSF IUSE：EHR 计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的 STEM 教育的有效性。实施有希望的做法该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。