Search

The document is an interview with Prof. Fernanda Fidalgo from the Biology Department at the University of Porto, Portugal. It discusses her academic journey, research on plant stress responses, and collaborations. Prof. Fidalgo highlights challenges in science in Portugal, the importance of student relationships, and her future research focus. The interview also touches on the evolving publishing landscape, social media in science communication, and personal hobbies. Prof. Fidalgo reflects on key moments that shaped her career and life, including her decision to pursue academia, motherhood, and overcoming personal challenges. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the impact of generative AI (GenAI) on sociolinguistics, prompting reflection on the relationship between the two fields. The author argues that sociolinguists are uniquely positioned to shape the development and application of GenAI, emphasizing the importance of diverse perspectives in human-AI interactions. By applying sociolinguistic principles, researchers can ensure that GenAI systems are socially responsible and inclusive, reflecting the dynamic nature of language and communication. The article highlights the potential for sociolinguists to offer critical insights into the use of GenAI across various social contexts. [Extracted from the article]

The launch of Generative Pretrained Transformer (ChatGPT) at the end of 2022 generated large interest in possible applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and among STEM professions. As a result many questions surrounding the capabilities of generative AI tools inside and outside of the classroom have been raised and are starting to be explored. This study examines the capabilities of ChatGPT within the discipline of mechanical engineering. It aims to examine the use cases and pitfalls of such a technology in the classroom and professional settings. ChatGPT was presented with a set of questions from junior‐ and senior‐level mechanical engineering exams provided at a large private university, as well as a set of practice questions for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam in mechanical engineering. The responses of two ChatGPT models, one free to use and one paid subscription, were analyzed. The paper found that the subscription model (GPT‐4, May 12, 2023) greatly outperformed the free version (GPT‐3.5, May 12, 2023), achieving 76% correct versus 51% correct, but the limitation of text only input on both models makes neither likely to pass the FE exam. The results confirm findings in the literature with regard to types of errors and pitfalls made by ChatGPT. It was found that due to its inconsistency and a tendency to confidently produce incorrect answers, the tool is best suited for users with expert knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This theoretical paper focuses on the social processes of public engagement with science and their implications for science education. The core of our argument is that science education should help people become better at evaluating, using, and curating their epistemic networks to make personal and civic decisions and to understand the natural world. In this context, an epistemic network is a set of people who support sensemaking by providing new information and aiding in the interpretation and reconstruction of scientific knowledge in context. We believe epistemic networks are an important consideration for science education, particularly when misinformation plays an outsized role in the cultural landscape. Understanding when epistemic networks are useful and how science education should incorporate them requires a clear sense of how they work in different contexts. We start by contrasting the inevitably social nature of all public engagement with science with the particularly social or interpersonal nature of some public engagement with science. We draw on research from education, communication, and science and technology studies to develop the idea of an epistemic network and to describe two basic types: the individual resource network and the collective action network. We illustrate each type with an extended example that is hypothetical but informed by both research and experience. Finally, we discuss how science education can incorporate epistemic networks, as well as the challenges inherent in that educational strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to climate impacts and expanding adaptation efforts necessitates getting the right knowledge and tools in the hands of land managers and decision‐makers. In 2022–2023, several regional US Geological Survey Climate Adaptation Science Centers partnered with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Science Applications Program on the first targeted climate training series designed for the FWS Grassland Ecosystem Team. This training spanned multiple months and formats with self‐paced virtual lessons, webinars, and an in‐person workshop. As the FWS Grassland Ecosystem Team is tasked with conservation planning for grassland birds and other species, the focus of the workshop was an interactive collaborative activity incorporating species adaptive capacity assessments, future climate projections, and adaptation menus into the decision‐making process. Herein, we describe the methods used to design and deliver the training series, as well as lessons learned for future climate literacy programs aimed at natural resource managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in languages and literacies in science education (LLSE) has developed substantial theoretical and pedagogical insights into how students learn science through language, discourse, and multimodal representations. At the same time, language is central to the functioning of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). On this common basis concerning the role of language, this paper explores how foundational ideas from LLSE studies can inform the use of GenAI in science education. A bibliometric analysis of 412 journal articles from Web of Science provided the initial step to identify major themes and relationships in the LLSE literature. The analysis revealed four clusters of research in LLSE: reading and writing scientific text, science discourse and interaction, multilingual science classroom, and multimodality and representations. Each cluster was further analyzed through close reading of selected articles to identify and connect key constructs to the potential use of GenAI. These constructs include the interactive‐constructive reading model, text genre, reading‐writing integration, dialogic interaction, critical questioning, argumentation, translanguaging, hybridity, thematic pattern, modal affordance, and transduction. From these ideas and connections, the paper recommends several pedagogical principles for science educators to guide the use of GenAI. It concludes that LLSE research offers valuable insights for researchers and teachers to investigate and design the use of GenAI in science education. In turn, the impending use of GenAI also calls for a rethinking of literacy that will shape future research in LLSE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predominant conceptualization of scientific literacy occurs on the micro scale of an individual person. However, scientific literacy can also be exhibited at the meso scale by groups of people in communities of place, practice, or interest. What comprises this community level scientific literacy (CSL) is both understudied and undertheorized. In this paper, we utilized a systematic literature review to describe how CSL is characterized in the extant literature and a Delphi survey of experts to elicit more current thought. Guided by cultural‐historical activity theory, inductive and deductive analyses produced seven elements of CSL and their constituent characteristics: (1) resources, (2) attributes of those resources, (3) actors, (4) interactions between actors, (5) contexts, (6) topics, and (7) purposes. The typology created through this process is meant to be generative, serving as a starting point for continuing refinement within science education and other fields related to science learning and knowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Limnology & Oceanography Bulletin article announces the winners of the ASLO 2024 Achievement Awards, which recognize outstanding contributions to the fields of limnology and oceanography. Dr. Elizabeth Kujawinski received the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award for her research in marine chemistry and metabolomics, while Dr. Richard LaBrie received the Raymond L. Lindeman Award for his paper on deep ocean microbial communities. Other awards were presented for lifetime achievement, solving environmental problems, high-impact research, excellence in education, and early career contributions. The article includes interviews with the award winners, discussing their work and future research directions. The text also covers various topics related to limnology and aquatic science education, highlighting the importance of collaboration, diverse sources of information, and the need for sound environmental policy based on scientific research. It emphasizes the principles of open science and the benefits it brings to the scientific community. [Extracted from the article]

