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In Fall 2021, the COVID-19 Delta Variant produced yet another surge of cases and deaths. Many parents eagerly awaited the official emergency authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for younger children. However, other parents had already planned to delay or refuse vaccination. To ascertain how news and information consumption may impact vaccination decisions, a survey questionnaire of parents was conducted in the beginning of September through online posts to social media parenting groups. Of the (n= 1004) surveys completed, 966 parents indicated their vaccination decisions or intent to vaccinate through both closed and open ended questions. Most participants were in favor of vaccinating their children and used a variety of local and national news and other types of information to make their decisions. While there was no significant relationship between news consumption and intentions to vaccinate, participants against vaccination indicated lower levels of news engagement and were more likely to dismiss news media content as a credible source. This study has implications for creating effective campaigns based on news consumption, primarily for those uncertain or against vaccinating children.

U.S. print news coverage of COVID vaccine hesitancy represents a departure from previous depictions of vaccine skepticism as a problem of wrong belief. This article reports on a mixed methods study of 334 "New York Times" texts about COVID nonvaccination and vaccine hesitancy published between December 2020-December 2021. Texts were analyzed for common themes and compared with prior media depictions of vaccine skepticism. Findings show that texts published during phased COVID vaccine distribution framed nonvaccination as a response to structural inequities, while later texts returned to blaming individuals for their hesitancy. These findings attest to the durability of individualistic framings of health while also illustrating possibilities of alternative frames.

Coronavirus disease 2019 exacerbated health inequities in Bronx Communities. This study explored vaccine hesitancy among a random sample of faculty and students from Hebert Lehman College. Findings suggest faculty are largely vaccinated (87%), while 59% of students are unvaccinated. Significant gaps in information were found related to safety and complications. This suggests universities need to adopt an educational model with a multipronged social support strategy to gain students' trust and a greater sense of belonging.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread rapidly around the world and has had significant impact on changing the social practices of everyday behavior and interpersonal communication of people. In Russia, the Moscow Region was one of the leaders in the number of people infected with COVID-19. Therefore, the focus of the present study is on the everyday social practices of students in the Moscow Region during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the attitude of young people to restrictions and measures aimed at countering the spread of coronavirus infection in the region. The findings of the study are based on the results of a questionnaire survey of more than 2,500 young respondents studying at universities, colleges, and technical schools in the Moscow Region, conducted during the second wave of the pandemic. The conducted analysis has shown that more than half of the respondents admitted that they were afraid of contracting coronavirus and considered it a very dangerous disease. Nevertheless, young people's adherence to safety standards was often due to the strict requirements of the authorities and the public to comply with them. The most common measures taken by respondents to prevent COVID-19 included frequent handwashing with soap, wearing face masks in public places, wiping hands with antiseptic, and avoiding contact with sick people.

This research seeks to describe the continuing predicament of R&D funding in the U.S. and to provide support for a return to higher R&D spending as a proportion of GDP to maintain American leadership in innovation. Historically, government investment has funded most foundational scientific research leading to technological advances in communications, recording, and networks, including global positioning systems to the Internet. The U.S. has been leading in research and development. However, that investment leadership position is in question due to declining proportionate government support for R&D. The R&D function in private enterprise is ill-equipped to support long-term innovation, which will reward competitors. Past and current research evidence shows that public R&D investment leads private investment and furthers the strategic goals of innovation and economic growth. The COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented public research commitments to the rapid development of drugs, vaccines, and various protective and medical equipment. The long-term impact of this public investment on innovation is not clear. According to some theories, the trend of declining U.S. public investment in R&D will negatively impact U.S. economic growth.

This study explores Ohio Early Childhood and Care (ECEC) workers' perspectives about different prioritization for COVID-19 vaccine distribution between Ohio educators employed in ECEC and prek-12 settings. Days after Ohio's shutdown, ECEC programs began reopening for children of essential workers, and by June 2020 all ECEC programs could reopen with enhanced mitigation strategies, while the prek-12 workforce remained remote as they cautiously returned in-person ranging from 2 to 9 months later. Ohio was 1 of 4 states that, despite contrary Center for Disease Control guidance, excluded ECEC workers from the phase of vaccine distribution in which prek-12 workers were eligible. Data on ECEC employee perceptions of this difference were collected via anonymous online questionnaire from 194 ECEC workers. Qualitative analysis revealed six themes: 1. Participants compared themselves to prek-12, 2. believe they are valuable, 3. disagreed with the decision, 4. felt undervalued compared to prek-12, 5. felt exploited, and 6. suffered mental health effects. ECEC workers' perspectives are valuable and should be included in decisions impacting them.

