Exploring Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Communication About COVID-19
Effective science communication is important for mitigating the spread of COVID-19, but little is known about how college science students, who are the future of science, have communicated about COVID-19. In this study, we surveyed 538 biology students in the Southeastern United States about how the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.859945/full |
| _version_ | 1818217307698102272 |
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| author | Brock Couch Elizabeth Wybren Mariana de Araujo Bryan Thipphaphone Niravong Ying Jin Chloe Bowen M. Elizabeth Barnes |
| author_facet | Brock Couch Elizabeth Wybren Mariana de Araujo Bryan Thipphaphone Niravong Ying Jin Chloe Bowen M. Elizabeth Barnes |
| author_sort | Brock Couch |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Effective science communication is important for mitigating the spread of COVID-19, but little is known about how college science students, who are the future of science, have communicated about COVID-19. In this study, we surveyed 538 biology students in the Southeastern United States about how they communicated about COVID-19 with others and how prepared they felt to communicate. We found that many students were communicating frequently but did not feel prepared to communicate accurately, particularly about vaccine safety and effectiveness. Students also wrote about their communication strategies, and many students reported using potentially ineffective communication. Finally, we explored student misconceptions about COVID-19 and found differences among religious, political, and racial/ethnic groups that could impact their communication to their communities about COVID-19. These results indicate a need for science communication education about COVID-19 among undergraduate scientists in training. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T07:05:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a57fb239a9c8490d83e5337fe458fb8c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2504-284X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T07:05:47Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-a57fb239a9c8490d83e5337fe458fb8c2022-12-22T00:33:45ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Education2504-284X2022-06-01710.3389/feduc.2022.859945859945Exploring Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Communication About COVID-19Brock Couch0Elizabeth Wybren1Mariana de Araujo Bryan2Thipphaphone Niravong3Ying Jin4Chloe Bowen5M. Elizabeth Barnes6Mathematics and Science Education Program, Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, United StatesSocial Perceptions of Science Lab, Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, United StatesSocial Perceptions of Science Lab, Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, United StatesSocial Perceptions of Science Lab, Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, United StatesSocial Perceptions of Science Lab, Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, United StatesSocial Perceptions of Science Lab, Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, United StatesEffective science communication is important for mitigating the spread of COVID-19, but little is known about how college science students, who are the future of science, have communicated about COVID-19. In this study, we surveyed 538 biology students in the Southeastern United States about how they communicated about COVID-19 with others and how prepared they felt to communicate. We found that many students were communicating frequently but did not feel prepared to communicate accurately, particularly about vaccine safety and effectiveness. Students also wrote about their communication strategies, and many students reported using potentially ineffective communication. Finally, we explored student misconceptions about COVID-19 and found differences among religious, political, and racial/ethnic groups that could impact their communication to their communities about COVID-19. These results indicate a need for science communication education about COVID-19 among undergraduate scientists in training.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.859945/fullCOVID-19science communicationbiology educationundergraduate educationidentityreligion |
| spellingShingle | Brock Couch Elizabeth Wybren Mariana de Araujo Bryan Thipphaphone Niravong Ying Jin Chloe Bowen M. Elizabeth Barnes Exploring Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Communication About COVID-19 Frontiers in Education COVID-19 science communication biology education undergraduate education identity religion |
| title | Exploring Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Communication About COVID-19 |
| title_full | Exploring Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Communication About COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | Exploring Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Communication About COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Communication About COVID-19 |
| title_short | Exploring Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Communication About COVID-19 |
| title_sort | exploring undergraduate biology students science communication about covid 19 |
| topic | COVID-19 science communication biology education undergraduate education identity religion |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.859945/full |
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