New‐type professional farmers are new‐type rural talents with scientific and cultural literacy and professional knowledge of agriculture under the background of rural revitalization. The new type of professional farmers is of great significance for accelerating agricultural modernization and promoting the construction of a powerful modern socialist country. In the process of cultivating new types of professional farmers in rural areas, it is necessary to break through the previous informatization constraints of poor information flow, and give full play to the role of advanced information technology to promote the sustainable economic development. This paper proposes a new type of professional farmer cultivation platform based on edge computing architecture to improve the cultivation efficiency of new type of professional farmers, so as to better promote the development of rural informatization. Aiming at the challenges of energy consumption under the edge platform architecture, this paper proposes a dynamic scheduling method for semi‐online tasks for edge computing platforms. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the algorithm, the method in this paper is compared with the classic scheduling algorithm, and simulated and verified on the CloudSim platform. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms other algorithms in the task completion time metric. With the expansion of task scale, more energy consumption can be saved by using the algorithm proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essential aspect of scientific practice involves grappling with the generation of predictions, representations, interpretations, investigations, and communications related to scientific phenomena, all of which are inherently permeated with uncertainty. Transferring this practice from expert settings to the classroom is invaluable yet challenging. Teachers often perceive struggles as incidental, negative, and uncomfortable, assuming they stem from students' deficiencies in knowledge or understanding, which they feel compelled to promptly address to progress. While some empirical research has explored the role of scientific uncertainties in driving productive student struggle, few studies have explicitly examined or provided a framework to unpack scientific uncertainty as it manifests in the classroom, including the sources that lead to student struggle and how teachers can manage it effectively. In this position paper, we elucidate the importance of incorporating scientific uncertainties as pedagogical resources to foster student struggles through uncertainty from three perspectives: scientific literacy, student agency, and coherent trajectories of sensemaking. To develop a theoretical framework, we consider scientific uncertainty as a resource for productive struggle in the sensemaking process. We delve into two types (e.g., conceptual, epistemic), four sources (e.g., insufficiency, ambiguity, incoherence, conflict), and three desirability considerations (e.g., relevance, timing, complexity) of scientific uncertainties in student struggles to provide a theoretical foundation for understanding what students struggle with, why they struggle, and how scientific uncertainties can be effectively managed by teachers. With this framework, researchers and teachers can examine the (mis)alignments between uncertainty‐in‐design, uncertainty‐in‐practice, and uncertainty‐in‐reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 8th Annual Life Discovery Conference, held in 2023, focused on the theme of "Variants in Biology Education: What can we learn from pandemics?" The conference aimed to address the impact of pandemics on education and how teaching and learning have evolved in response. Over 50 presentations were given, covering topics such as disease ecology, combating fake news, research innovations and careers, climate change education, and biodiversity literacy in the classroom. The conference emphasized the importance of making science more approachable, relevant, and relatable to students' lives. [Extracted from the article]

The European Journal of Clinical Investigation has published a newsletter announcing the 58th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society of Clinical Investigation, which will be held in Barcelona, Spain from June 5-7, 2024. The meeting will include eight symposiums covering various topics related to human health and disease, as well as keynote lectures from renowned scientists. The aim of the event is to bring together speakers from diverse disciplines to share knowledge and address controversial topics. The newsletter also highlights the recipients of the ESCI awards, including the Best Article, Young Investigator Awards, and Science Communication Grants. The text briefly mentions the Champions League Universities competition, where teams from different countries and universities/hospitals compete. It introduces Dr. Valentín Fuster, a renowned cardiologist who has made significant contributions to cardiovascular medicine, highlighting his achievements and awards. The text also mentions research projects on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and physical frailty in older adults. Finally, the newsletter announces the upcoming Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation, which will focus on aging and its impact on health. The meeting will take place in Genoa, Italy and will feature various symposia and presentations on different aspects of aging. [Extracted from the article]

