Data, discourse, and development: Building a sustainable world through education and science communication
Dramatic expansion of distance learning during COVID-19 widened the digital divide and highlighted the importance of students' digital and data literacy skills. Simultaneously, science was playing out in front of the public as information and communication about the importance of COVID-19 prote...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Communication |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.981988/full |
| _version_ | 1828058009952059392 |
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| author | Heidi Gibson Mary E. Short Mary E. Short Carol O'Donnell |
| author_facet | Heidi Gibson Mary E. Short Mary E. Short Carol O'Donnell |
| author_sort | Heidi Gibson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Dramatic expansion of distance learning during COVID-19 widened the digital divide and highlighted the importance of students' digital and data literacy skills. Simultaneously, science was playing out in front of the public as information and communication about the importance of COVID-19 protective behaviors and vaccines evolved. Yet within the global discourse, misinformation was rampant. The public questioned the validity of COVID-19 data. They did not know who or what to trust. Their concerns about the impacts of COVID-19 protective behaviors and the need for vaccinations rose. Some science educators were asked to avoid discussing the topic with their students. All of this is emblematic of an even larger problem—the inability of many people to understand and use data to make informed decisions to develop their communities. This article will use one example from the Smithsonian Science for Global Goals project: Vaccines! How can we use science to help our community make decisions about vaccines?, which invites students ages 8–17 to use data to change discourse and develop their own communities using inspiration from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This project encourages students to: (1) use investigations to gather and analyze data from their communities as they build data literacy skills (data); (2) communicate this information to others as a way of catalyzing and changing community conversations to make informed decisions (discourse); and (3) become active partners in creating more sustainable and equitable communities (development). These competencies of data, discourse, and development—integrated into science, technology, engineering, and math education for sustainable development (STEM4SD)—are aligned with a “data for learning” conversation that emerged during the pandemic. To expand students' data skills, educators must be grounded in a framework that holistically considers ethics, community impact, and science. Data must be contextualized to the problems that students face locally. Students must be given the tools to communicate scientific understanding to others in service of sustainable development. As such, an SDG-aligned approach to data for learning that promotes discourse drives learners to act to protect themselves, our societies, and our planet, while educating students on the underlying science and social science of sustainable development. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T21:21:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e784a5a10d234c34b8dcddb5cf63784c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2297-900X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T21:21:14Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Communication |
| spelling | doaj.art-e784a5a10d234c34b8dcddb5cf63784c2023-01-20T05:53:29ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Communication2297-900X2023-01-01810.3389/fcomm.2023.981988981988Data, discourse, and development: Building a sustainable world through education and science communicationHeidi Gibson0Mary E. Short1Mary E. Short2Carol O'Donnell3Smithsonian Science Education Center, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United StatesSmithsonian Science Education Center, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United StatesDepartment of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Graduate School of Education and Human Development, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, United StatesSmithsonian Science Education Center, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United StatesDramatic expansion of distance learning during COVID-19 widened the digital divide and highlighted the importance of students' digital and data literacy skills. Simultaneously, science was playing out in front of the public as information and communication about the importance of COVID-19 protective behaviors and vaccines evolved. Yet within the global discourse, misinformation was rampant. The public questioned the validity of COVID-19 data. They did not know who or what to trust. Their concerns about the impacts of COVID-19 protective behaviors and the need for vaccinations rose. Some science educators were asked to avoid discussing the topic with their students. All of this is emblematic of an even larger problem—the inability of many people to understand and use data to make informed decisions to develop their communities. This article will use one example from the Smithsonian Science for Global Goals project: Vaccines! How can we use science to help our community make decisions about vaccines?, which invites students ages 8–17 to use data to change discourse and develop their own communities using inspiration from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This project encourages students to: (1) use investigations to gather and analyze data from their communities as they build data literacy skills (data); (2) communicate this information to others as a way of catalyzing and changing community conversations to make informed decisions (discourse); and (3) become active partners in creating more sustainable and equitable communities (development). These competencies of data, discourse, and development—integrated into science, technology, engineering, and math education for sustainable development (STEM4SD)—are aligned with a “data for learning” conversation that emerged during the pandemic. To expand students' data skills, educators must be grounded in a framework that holistically considers ethics, community impact, and science. Data must be contextualized to the problems that students face locally. Students must be given the tools to communicate scientific understanding to others in service of sustainable development. As such, an SDG-aligned approach to data for learning that promotes discourse drives learners to act to protect themselves, our societies, and our planet, while educating students on the underlying science and social science of sustainable development.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.981988/fullsustainable developmentdiscoursedatavaccinesSTEM education |
| spellingShingle | Heidi Gibson Mary E. Short Mary E. Short Carol O'Donnell Data, discourse, and development: Building a sustainable world through education and science communication Frontiers in Communication sustainable development discourse data vaccines STEM education |
| title | Data, discourse, and development: Building a sustainable world through education and science communication |
| title_full | Data, discourse, and development: Building a sustainable world through education and science communication |
| title_fullStr | Data, discourse, and development: Building a sustainable world through education and science communication |
| title_full_unstemmed | Data, discourse, and development: Building a sustainable world through education and science communication |
| title_short | Data, discourse, and development: Building a sustainable world through education and science communication |
| title_sort | data discourse and development building a sustainable world through education and science communication |
| topic | sustainable development discourse data vaccines STEM education |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.981988/full |
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