AACRAO Research completed five 60-Second Surveys and four comprehensive reports. Other research-supported work included: supporting the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation credit mobility learning portfolio, partnering with NACUBO to create a joint statement on the use of administrative and student success holds, and supporting WICHE in their work in understanding the impact of transcript holds on students. The content of this article is limited to the published research reports. It includes a brief introduction of each research topic, a summary of the key data points, and, if applicable, practice recommendations. Each has been modified slightly from the original reports to reflect changes in tense and for abbreviation. The purpose of this article is to provide a single source for research takeaways from 2022. The reports listed can be found in their entirety on the AACRAO Research webpage.

In a pandemic era, it is necessary to equip individuals with the ability to make informed decisions about health issues, especially in relation to viruses and vaccines. In order to achieve this goal, science educators need to explore students' decisions and reasoning about vaccination. The aim of the study reported in the paper, therefore, is to explore eighth graders' reasoning about vaccination throughout a 4-week implementation of small group and plenary discussion of false claims about vaccinations. The implementation consisted of a five-phase procedure including teacher presentation of false claims and related evidence texts about vaccination, small group discussions, a plenary discussion, and finally, an introduction to valid scientific content about vaccination. The explanations of the representatives from each group during the plenary discussion were video-taped and analyzed by the researchers independently to examine student decisions on each claim. Another data source of this study included student interviews in which the researchers videotaped and analyzed eight interviewees' responses. The findings revealed that including well-informed students in small group and plenary discussions may have a positive impact on other students' reasoning. This result indicated the benefit of encouraging students to provide evidence about vaccines during small group and plenary discussions in terms of their reasoning. The implications of this study suggest the necessity of emphasizing on scientific knowledge as well as argumentation for further investigations of students' reasoning on vaccination.

A disquieting aspect of some contemporary public discourse is its seeming indifference to or abandonment of any pretense to truth. Among other things, unsubstantiated and misleading claims have been made about the efficacy of vaccines and other purported treatments for SARS-COVID, the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and the January 6, 2021, insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. In addition, a spate of legislation restricting classroom discussion and instruction related to race, bias, privilege, and discrimination has been or is pending passage in U.S. state legislatures. These restrictions are antithetical to core functions of education, which are to inculcate the values, virtues, and advanced literacy skills that support democratic deliberation about controversial issues. This article discusses the increasing political polarization and partisan attacks on the processes of education and the threats to liberal democracy posed by this disregard for the truth. In addition, it reviews the cultural and psychological factors that increase our susceptibility to misinformation and presents a perspective about the pursuit of truth that highlights the educational affordances of disciplinary inquiry, democratic deliberation, and reasonable argumentation. The contemporary challenges are manifestations of long-standing political and cultural divisions, and their mitigation will depend on developing communities of informed citizens that are committed to the values and virtues that are foundational to liberal democracy.

Objective: The impact of social media on public health has been examined in various studies. However, none have explored user engagement based on the type of Facebook posts related to renal disease. Therefore, the present study sought to determine which type of nephrology-related posts have greater user engagement. Setting: Facebook pages. Methods: The posts on a specific Facebook page curated by a team of nephrologists in Malaysia were examined in this cross-sectional study. The type of post, likes, comments, shares of a post and reach of a post were used for data analysis. Analysis of variance was used to quantify the relative contribution of each independent variable to the odds of the post being highly liked or shared. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare links, photos, shared videos, status and videos for parameters such as reach, the number of times a specific piece of content has been displayed on a screen (impressions), and user engagement. Results: Shared videos and photos received the highest median reach of 5,862 and 5,880, respectively. People who 'liked' the page in 2019, 2020 and 2021 numbered 193, 4,196 and 2,835, respectively. Among the types of content on the Facebook page, photos and shared videos received the highest median lifetime reach of the post compared to links, status and videos in terms of 'people who liked the page'. Conclusion: The study findings suggest that posting a video or photo maximises the chance of engagement and meaningfully impacts public health outcomes.

The rapid emergence of the novel coronavirus and its impact on human behavior provoked dramatic increases in human usage of a variety of systems. These increases had the potential to stress the scalability of the systems, testing whether the system owners had designed and built those systems to cope with sudden changes in demand. This case invites students to study a variety of different types of systems, and to analyze the means by which they can or did achieve scalability, and efficiently serve their customers.