Socio‐scientific issues (SSI) instruction positions the understanding and practice of science in the context of issues that are informed by science but require reasoning about their societal dimensions to respond to those issues effectively. For this reason, instruction in the context of SSI has been considered the gateway to contemporary visions of scientific literacy. SSI instruction is often framed in line with the Socio‐Scientific Issues Teaching and Learning (SSI‐TL) framework, which is prominent in the literature and well‐used by researchers to frame professional development but potentially less familiar to classroom teachers. Given that teachers are likely familiar with the 5E learning cycle, they might experience an easier transition to developing and facilitating SSI instruction using the SSI‐TL model if framed through a lens of 5E. In this article, we unpack the SSI‐TL model of instruction through a 5E lens, then provide an exemplary prototype of the new SSI‐TL infused 5E instruction in the context of a globally relevant SSI to highlight the overlap between engagement in essential science practices and socio‐scientific reasoning. We hope that teachers become more comfortable developing science literacy by addressing both science and societal dimensions of contemporary SSI by considering the SSI‐TL Framework through a 5E lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for more interaction between scientists and the public is widely recognized. If we want the public to support science, we need to effectively convey its nature and benefits. Science outreach can help reverse negative attitudes, spark curiosity and enthusiasm, and encourage communities to support science. Better communication tools than traditional texts are needed to increase positive attitudes toward science, which may lead to more self-motivated engagement with science in the future. The unique language of comics has the potential to portray abstract scientific concepts more easily than just words. Here we report findings from an assessment of how a science comic can affect student learning and attitudes toward engaging with science, compared to more traditional written texts, a journal article, and popular science summary. We used a pre- and post-reading questionnaire to measure learning gains and attitudes toward science engagement. Students who read the comic have the highest learning gain, equivalent to a journal publication, and see the most positive changes in attitude toward engagement with science. Our findings suggest that science comics could be a highly effective form of communication and outreach among the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of science communication, focusing on the Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition where graduate students present their thesis in a concise and engaging manner. The workshop led by Sandra Klemet-N'Guessan at the ASLO Aquatic Science Meeting in 2024 emphasized the value of effective communication skills for scientists. Participants highlighted the significance of storytelling, diverse perspectives, and engaging presentation styles in science communication, underscoring the need for comprehensive training in this area. The article concludes with recommendations for expanding science communication training opportunities to enhance students' oral and written communication skills. [Extracted from the article]

The rise of social media platforms and the subsequent lack of traditional gatekeeping mechanisms contribute to the multiplied spread of scientific misinformation. Particularly in these new media spaces, there is a rising need for science education in fostering a science media literacy that enables students to evaluate the credibility of scientific information. A key determinant of a successful credibility evaluation is the effectiveness of the criteria students apply in this process. However, research suggests that existing credibility criteria are often not integrated into students' actual social media evaluation behavior. This hints to a lack of transferability of the existing criteria. As a consequence, knowledge about how learners evaluate credibility in social media is a first step in closing this gap. In the present study, we report results from six focus groups with 21 10th‐grade students (M = 15 years, 57% female, 38% male, 5% nonbinary) about their usage of different credibility criteria in the case of social media posts about climate change. The data were analyzed through qualitative content analysis and as a first step assigned to established credibility dimensions of content (what?) and source‐related criteria (who?). Additionally, given the complexity of social media, we also added a composition‐based category (how?). In a second analysis step, we adapted our subcategories to the recently proposed credibility heuristic by Osborne and Pimentel. The findings suggest that students generally take criteria from all three heuristic credibility dimensions into account and combine different criteria when evaluating the credibility of scientific information in social media. Based on the application of the credibility criteria to the heuristic, implications for the development of teaching materials for fostering science media literacy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunology research holds significant potential for enhanced inclusivity at the beginning of the science literacy journey, but persistent challenges stem from limited awareness that improvement is needed in this field. At the 2023 Monash Sensory Science Exhibition, we had the opportunity to present several tactile posters, using simple materials, for visually impaired participants to showcase our research on the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis as a result of immune tolerance breakdown and liposome‐based tolerogenic immunotherapy. The posters stimulated lively discussions about autoimmune arthritic diseases and our research. With consideration of the diversity of the participants, the efforts of scientists in promoting science literacy for the community can promote a more inclusive environment and engage and inspire a broader audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, titled "They are not just small adults," discusses the author's personal experiences and reflections on their career in pediatric transfusion medicine. The author emphasizes the importance of science and research in finding cures for diseases, particularly in children. They also highlight the need for more physicians and scientists to commit to developing the next generation of transfusion medicine practitioners. The article touches on various inflection points in the author's career and the questions and challenges they faced in the field. The author also discusses the importance of team science and collaboration in advancing pediatric transfusion medicine. They conclude with words of wisdom, emphasizing the importance of mentorship, curiosity, work-life balance, and finding joy in one's work. [Extracted from the article]

