Learning and Teaching about COVID-19: Engaging Students, Teachers and Families in Understanding Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has put front and center the need for learning and teaching about epidemics, as the participation and actions of all citizens are critical in containing and preventing the spread. In this symposium we are presenting current, on-going research on learning and teaching about infectious diseases that examines (1) K-12 students’ understanding of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, (2) family interactions around making sense of COVID-related science information, (3) game designs to address COVID misconceptions, (4) computational modeling tools to help students understand disease vectors, and (5) virtual epidemics to provide students with online experiences about disease spread and prevention. Panelists will present findings from their on-going studies and discuss what research directions learning sciences can take to promote health literacies for teachers, students, their families and communities. Our discussant will review overarching themes then open up the panel to Q&A.