Search

In spring 2020 our team received funding from the Rapid Response Research program of the National Science Foundation to develop comics that would help youth understand the COVID-19 pandemic. Our project built on a decade of expertise creating comics about the biology of viruses. In collaboration with virologists and artists, we developed three comic stories about COVID-19 during the pandemic and posted them on-line during the last half of 2020. The fictional narratives address fundamental issues in biology, virology, and network science, in order to help readers understand the complexities of living through a viral pandemic. The stories focus on three themes: the biology and social context of the COVID-19 virus; the relationship of wild animals, particularly bats, to the pandemic; and the impact of the pandemic on Tribal communities. We describe the challenges of comic development during the pandemic and the feedback from youth on whether the comics were appealing, interesting, and understandable. The stories were posted on worldofviruses.unl.edu and are published by the University of Nebraska Press as the book, C'RONA Pandemic Comics, with essays for youth about the virus and the pandemic.

Equitable learning opportunities are critical to the goals of science education. However, major curriculum standards are vague on how to achieve equity goals, and educators must often develop their own resources and strategies to achieve equity goals. This study examines how educators used a comic book series designed to interest youth in virology as a way to make science more broadly appealing to their diverse students. We begin with the notion of Pedagogical Design Capacity, which describes a dynamic relationship between teachers and their tools and the ability for teachers to perceive and leverage affordances of artifacts as tools in their curriculum design. In a qualitative analysis of 18 interviews with educators, survey responses, instructional artifacts, and classroom observations, we describe the potential that educators saw in the comics and the strategies they used to take advantage of that potential to promote equitable science teaching. Notably, we observed how the comics enabled educators to incorporate multiple literacies and disciplinary lenses into their lessons, thereby expanding traditional views of science literacy. We documented the range of techniques by which they used comics and fictional narratives to support specific scientific practices, such as modeling. We also observed challenges that participants encountered in using comics, which included overcoming their own and their students' attitudes and beliefs regarding the role of informal reading materials in science education. By investigating how resourceful science educators use comic books, this study informs both researchers and educators on how innovative curriculum materials can broaden and diversify participation in science. Findings have implications for the design of similar curriculum materials and instructional approaches, as well as professional development to support equitable science teaching.

Despite many years of efforts to communicate new scientific knowledge to the public, surveys continue to suggest that many people remain uninformed about current scientific research (Miller, 2001; Miller, 2004) and fail to recognize how it can be relevant to their lives. There is continued need for investigation on improving methods for engaging people with scientific knowledge. Our goal is to contribute to efforts to disseminate emerging science knowledge by focusing on a particularly relevant science topic, viruses, and a critical age group, teenagers. Prior research suggests that many teenagers have low science achievement and/or low interest in science (Gonzalez, et al., 2008), and thus can be characterized as having low science identity. How can educators engage all teenagers, even those with low science identity? Guided by identity theory and a model of interest development, we assess one possible, unconventional approach -- using comic books to convey science information. This study focuses on viruses as scientific content. First we review why knowledge of viruses is important content to disseminate, and provide evidence that the general public's knowledge of viruses is limited. After discussing the relationship between interest and achievement in science, we describe the rationale for using comics as an educational format. We next summarize key concepts in identity theory and a model of interest development that justify comparing comic and essay formats for disseminating scientific information. We describe the study, results, and implications of our findings for efforts to engage a broad spectrum of youth with science.