In scientific literacy, knowledge integration (KI) is a scaffolding‐based theory to assist students' scientific inquiry learning. To drive students to be self‐directed, many courses have been developed based on KI framework. However, few efforts have been made to evaluate the outcome of students' learning under KI instruction. Moreover, finer‐grained information has been pursued to better understand students' learning and how it progresses over time. In this article, a normative procedure of building and choosing cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) and attribute hierarchies was formulated under KI theory. We examined the utility of CDMs for evaluating students' knowledge status in KI learning. The results of the data analysis confirmed an intuitive assumption of the hierarchical structure of KI components. Furthermore, analysis of pre‐ and posttests using a higher‐order, hidden Markov model tracked students' skill acquisition while integrating knowledge. Results showed that students make significant progress after using the web‐based inquiry science environment (WISE) platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been widely accepted in the science education research community that scientific literacy as a concept and phrase was introduced by Paul deHart Hurd in 1958. Recent research into the origins of the phrase, however, has shown this to be incorrect. Its first published use can be traced back, in fact, to 1945, and the phrase was frequently invoked in popular and research publications throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Exploring the historical circumstances of the phrase's introduction into popular discourse, it is argued, reveals that despite the rhetorical power and widespread adoption of the idea, scientific literacy (as others have pointed out) has proven to be little more than an empty slogan that offers no substantive guidance for thinking about the goals of science education. This essay argues that rather than continue to cling to the idea, the field of science education can more productively consider the most relevant and appropriate goals of science teaching by dispensing with the concept altogether. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a list of acknowledgements and statements related to a research article in the field of neuroscience. It acknowledges the contributors to the article and provides their Twitter handles for further information. The authors state that they have no conflicts of interest and provide a link to the peer review history of the article. They also mention that the data supporting the findings of the study can be obtained from the corresponding author upon request. [Extracted from the article]

One strategy for developing science literacy and scientific literacy in young children is through published trade books. To better understand how science literacy and scientific literacy may be represented in elementary classrooms, we investigated children's books that explore science concepts. Specifically, we examined high‐quality science trade books that children are likely to encounter in school to see if they could be used to support science literacy and scientific literacy; skills inherent in these types of literacies can arm our students to combat misinformation. Our findings demonstrate that books are not uniform in quality. Consistent with existing research, and in light of our findings, we make the recommendations to support teachers in elevating science trade books from simply serving as opportunities for reading in science to supporting science literacy and scientific literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of animations and images in technology‐based assessments (TBAs) represents a significant change in assessment design. To ensure that appropriate inferences can be drawn from assessments that use multimedia stimuli, their impact on test‐taker performance and behaviour must be investigated. To achieve this, an experiment was conducted with 251 Irish post‐primary students using an animated and text‐image version of the same TBA of scientific literacy. Eye movement (n = 33) and interview data (n = 12) were also collected as a measure of test‐taker attentional behaviour. Overall, there was no significant difference in test‐taker performance when identical items used animated or text‐image stimuli. However, items with dynamic stimuli often had higher discrimination indices indicating that these items were better at distinguishing between those with differing levels of knowledge. Eye movement data also revealed that dynamic item stimuli encouraged longer average fixation durations on the response area of an item. These findings indicate that multimedia stimuli may potentially affect how test‐takers interact with online assessments. This has implications for what claims can be made about a learner's performance on an assessment. Recommendations for policy, practice and future research are considered. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic: The use of multimedia stimuli in the form of diagrams, high‐resolutions images, animations, and simulations are becoming more commonplace in technology‐based assessments (TBAs) for post‐primary aged learners.It is unclear what impact the use of multimedia stimuli can have on an individual's performance and behaviour in assessment/testing contexts.Eye movement data can be used to support our understanding of test‐takers' interactions with TBAs.What this paper adds: By comparing the use of different types of multimedia stimuli (animations vs images), this study has responded to calls for a more in‐depth examination of test items involving multimedia stimuli for TBAs.While there was no difference in test‐taker performance between those who saw test items with different forms of multimedia stimuli, key differences in attentional behaviour were noted. Test‐takers interacted with the assessment differently pending the multimedia stimuli used.The current study showed that dynamic stimuli may be a way to improve item discrimination, which is generally desirable in assessments.Implications for practice and/or policy: Certain design features appeared to add additional 'assessment load'. This information could be leveraged to improve test item design and test specifications. It may also encourage test‐developers to reconsider what claims they make about individuals who complete assessments with these features.Eye‐tracking technology has huge potential to support research in online assessment environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Rudolph's book, "Why We Teach Science (And Why We Should)," addresses the issue of declining trust in scientific knowledge and institutions. Rudolph argues that the current science education system is not effectively meeting its goals, such as producing future scientists. He proposes a new purpose for science education: to build public trust in science by teaching students how scientific knowledge is produced and how the institution of science functions. The book discusses strategies and challenges for implementing this transformed curriculum, including the need for structural changes in standards and curriculum evaluation tools. It also emphasizes the importance of relevance and connection to students' experiences, as well as incorporating critical scientific literacy that acknowledges the historical use of science to oppress marginalized populations. The book is commended for initiating a conversation about aligning science education with societal needs. [Extracted from the article]

FishSounds Educate is a free education program developed by a group of marine ecologists at the University of Victoria in Canada. The program aims to connect the public with marine life and address human impacts on marine soundscapes. It provides workshops, seminars, and engagement tables to educate participants about fish bioacoustics and the effects of anthropogenic noise on marine animals. The program has been well-received, reaching over 2,000 people in less than a year and fostering a greater understanding and appreciation for fish and their habitats. The creators hope that this program will inspire other scientists to share their knowledge and passion with the public. [Extracted from the article]