Background: Low adolescent HPV vaccination initiation due to parents declining vaccination remains a challenge for providers. In 2018, 65% of adolescent girls and 56% of adolescent boys in Texas initiated HPV vaccination. Gaps between HPV vaccination rates and those for Tdap (83%) and meningococcal vaccines (87%) among 13-17 year olds highlights missed opportunities to prevent HPV-related cancers. While leading medical organizations endorse a presumptive, bundled recommendation, in which the provider presents HPV vaccination the same way as other vaccines, bundled between Tdap and meningococcal at 11- or 12-year-old visits, provider recommendations vary. Methods: In 2015, we surveyed pediatricians in a large Texas pediatric clinic network to assess physician knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors regarding adolescent HPV vaccination. To ascertain HPV vaccination outcomes, survey data were merged with patient electronic health records. We examined the association of pediatrician HPV vaccination recommendation and vaccination using multivariable multilevel generalized linear models clustered by physicians. Adjusted odds ratios were calculated. Results: Among 226 physicians, 59.8% completed the emailed survey. Controlling for patient and physician demographics, odds of HPV vaccination initiation were significantly increased if physicians used a bundled approach to recommend the HPV vaccine: "Your child is due for three vaccines: Tdap, HPV, and meningococcal vaccine" versus "Your child is due for two vaccines, Tdap and meningococcal. There is also the HPV vaccine, which is optional" (OR: 1.59, 95% CI 1.30-1.96). Conclusion: This study links physician HPV vaccine recommendation wording and outcomes, showing the significant effect of bundling HPV vaccination for adolescent patients.

With the pandemic, conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 began to spread rapidly in the virtual environment. It is not difficult for these conspiracy theories to replace scientific knowledge, particularly those with low scientific literacy. This study aimed to examine whether there is a relationship between university students' attitudes towards socioscientific issues (viz. their views on conspiracy theories) and their views on the COVID-19 process and vaccination. 1275 university students from different universities studying at various departments participated in the study. "The Attitude Scale towards Socioscientific Issues" developed by Topcu (2010) and the "COVID-19 process and Vaccination Questionnaire" developed by the researchers consisting of 20 questions were used as data collection tools in the study. In analysing the data obtained from the application, the continuous variables with two categories were analysed using the independent groups' t-test since the research data showed normal distribution and provided the preconditions. A one-way ANOVA test was used in the analysis of continuous variables with more than two categories. The chi-square test was used in the analysis of categorical variables, and a multinominal logistic regression was performed when examining the relationship between main variables and categorical variables. As a result of the analysis, it was observed that students with a high attitude towards socioscientific issues were more scientifically oriented to conspiracy theories, the existence of the COVID-19 and its origin, and their ideas about vaccination were more positive. In the post-pandemic period, a restructuring of science education in which socioscientific issues are concentrated upon to increase health literacy and scientific literacy arguably appears urgent.

In much of the philosophy of education today, diagnoses of socio-political pathologies underpin visions of a more desirable, democratic future. However, the very philosophical act of making an educational vision responsive to (and dependent on) crises of the times is rarely, if ever, critiqued. On the contrary, a pattern of standardised research steps is being consolidated, one that reflects medicalised politics of identifying a critically "ill" present, offering "cures" that promise a better future. In this article, it is argued that this pattern has major epistemic and political risks. It may jeopardise the quality of educational-philosophical research, and it may make philosophy of education overlook new, undemocratic politics. This article briefly discusses the pattern, and then the risks of the medical metaphors on which the pattern relies. One such risk concerns what counts as politically "ill" in "pandemic times", and new polarisations, such as "the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated", may thus be introduced. Finally, the article suggests that philosophy of education should consider some de-medicalisation of the notion of pandemics.

In order for societies to normalize in educational, economic, social and mental health areas, the COVID-19 pandemic must be ended as soon as possible. Currently, the most critical factor in eliminating the pandemic seems to be the vaccine. Vaccination is one of the most successful public health interventions and is a cornerstone for communicable disease prevention. Both current teachers and teacher candidates should be competent in the field of health literacy as well as in the education and training process. In this study, we tried to reveal the views of teacher candidates regarding COVID-19 and its vaccines based on the studies reporting that anti-vaccination increased in individuals with more education. Six hundred thirty-eight teacher candidates participated in the study. The research data were collected through an 11-item questionnaire, and the data were analyzed using descriptive and cross-tabulation analyzes. Research findings mainly showed that vaccine acceptance was low, and most of the participants thought the virus is artificial. Another finding of the research revealed that most of the participants who complied with all the rules regarding COVID-19 did not get the virus; however, it was seen that nearly all of the participants who caught COVID-19 had an infected individual in their family. Given the importance of vaccination, measures should be taken for vaccination hesitation and rejection.