To investigate how parents support children's learning at an exhibit on evolution, the conversations of 12 families were recorded, transcribed, and coded (6,263 utterances). Children (mean age 9.6 years) and parents visited Explore Evolution, which conveyed current research about the evolution of seven organisms. Families were engaged with the exhibit, staying an average of 44 minutes. Parents' and children's explanatory, nonexplanatory, and evolutionary conversation was coded. Overall, substantive explanatory conversation occurred in 65% of parent utterances, whereas nonexplanatory conversation occurred in 21% of the utterances. We found substantial use of exhibit text by parents (12.9% of utterances) who read it aloud and reframed the text for their children. Parents also used evolutionary terms and evolutionary concepts (10.2%), showing that such an exhibit is a valuable way to introduce this difficult topic to elementary-school-aged children. Parents' use of explanatory conversation positively related to their children's use of explanatory and evolutionary conversation, indicating that a dialogic interchange was occurring. Parents' attitudes toward the exhibit content, particularly the issue of human evolution, related to the museum experience. Overall, this analysis shows that parents and children are having nuanced discussions and illustrates the potential of informal experiences in supporting children's learning of a complex topic. (Contains 4 tables, 2 figures, and 1 footnote.)

Museum visitors are an ideal population for assessing the persistence of the conceptual barriers that make it difficult to grasp Darwinian evolutionary theory. In comparison with other members of the public, they are more likely to be interested in natural history, have higher education levels, and be exposed to the relevant content. If museum visitors do not grasp evolutionary principles, it seems unlikely that other members of the general public would do so. In the current study, 32 systematically selected visitors to three Midwest museums of natural history provided detailed open-ended explanations of biological change in seven diverse organisms. They were not told that these were evolutionary problems. Responses were coded as: "informed naturalistic" reasoning, featuring some understanding of key evolutionary concepts, "novice naturalistic" reasoning, featuring intuitive explanations that are also present in childhood, and "creationist" reasoning, featuring supernatural explanations. All visitors were mixed reasoners, using one or more of these patterns in different permutations across the seven organisms: 72% used a combination of informed naturalistic reasoning and novice naturalistic reasoning, while a further 28% added creationist reasoning to this mix. Correlational analyses indicated that for many visitors these reasoning patterns were coherent rather than fragmented. The theoretical model presented in this article contributes to an analysis of the developmental and cultural factors associated with these patterns. This could help educators working in diverse educational settings understand how to move visitors and students toward more "informed" reasoning patterns. (Contains 6 figures and 7 tables.)

Can comics effectively convey scientific knowledge about COVID-19 to youth? What types and how many sources of information did youth have about COVID-19 during the pandemic? How are sources of information associated with accurate COVID-19 knowledge? To answer these questions, we surveyed youth in grades 5–9 in a Midwestern United States school district in the winter of 2020–2021. The online survey used measures of COVID-19 knowledge and sources, with an embedded experiment on COVID-19 relevant comics. Guided by an integrated science capital and just-in-time health and science information acquisition model, we also measured level of science capital, science identity, and utility of science for health and society. The school district protocol required parental consent for participation; 264 of ~15,000 youth participated. Youth were randomly assigned one of four comic conditions before receiving an online survey. Results indicate that, similar to knowledge gains in comic studies on other science topics, reading the comics was associated with 7 to 29% higher accuracy about COVID-19. We found that youth reported getting information about COVID-19 from between 0–6 sources including media, family, friends, school, and experts. The bivariate positive association of news versus other sources with accuracy of knowledge did not persist in the full model, yet the positive association of a higher number of sources and accuracy did persist in the multivariate models. The degree of valuing the utility of science for their health moderated the number of sources to accuracy association. Those with less value on science for health had a stronger positive association of number of sources and accuracy in COVID-19 knowledge. We conclude that during a pandemic, even with health and science information ubiquitous in the news media, increasing youth access to a variety of accurate sources of information about science and health can increase youth knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A kiosk-based survey at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 2016–2018 allowed us to assess public knowledge of antibiotics and public attitudes toward microbes in museum goers. Over 22,000 visitors from 172 countries and territories answered several carefully designed questions about microbes and antibiotics. These visitors also entered age, gender, and country demographic data that allowed for stratification along these demographic and geographic divisions. Because museum goers are likely to be better informed about these and other science-based topics, the results described here can set a potential upper bound for public knowledge on these topics. Surprisingly, the results of our analysis of museum goers' answers about microbes and antibiotics indicate a substantial lack of familiarity with both topics. For example, overall only about 50% of respondents can correctly identify penicillin as an antibiotic and less than 50% of museum visitors view microbes as beneficial. The results described here suggest that we are perhaps off target with our educational efforts in this area and that a major shift in approach toward more basic microbial topics is warranted in our educational efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a program in which teenage students serve as the explainers of the displays in a museum. Reports on a study designed to determine whether such programs can significantly affect students' social development, their attitudes toward science, and their interest in science, teaching, and museums. (TW)