Informed civic engagement has long been a goal of science education. Yet, how youth civically engage using science—what knowledge and practices they draw on, when, how, and for what purposes—remains largely unknown. By examining youth civic digital media production around climate change and COVID‐19, we shed light on this area. We view both scientific and civic engagement through the theoretical lens of social practice, which locates learning, knowledge, and cognition within culturally embedded social activities. With this theoretical disposition, we examined media produced by youth during the 2020 U.S. presidential election, asking: (1) What scientific numeracies did youth use in civic participation about climate change and COVID‐19? And (2) In what ways did youth adapt and/or remix canonical scientific numeracies within their digital civic media production? Through qualitative coding of 249 media pieces, we identified ways in which youth engaged and adapted scientific civic numeracies. We found that youth often adapted canonical forms of numeracy, integrated or "remixed" scientific numeracies with other knowledges such as those of place and politics, and interwove multiple numeracies. We begin to theorize science‐civic practices, or the locally‐meaningful ways of participating and meaning‐making that interweave multiple literacies used to advance one's civic aims. We use our findings to argue for the imperative of bringing the civic world into the science classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Practical methodologies that include food safety and hygiene education in pedagogical activities are strategies to prevent foodborne diseases (FBDs). Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge of 7th‐grade middle school students regarding food microbiology and food safety, and to apply workshop‐based educational strategies that focus on scientific literacy. The students (144) were initially evaluated using a Likert‐scale questionnaire (pre‐intervention, Q0) with ten objective questions on microbiology and food safety. Once the questionnaire was evaluated, interventions were conducted through five science workshops of 50 min, over a period of 5 months. The workshops included educational games, laboratory practices, videos, and lectures that addressed microorganisms that are known to cause the most common FBDs in Brazil. After each workshop, students were asked to express their opinions and understanding of the content through semi‐structured interviews. Six months after the end of the practical interventions, the students completed a second identical Likert‐scale questionnaire (post‐intervention, Q1), and the answers to both questionnaires (Q0 and Q1) were analyzed by calculating the middle rank. The middle rank of Q1 (mean = 0.65 ± 0.13) was 21% greater than the middle rank of Q0 (mean = 0.44 ± 0.16), and statistical significance was observed (p =.0135). This demonstrates that new information acquired during the workshops positively influenced learning. We believe that when practical approaches to food safety are included in school education as a priority, the prevalence of FBD will decrease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley Restoration Fund supports projects that improve, restore, and expand existing bottomland hardwood forests and wetlands to improve habitats for the more than 100 breeding land birds and other forested wetland-dependent species that inhabit these ecosystems. Photo by Jonas Borg i Restoring Forests and Aquatic Habitats in Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has announced $1.2 million in grants to improve, restore, and expand important forest and wetland habitats in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden presented Park with her award during a ceremony at World Water Week, held August 20-24 in Stockholm. Naomi Park, a high school student from the United States, received the 2023 Stockholm Junior Water Prize for her research on the removal of carbon dioxide and oil products from the ocean. [Extracted from the article]