This study examines the types of arguments and supporting reasons of science teachers on socioscientific issues. The case study was used in this study conducted with seven science teachers. Data were collected through three scenarios developed about vaccination, curfew and distance education in the context of COVID-19. Within the context of the data obtained, the argument types of the teachers were evaluated through the deductive content analysis, and the supporting reasons they presented for their arguments were evaluated through the inductive content analysis. Study results showed that the science teachers offered more arguments, including a claim and the reasons supporting this claim and that the arguments where the pros and cons analysis was performed and the reasons for the different aspects of an issue are presented in detail could be presented less. In addition, although there were differences in the supporting reasons of the teachers according to the content of the scenario, these reasons were concentrated on the subject areas of health, social, value and personal experience. The findings can contribute to improving the science teachers' argumentation qualifications and increasing the quality of in-class argumentation practices.

Purpose: As dental education was significantly influenced by the novel coronavirus pandemic, this study aims to investigate preclinical dental students' perspectives on the implementation of remote education and school closure due to COVID-19 pandemic, self-reported effectiveness of on-line learning as well as their educational and personal experiences. Method: A self-administered questionnaire was posted online to a total of 258 out of 516 second and third-year preclinical dental students in Dec 2020/Jan 2021 at Faculty of Dental Medicine, Medical University-Sofia, Bulgaria. Survey items focused on 3 general domains: student attitude, assessment, and concerns regarding online learning; student current knowledge and perceptions of COVID-19 pandemic and student opinion of pandemic psychological impact on public health, personal experiences and intention for vaccination. Findings: One-hundred and sixty-nine students responded to the survey (response rate 65.5%). Most of them (70.4%) approved suspension of face-to-face classes due to the COVID-19 crisis. Eighty percent expressed dissatisfaction toward online teaching sessions and agreed that this will have negative effects on their education. Fifty-eight percent did not find remote education more stressful than in-person training. More concerns were expressed about financial issues than mental health problems. Intention for getting vaccinated was expressed by 53.3% and 40.8% thought that the vaccine would cause many side health effects. Implications for research and practice: Within the limitations of the study, identified gaps in online education could help increase effectiveness of learning environment and create opportunity to enhance education for the future. Dental student thoughts about COVID-19 vaccinations provide valuable information to administrators, public health professionals and policy makers to improve efforts towards preserving, protecting, and promoting public health.

The study focuses on the socio-scientific dilemma which arises in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and is frequently voiced in the society and media: "Should we get a COVID-19 vaccine or not?" The study group of the study were selected via holistic single case study design, one of the qualitative research methods, is comprised of gifted students (n:32). As a result of the study, it was determined that the students made positive and negative decisions regarding getting vaccinated, and some of them stated that they would decide to get vaccinated or postpone the decision depending on whether some criteria would be met. The justifications proposed by the students making a positive decision include protection against the virus, fear of being infected and increasing number of deaths while the students making a negative decision gave justifications including not trusting the WHO (World Health Organization) and the vaccines produced by other countries, wanting to develop immunity through natural ways and believing that free vaccine is dangerous. Some of the students stating that they would decide depending on whether the criteria would be met emphasized some criteria such as the vaccine's being tried and approved, development of the vaccine in their own country and its content's being harmless.

Objectives: To describe the implementation of a hybrid and an online active-learning-based science activity originally designed for face-to-face instruction. The goal was to verify if students used appropriate science practices while engaged in a problem solution through hybrid and fully online modalities. Epistemic practices are important markers of scientific literacy because they reflect ways of thinking and working that are similar to those performed by scientists. Methods: Numerical experimental data related to two topics of immunology were provided to students through virtual learning environments. The groups of students met on WhatsApp© mobile application to negotiate the construction reports containing graphs, discussion, and conclusion to the inquiry problem. Members of our research team coded and analyzed the reports for evidence of epistemic practices. The presence of epistemic practices in the students' writings is presented and discussed qualitatively in this paper. Results: Results show the emergence of epistemic practices in the written discourse of the students participating in online and hybrid modalities. Implication for theory and/or practice: Bringing examples from our experience teaching online and as pre-pandemic researchers allowed us to engage, inspire, and assist other teachers who are facing the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic presents to science education. Conclusions: Findings suggest that it is possible to promote student engagement in scientific practices related to biology through online and hybrid instruction.