This article describes the major sources of free, public information available to advisers about ERISA retirement plans, including 5500 and 5310 filings, and specific data that they contain. It then identifies specific prospecting, qualifying, and sales strategies that can be developed from this data. After reading the article, advisers will be in a better position to develop a target marketing program among small businesses and plan sponsors in their area, at very little or no cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, gender gaps in science interest widen during the middle school years. Recent research on adults shows that gender gaps in some academic fields are associated with mindsets about ability and gender-science biases. In a sample of 529 students in a U.S. middle school, we assess how explicit boy-science bias, science confidence, science possible self (belief in being able to become a scientist), and desire to be a scientist vary by gender. Guided by theories and prior research, we use a series of multivariate logistic regression models to examine the relationships between mindsets about ability and these variables. We control for self-reported science grades, social capital, and race/ethnic minority status. Results show that seeing academic ability as innate ("fixed mindsets") is associated with boy-science bias, and that younger girls have less boy-science bias than older girls. Fixed mindsets and boy-science bias are both negatively associated with a science possible self; science confidence is positively associated with a science possible self. In the final model, high science confident and having a science possible self are positively associated with a desire to be a scientist. Facilitating growth mindsets and countering boy-science bias in middle school may be fruitful interventions for widening participation in science careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, girls and boys have similar science achievement, yet fewer girls aspire to science careers than boys. This paradox emerges in middle school, when peers begin to play a stronger role in shaping adolescent identities. We use complete network data from a single middle school and theories of gender, identity, and social distance to explore how friendship patterns might influence this gender and science paradox. Three patterns highlight the social dimensions of gendered science persistence: (1) boys and girls do not differ in self-perceived science potential and science career aspirations; (2) consistent with gender-based norms, both middle school boys and girls report that the majority of their female friends are not science kinds of people; and (3) youth with gender-inconsistent science aspirations are more likely to be friends with each other than youth with gender normative science aspirations. Together, this evidence suggests that friendship dynamics contribute to gendered patterns in science career aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate museum visitor learning and engagement at an interactive visualization of an evolutionary tree of life consisting of over 70,000 species. The study was conducted at two natural history museums where visitors collaboratively explored the tree of life using direct touch gestures on a multi-touch tabletop display. In the study, 247 youth, aged 8-15 years, were randomly assigned in pairs to one of four conditions. In two of the conditions, pairs of youth interacted with different versions of the tree of life tabletop exhibit for a fixed duration of 10 minutes. In a third condition, pairs watched a 10 minute video on a similar topic. Individual responses on a 53-item exit interview were then compared to responses from a fourth, baseline condition. Contrasting with the baseline condition, visitors who interacted with the tabletop exhibits were significantly more likely to reason correctly about core evolutionary concepts, particularly common descent and shared ancestry. They were also more likely to correctly interpret phylogenetic tree diagrams. To investigate the factors influencing these learning outcomes, we used linear mixed models to analyze measures of dyads' verbal engagement and physical interaction with the exhibit. These models indicated that, while our verbal and physical measures were related, they accounted for significant portions of the variance on their own, independent of youth age, prior knowledge, and parental background. Our results provide evidence that multi-touch interactive exhibits that enable visitors to explore large scientific datasets can provide engaging and effective learning opportunities. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 53: 895-918, 2016 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current research in virology is changing public conceptions about vaccines and infectious disease. The University of Nebraska State Museum collaborated with research virologists, science writers, artists and learning researchers to create public outreach materials about viruses and infectious disease. The project, funded by the National Institute of Health's SEPA program, developed comics, a book with Carl Zimmer, and other materials and programs. The project launched three kinds of learning research: 1) a survey of Nebraska adults on their opinions about vaccines and infectious disease; 2) a study comparing the mental models of viruses, vaccines, and infection from virologists, teachers, and students; and 3) a controlled study of 873 high school students randomly assigned to read either a comic or a text-based essay with the same virus information. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although microbes directly impact everyone's health, most people have limited knowledge about them. In this article, we describe a museum and media public education campaign aimed at helping diverse audiences better understand emerging knowledge about microbes and infectious disease. Funded primarily by the Science Education Partnership ( SEPA) program of the National Institutes of Health, this campaign involved crosscutting programs designed to extend impacts throughout a broad public audience. Collaborations with partners from public media, libraries, science education, the social sciences, and biomedical research centers extended our outreach to local and national audiences of adults and youth. Our campaign developed programs for radio broadcast, schools, libraries, museums, and publishers to ultimately reach over eight million people. In addition, we conducted a series of research studies focused on understanding the mental models that people create of the complex concepts of microbes and infectious disease and on how to engage hard-to-reach adolescents with this science content. These studies furthered our understanding of how people reason about unseen phenomena, the kinds of materials that might intrigue youth who claim little interest in science, and how to begin to combat misinformation pervasive in this field. Our comparisons of expert, teacher, and teen reasoning about microbes revealed their distinct mental models on the topics of infection, vaccination, and immune response. Our investigation of comics confirmed their power to motivate teenagers to want to read more about science. Across all levels of science identity, we found that youth were more engaged with the comics than with comparable essays. Together, these findings provide insights into how to educate a diverse public about emerging biomedical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans are exposed to viruses everywhere they live, play, and work. Yet people’s beliefs about viruses may be confused or inaccurate, potentially impairing their understanding of scientific information. This study used semi-structured interviews to examine people’s beliefs about viruses, vaccines, and the causes of infectious disease. We compared people at different levels of science expertise: middle school students, teachers, and professional virologists. The virologists described more entities involved in microbiological processes, how these entities behaved, and why. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed distinctions in the cognitive organization of several concepts, including infection and vaccination. For example, some students and teachers described viral replication in terms of cell division, independent of a host. Interestingly, most students held a mental model for vaccination in which the vaccine directly attacks a virus that is present in the body. Our findings have immediate implications for how to communicate about infectious disease to young people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To investigate how parents support children's learning at an exhibit on evolution, the conversations of 12 families were recorded, transcribed, and coded (6,263 utterances). Children (mean age 9.6 years) and parents visited Explore Evolution, which conveyed current research about the evolution of seven organisms. Families were engaged with the exhibit, staying an average of 44 minutes. Parents' and children's explanatory, nonexplanatory, and evolutionary conversation was coded. Overall, substantive explanatory conversation occurred in 65% of parent utterances, whereas nonexplanatory conversation occurred in 21% of the utterances. We found substantial use of exhibit text by parents (12.9% of utterances) who read it aloud and reframed the text for their children. Parents also used evolutionary terms and evolutionary concepts (10.2%), showing that such an exhibit is a valuable way to introduce this difficult topic to elementary-school-aged children. Parents' use of explanatory conversation positively related to their children's use of explanatory and evolutionary conversation, indicating that a dialogic interchange was occurring. Parents' attitudes toward the exhibit content, particularly the issue of human evolution, related to the museum experience. Overall, this analysis shows that parents and children are having nuanced discussions and illustrates the potential of informal experiences in supporting children's learning of a complex topic. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 720-744, 2011 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a theoretical model for the analysis of the developmental and cultural factors associated with patterns of responses in the explanation of biological change in seven diverse organisms. The mechanics of the study are discussed as well as the 32 systematically selected visitors to three Midwest museums of natural history. The coding categories for the responses are explained in terms of informed naturalistic, novice naturalistic, and creationist reasoning. Results are said to help educators working in diverse educational settings.