Social, political, and cultural complexities observed in environmental justice (EJ) communities require new forms of investigation, science teaching, and communication. Defined broadly, participatory approaches can challenge and change inequity and mistrust in science. Here, we describe Project Harvest and the partnership building and co‐generation of knowledge alongside four EJ communities in Arizona. From 2017 to 2021, Project Harvest centered learning around these communities and the participant experience drove the data sharing practice. The framework of sense‐making is used to analyze how community scientists (CS) are learning within the context of environmental pollution and (in)justice. The environmental health literacy (EHL) framework is applied to document the acquisition of skills that enable protective decision‐making and the capacity of CS to move along the EHL continuum. Using data from surveys, focus groups, and semi‐structured interviews, we are asking how did: (1) Personal connections and local relevancy fuel sense‐making? (2) Data sharing make pollution visible and connect to historical knowledge to either reinforce or modify their existing mental map around pollution? and (3) The co‐creation process build data literacy and a relationship science? Results indicate that due to the program framing, CS personally connected with, and made sense of their data based on use and experience. CS synthesized and connected their pollution history and lived experiences with their data and evaluated contaminant transport. CS saw themselves as part of the process, are taking what they learned and the evidence they helped produce to adopt protective environmental health measures and are applying these skills to new contexts. Here, co‐created science nurtured a new/renewed relationship with science. This science culture rooted in co‐creation, fosters action, trust, and supports ongoing science engagement. The science learning that stems from co‐created efforts can set the pace for social transformation and provide the foundation for structural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important goal of science education is promoting scientific literacy—the competence to interact with science as laypeople to solve problems and make decisions in their personal and community lives. This is made more challenging in an age of increasing science denialism. In this article, we discuss how to design learning environments for science education that can help students attain scientific literacy. We argue that science curricula should encompass lessons with two distinguishable foci. One focus engages students in understanding the reliability of science. The second focus engages students as laypeople interacting with science in the public sphere. We discuss these two curricular foci, presenting examples from our own work on designing and implementing instruction with the first focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is public engagement with science deliberative and evidence‐based? The public is often perceived as underprepared to use data and susceptible to partisan and emotional manipulation. Consequently, educational efforts focus on the ability to identify reliable information. We posit that effective engagement with science goes beyond this and hinges on data literacy. We leveraged the unique circumstances of COVID‐19, where diverse people inundated with pandemic‐related data representations in the media needed to make consequential decisions, to examine whether people use data and what factors affect such use. In a survey of a representative Israeli adult sample, participants reported their information habits and beliefs before and during COVID‐19. On being presented with graphs and datasets, they answered data literacy and COVID‐19‐related functional reasoning assessments (e.g., would you travel abroad?). Data literacy distinguished those who incorporated data from those who did not. Yet, participants incorporated moral, social, and economic considerations at all data literacy levels, suggesting that people may be deliberative even when they do not attend to quantified data. Moreover, participants' trust in science and data interpretation competence were key factors mediating the relationship between self‐efficacy in data interpretation skills and the incorporation of data in reasoning. The findings extend beyond COVID‐19 to a broader understanding of the factors influencing public engagement with quantitative representations. Rather than focusing solely on remediating data interpretation, we suggest that educative efforts work on multiple fronts and that cultivating trust in science is key to a broader, more deliberative engagement with science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical manipulatives (PMs) are concrete objects used during hands-on learning activities (e.g., building blocks, fraction tiles, counters), and are widely used in primary-school teaching, especially during maths instruction. This scoping review collated studies that have examined the effectiveness of educational PM interventions with pre-primary and primary-age children. A total of 102 studies met the inclusion criteria and were synthesised in the review. Most studies included a sample of children aged 4-6 years and were conducted in a school setting. They spanned 26 different countries, but almost all took place in high-or middle-income contexts, mainly in the USA. Interventions were grouped into three main learning domains: maths, literacy and science. Considerable heterogeneity was identified across the review studies in terms of the PMs and hands-on activities used (e.g., block building, shape sorting, paper folding, enactment with figurines). Evidence relating to effectiveness of the intervention programmes was synthesised, with the most promising findings identified in the maths domain. Benefits to children's spatial, literacy and science skills were also reported. Overall, however, the evidence was mixed: other studies found that PMs were not associated with learning benefits, and many were hindered by methodological shortcomings. This calls for caution when drawing conclusions about the overall effectiveness of PM interventions. Nevertheless, the findings illustrate the many ways hands-on PM activities can be incorporated into children's early learning experiences. Recommendations for further research and for using PMs in practice are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology that deals with the interplay between people and their environment (Stern, [60]), with a huge part of the discipline dedicated to conservation and sustainability (Giuliani & Scopelliti, [33]). This can be partly addressed if psychology scholars in the country will pursue graduate research training from established environmental psychology programmes abroad and return to the country to pursue their respective research programmes. First, environmental psychology in the country continues to receive active support from professional organisations in psychology and allied fields, which facilitates the increased awareness of environmental psychology in professional circles. Third and last, psychology in the Philippines has an active recognition and promotion of indigenous conceptualisation and approaches to understanding the psychology of Filipinos, which has been useful in the emerging studies in environmental psychology in the country. [Extracted from the article]

In this paper, we argue that the current science curricula are failing to educate students to be competent outsiders to science. Historically, science education has rested on two premises. The first is that it is possible for students to acquire sufficient scientific knowledge from K‐12 education to become intellectually independent. That is that science education can produce individuals capable of evaluating scientific evidence and arguments critically for themselves. This belief is what underlies many of the conceptions of scientific literacy and is the basis of the rationale that is used to sustain and justify what is offered in nearly all countries across the globe. The second is the belief that the science that students will encounter will have been filtered such that it can be trusted. Nothing today could be further from the truth. Today, misinformation abounds and much of it purports to be scientific. Very few conceptions of scientific literacy have considered how students can be prepared to evaluate the claims that abound on social media. Current conceptions of "scientific literacy," we argue, are failing to articulate the competencies and knowledge required in today's changed context. In what follows, we lay out our arguments for why it is time to rethink the conception of scientific literacy by considering what it requires to be a competent outsider to science. Then drawing on our recent report, we lay out what might be done within science education to address the specific phenomenon of misinformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have characterized students' difficulties in understanding and reasoning about scientific mechanisms. Some of those studies have drawn implications on teaching mechanisms and how to guide students while reasoning mechanistically. In this theoretical article, I claim that one component that has not garnered much attention in the science education literature, unlike other components of mechanistic explanations, is the black box construct, that is, missing mechanistic parts within mechanistic explanations (explanatory black box). By reviewing the literature on mechanisms and mechanistic explanations in the philosophy of science and cognitive psychology, I argue that explanatory black boxes are an inherent part of mechanistic explanations and that their recognition is essential for learning mechanisms, scientific literacy, and understanding the nature of science. Examples from biology education are provided as a case of a complex multileveled scientific field. In the absence of a pedagogical approach for teaching explanatory black boxes, I turn to studies and frameworks from computer science education that may guide educators on how to begin discussing this construct in the science classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historian of the botanical sciences Andrew Denny Rodgers ([22]) insightfully noted that the years 1873-1892 were indeed "decades of transition", that saw the growth of the botanical sciences in these varied institutional contexts in the United States and that placed demands on botanists as professionals in contrast to self-taught "amateurs", now formally trained in areas of research and teaching. Public perceptions of science and scientists are generally positive in the United States (Pew Research Center, [19]; Funk et al., [8]), and one theme that resonates particularly strongly is the importance of conveying scientific findings; 80% of those surveyed ranked this point highly (American Academy of Arts and Sciences, [1]). New (or renewed) interest in science, especially in the context of botanical science, can inspire involvement in community science projects or motivate people to embrace a field in which they previously had no exposure or interest, often with new commitment for conservation and the public good. [Extracted from the article]