The authors of this article identify the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria and propose the use of a classic strategic planning paradigm to mitigate its spread until it may be completely arrested. Vaccines have been developed to combat the disease which current evidence suggests is spread by respiratory droplets among people who are in close contact with each other (WHO, 2020). But this presumed mode of transmission has led to concerns in the scientific and medical communities about the disastrous effects the virus may have on the African continent which has historically lagged the rest of the world in the delivery of quality health care especially for some of the most vulnerable populations like children under 5 years of age. This article provides information regarding the contemporary health care situation in Nigeria for such vulnerable populations, analyzes the current impact of COVID-19, and recommends a successful strategic planning paradigm to address similar catastrophic health experiences in the future.

Purpose: The article reports on and analyses the creation, development and implementation of a service-learning project involving primary and secondary school pupils and students of education (bachelor's and master's level), carried out in a real educational setting over the course of two academic years. Approach: The project was conducted within a social science didactics framework of issues-centred teaching for the study of socially acute questions and global citizenship. Findings: The research yielded very positive results. The task for student teachers of contextualising their social studies learning in a real educational setting was found to be a motivating factor and provided useful lessons in relation to practical teacher training experiences of this kind. Implications: Greater emphasis should be placed on teacher training projects that include direct experience in real educational settings, particularly in relation to service-learning methodologies involving community service.

Institutions of higher education have mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for students wishing to return to an on-campus, in-person learning experience. However, some groups have expressed a hesitancy to be vaccinated, while others are unsure about the vaccine's side effects and/or efficacy. Yet, an under-researched aspect of COVID-19 vaccinations and related communication is whether individuals--in this study, college students--understand that the COVID-19 vaccine is free and whether that understanding varies among groups of people. As a result, this study surveyed 1,183 college students to explore these students' knowledge of vaccine costs and whether differences exist between groups. Data suggests many college students do not know that COVID-19 vaccinations are free: Asian American/Pacific Islander students were most aware of COVID-19 vaccines being free (55.7%), while Black/African American students were least aware (41.4%). Moreover, women were more aware of free COVID-19 vaccines (50.2%) than men (40.1%), first generation college students were more aware (50.9%) than non-first generation college students (42.7%), and students without disabilities (50.7%) were more aware than students with disabilities (26.6%). Implications for health communication, vaccine awareness, and higher education policy are addressed.

Twitter has transformed into one of the main platforms for citizen engagement today. However, even though previous studies have focused on opinions about vaccines in general or about specific vaccines, opinions towards COVID-19 vaccines on Twitter have not been researched to date. The objective of this research is, by using social network analysis and language processing tools, to examine the degree to which the opinions and interactions present on Twitter are favorable or unfavorable towards the main COVID-19 vaccines. In addition, the relevance of each of the vaccines is studied, as well as their level of controversy. Likewise, the present study investigates, for the first time, the conversation from different perspectives including the content and also the participants, by analyzing in detail the verified accounts and using tools for the detection of bots. In global terms, the results from verified accounts show a moderate favorability towards the COVID-19 vaccines, the most accepted being those of Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Sputnik V. On the other hand, the vaccine that attracts the most attention is the Russian Sputnik V, which is also the most controversial, behind those developed in China. Finally, verified users are shown to be relevant agents in the conversation due to their greater capacity for dissemination and reach, while the presence of bots is practically non-existent.

Chemistry and biochemistry instructors must help students to develop the ability to visualize and manipulate 3D biomolecular structures and critically analyze them and their relationship to their functions. To do this, representative systems must be strategically selected to stimulate students' motivation. Since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic caused by a new beta-coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2 in early 2020, huge efforts are being taken by researchers to learn in depth how this virus works and a lot of scientific results are continuously reported. Many of them focus on the structural features of the viral spike glycoprotein and their relation with the vaccine development. This paper presents a series of workouts that deep in to the structural characteristics of the spike protein S SARS-CoV-2 virus and the structural features involved in its infection process, using free online resources such as the PDB and the computer program PyMOL. This type of activity is intended to engage structural biology students in examining these macromolecules and others to help establish procedures for controlling COVID-19 and other future infectious diseases. PyMOL session files and student activities are provided.

This survey explores attitudes of 245 currently enrolled college students with disabilities regarding their comfort taking a COVID-19 vaccine. Results suggest most college students with disabilities are willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine if their institution requires it to return to campus in subsequent semesters. However, many students with disabilities would not feel comfortable with a vaccine mandate mid-semester and would consider withdrawing, especially among older students with disabilities and first generation college students with disabilities. Implications for postsecondary policy and leadership are addressed.