University natural history museums are in a strong position to assume leadership roles in informal science education. This will emerge through extensive experimentation, innovative educational practices, broad collaborations, and grant-funded programs. Higher expectations for cutting-edge programs of outstanding quality create a climate in which striving for innovation becomes the norm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The University of Nebraska State Museum (UNSM) is creating multimedia outreach kits on the research of women scientists. The collaborative effort has included Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, curricula developers, biographers, graphic designers, and evaluators. The goal of the project is to increase the number of girls interested in pursuing careers in science, and to this end, women scientists are presented as role models. Wonderwise kits target students in grades four through six through student-centered, inquiry- based activities, specimens and tools, videos of the scientists working in the field, resource-based CD-ROMs, and short biographies of the scientists. This project presents a model of how museums can collaborate with schools to improve science education on a statewide basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six natural history institutions contributed video and other images to produce a single multimedia exhibit about famous paleontology sites throughout the United States. In Mesozoic Monsters, Mammals and Magnolias, users can view videos of the original excavation of each of the sites and also play computer games relating to each location. This project provides a model for how collaboration among museums can reduce the cost of multimedia exhibits while improving quality and making them available to wider audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Girls as a group have far fewer science- and math-related experiences than boys. This article reviews what is known about how these differences carry over into science museums. Behavioral studies indicate that girls generally engage in more cooperative behavior at museum exhibits, and boys explore exhibits more actively on their own. However, there are large differences between institutions and even discrepancies between similar studies at the same institution. Museums may be able to minimize gender differences by anticipating them in the design of exhibits and programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the prototyping of interactive exhibits on rocks and minerals at museums in the U.S. According to the author, museums must be the places where people are given the opportunity to see the real objects, as well as understand them. Moreover, museum exhibits should also be designed to provide concrete experiences and ideas to foster the learning of the visitors.