The research purpose is to analyze how block‐based programming, introduced in parallel with classical school education, will be an effective tool for developing environmental awareness among students. The research proposes a well‐developed theoretical program on environmental literacy and a practical Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) project creating an eco‐house model with a weather station and alternative energy sources in a regular secondary school in Shanghai. The sample involved school students of the seventh grade, equally divided into two groups: the control group (learnt only a theoretical program) and the experimental group (learnt both a theoretical program and a practical STEM project). At the end of the school year, students passed an environmental literacy test. The differences between the control and experimental groups were statistically significant. The experimental group has the advantage in all parameters: it has the highest scores and a large number of students who showed a high and very high level of knowledge. The results prove the methodology effectiveness of the experimental group in terms of developing sensitivity to the environment, cognitive abilities, ecological analysis, and preserving the environment. It was found that overall academic performance correlates significantly with both test scores and project scores. The highest scores were for the project, which indicates the effectiveness of block‐based programming in the learning of the experimental group, their implementation of new ideas based on the acquired knowledge, success in decision‐making, and experience that went beyond previous achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the ethical implications of patents on anti-cancer treatments. It highlights a case where a scientist/politician sold a cancer treatment patent for a large sum of money, potentially limiting accessibility to life-saving treatments. The article argues that the underlying knowledge and application of the treatment are not unique or groundbreaking, and therefore the financial rewards linked to the patent are unjustified. The author suggests that government employees should not receive patents, and medical patents should be limited in number, scope, and duration. The article concludes with a warning about the impact of proprietary pricing on patients' lives. [Extracted from the article]

Diversity, equity, mental health, science communication, Kindness in Science, sustainable science To spark this conversation, our Kindness in Science initiative encouraged our research group to run an annual I Wellness 101 i session where the whole team watched a mental health literacy in academia video (Table 1). Keywords: diversity; equity; Kindness in Science; mental health; science communication; sustainable science EN diversity equity Kindness in Science mental health science communication sustainable science 97 103 7 02/06/23 20230201 NES 230201 Kindness in Science is a grassroots initiative to establish a scientific community built on diversity, respect and well-being, which would ultimately lead to happier scientists and better scientific outcomes. [Extracted from the article]

Research has revealed that a small percentage of weekly instructional time in the elementary grades is dedicated to teaching science. Additionally, elementary educators receive limited preparation to teach science concepts compared to math or literacy skills. Therefore, this study examined if utilizing poetry to teach science concepts had a significant influence on elementary pre‐service teachers' (PSTs) self‐efficacy (SE) and expected outcomes (EOs) toward teaching science. Instructors in elementary literacy and science teaching methods courses collaborated to model strategies that integrated poetry within a science unit and mentored the PSTs in creating poems. Following the three‐week integrative unit, analyses of the survey responses revealed significant increases in the PSTs' EOs resulting from their science teaching when integrating poetry. 92% of the PSTs believed poetry would help them integrate more science instruction and in greater depth. Moderate positive correlations were found between PSTs' SE toward teaching science and gains in: (a) perceived knowledge of science concepts, (b) belief that poetry would help integrate more science instruction, and (c) belief that integrating poetry would help students learn science concepts better. This study provides implications for informing teacher preparation programs, professional development experiences, and integrated curricula efforts to expand science instruction in elementary curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In considering goals for science education, it is conventional to make arguments for the utility of scientific knowledge for a variety of purposes. Less prominent are rationales based on the beauty or truth of science. In this paper, we examine how an approach to science education might be different if we shift the goals of communication to an appreciation of the ways in which our knowledge is limited, and how the practical boundaries of our knowledge can be closer than we think—in other words, how we are collectively ignorant. Key to this approach is a renewed understanding of the role of material investigations in providing partial knowledge. Instead of providing incontrovertible evidence, empirical investigations provide a form of "explanatory excess" whereby the appropriate choice of explanation is not necessarily one that can be simplistically determined. Although scientific practices provide techniques to minimize the possibility of error in making our conclusions, these practices are performed by fallible human communities, from which the notion of "tentative, yet durable" claims derives. We argue that public scientific literacy may be better served by more circumspect claims of validity, and crucially, an enhanced understanding of the ways in which materiality influences epistemic processes and limits our claims. We illustrate these proposals through the case of the International Young Physicists' Tournament, a contest that invites participants to play with interesting physical phenomena for over a year. We identify three factors prominent in these tournament problems that present possibilities for increasing the authenticity of practical investigations. These are (i) multiple physical interactions in phenomena leading to the openness of choice of explanatory theory; (ii) the qualitative, subjective nature of the explanatory utility of theories; and (iii) the material contingency of empirical investigations. We argue that a more open‐handed embrace of the limits of our knowledge may serve as a better epistemic orientation for science instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are multiple ways of relating science and religion, arising from the fact that both science and religion can be understood in significantly different ways in different cultures and different contexts. The phrase "science and religion" has become widely used to denote a particular area of academic discussion. Yet again, multifaith work on science and religion can be used to enhance cross-cultural understanding between parts of the world where different faith traditions predominate. One of the founding hopes of the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) was that conducting the dialogue between science and religion on a multi-faith basis, in the aftermath of 9/11, would contribute to global peace and harmony between different faith traditions. [Extracted from the article]