The article provides information on an exhibit design which is the Desert Explorations. It cites that the exhibit has been designed to let visitors choose what they want to explore. Desert Explorations has used technologies such as videodiscs to assist the visitors in the learning process during the exhibit. It is located at San Diego Natural History Museum in San Diego, California.

The article presents a study of The Discovery Room of the California Academy of Sciences. The research assesses visitor’s reactions to the interactive natural history exhibit in order to gather useful information for planning future interactive exhibits. The philosophy of Janet Nickelsburg, a former docent, teacher, and naturalist who first conceived of the exhibit, are explained. Behavioral observations of active exploratory learning, as well as interviews and surveys are analyzed.

The article presents a study which looked at the way in which families behave when they are touring a science museum. The way in which the actions of museum visitors were researched is mentioned. Actions which the study found that visitors were involved with while at the museum are discussed, including visiting exhibits throughout the museum for short periods of time.

The article examines the impact of the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco, California on students' social development, their attitude toward science and their interest in science. The Exploratorium has hired teenagers to serve the museum in an unusual role. Chosen only for their enthusiasm and diversity, the students have been given the most difficult task in the museum. The students' job is to explain exhibits on physics, perception, and biology, and to answer questions from many visitors each year.

Introduces a series of articles on the subject of youth, science and museums.

The article discusses several issues confronting the University Natural History Museums. Public programs are considered in which curators play a very important role in many opportunities and problems of handling the museum. Author Philip Humphrey points out that a number of universities with natural history museums have exhibits and educational programs for the public.

The article discusses various reports published within this issue, including one by Watson Laetsch on university museums' enrichment with research in public education, on the Bell Museum of Natural History at the University of Minnesota's long-term planning efforts in a wider context, and another by Leonard Krishtalka which challenges university natural history museums to use their collections to educate the public about biological diversity.

The article focuses on the Wonderwise 4-H, a project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation designed to encourage young girls to pursue scientific careers. It cites a review of related literature. The design, development and dissemination of Wonderwise 4-H are explained. The components of the evaluation plan for Wonderwise 4-H are discussed. It reports on the findings on the effectiveness of Wonderwise 4-H.