The assessment of Nigerian teachers' climate science literacy and training needs on climate change concepts (i.e., causes, impacts, and solutions) are absent. This study relates teachers' climate science literacy and their expressed training needs in other climate change concepts and places teachers in groups. Following a descriptive survey design, 410 teachers were randomly sampled from 8338 public secondary school teachers in Enugu State, southeastern Nigeria. A researcher‐developed instrument passing validity and reliability tests was used for this study. We implemented frequencies, mean, t test, ANOVA, k‐means cluster analyses, and Pearson's correlation for the analyses of collected data and tested all hypotheses at a p < 0.05 level of significance. Teachers reported low to moderate climate science literacy and expressed high training needs on climate change concepts. Lower climate science literacy was related to higher expressed training needs. Four groups of teachers ensued from our cluster analyses. Sadly, teachers who possess little or less climate science literacy and expressed less or no training needs in climate change causes, impacts, and solutions constitute over half of the respondents of this study (53.90%). These are mostly science teachers. This situation, if unreversed, may lead to the transfer of misconceptions and inaccurate information on climate change to students. Our findings support the prospects of school−university partnerships, coaching, mentoring, study groups, and co‐teaching for job‐embedded situative approaches to teachers' professional development (PD) to replace an endless wait for inadequate and irregular training opportunities from the government. Questions about the climate science literacy of teacher educators also arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the submission interface, Step 4: Details & Comments, select "Yes" for the Special Issue option, and then select "Science Denial and Disinformation" as the special issue title. In particular, the special issue will aim to focus on meaningful work around science learning teaching and science education policy in the context of media (e.g., social) and information literacy. [Extracted from the article]

Drawing from examples of career development initiatives implemented by SAGE 2YC Faculty Change Agents, this chapter illustrates the role of career development in supporting the success of all community college students and guides faculty, administrators, and professional societies on how to advance student career development on a variety of scales. Career development as an integral component of community college science courses has major implications for increasing the diversity of science professionals, conveying the importance of science and scientific literacy in career sectors within and outside of the sciences, reducing equity gaps in students' career development as undergraduates, and facilitating skill‐building necessary for the workforce. We urge community college science faculty and administrators to consider the powerful impact that career skill‐building and career exploration have on students and encourage the adoption of career development activities at the classroom, program, and institutional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the mechanisms of systematic erasure associated with science and science education (e.g., Shea & Sandoval, 2020; Takeuchi & Marin, 2022), the project addressed antiracism (Mills, 2015) along with a discriminatory bias toward multilingual and low-income students as well as their families and communities. However, in April 2019, public health professionals and researchers around the country launched their own science literacy campaign aimed at educating citizens on the science behind the COVID-19 virus and its spread in our communities. Https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21720 o I Negotiating mentoring relationships and supports for Black and Brown early career faculty i by Natalie King & Bhaskar Upadhyay. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21755 o I Mentoring science educators for equity-centered futures i by John Settlage. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21759 Partnering o I Beginning school-university partnerships for transformative social change in science education: Narratives from the field i by Hosun Kang & María González-Howard. The contents of this special issue are the products of a National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported working conference. [Extracted from the article]

This paper aims to analyse the concepts of scientific literacy and agency in two official documents of the Chilean science curriculum. We used Fairclough's three dimensional model as critical lenses, based on critical discourse analysis, where every discursive event can be analysed: (i) as a text, (ii) as a discursive practice and (iii) as a social practice. The research questions were: 'How are the different visions of scientific literacy operating and being promoted within the Chilean science curriculum?' and 'How is student and teacher agency declared in those documents?' By understanding the curriculum as a dialectical process, as a social event between planning, executing, and evaluating education, we evidence tensions among different visions and paradigms for both concepts (scientific literacy and agency), specifically, in the transition from one cycle to another in secondary education. The first document has a predominantly neoliberal approach to scientific literacy and the second one presents a focus on citizenship, democracy, and social justice. As a social practice, in both documents, teachers appear under the idea of curriculum implementers, to a certain extent, based on a banking model where teachers are containers to receive someone else's curriculum expertise. The preceding imbalance raises potential tensions based on teacher performance and on student agency. Specifically, students must transition from a passive role and then consider themselves as active subjects who question how to produce knowledge, understanding their role within environmental conflicts within current socio‐political structures for instance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More precisely, data sonification is a novel way of communicating information about data, contrasting with a visual mood chart that graphs data points. This paper reports a preliminary case study for demonstrating the potential of data sonification for telling a real-life narrative of experienced mood swings through music. [Extracted from the article]