Soraya Kresin, Kerstin Kremer, Andreas Nehring, Alexander Georg Büssing
{"title":"Students' awareness and conceptions of science‐related communication mechanisms on social media","authors":"Soraya Kresin, Kerstin Kremer, Andreas Nehring, Alexander Georg Büssing","doi":"10.1002/tea.21973","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The rise of social media platforms and subsequent lack of traditional gatekeeping mechanisms have enabled the proliferation of scientific disinformation. Users attempting to properly evaluate scientific information and disinformation are immensely obstructed by media communication mechanisms such as filter bubbles and echo chambers. Given the recent approaches to reconceptualizing the nature of science represented by facets of media communication mechanisms, we report results from seven focus groups of 26 tenth‐grade students (M = 15 years; 58% female, 38% male, 4% nonbinary) investigating such mechanisms as applied to climate change content on social media. Using qualitative content analysis, we identified the students' awareness and conceptions of mechanisms such as filter bubbles and echo chambers on a continuum between rather simple and elaborate. The findings suggest that the students have a general awareness of most mechanisms based on their own experiences and describe additional media communication mechanisms, such as bots, microtargeting, and, particularly, algorithms, which appear specifically relevant in dealing with scientific disinformation on social media. Based on the results, we derive a set of needs for science educational learning materials and science media literacy to prepare students to tackle scientific disinformation on social media.","PeriodicalId":48369,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in Science Teaching","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Research in Science Teaching","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21973","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The rise of social media platforms and subsequent lack of traditional gatekeeping mechanisms have enabled the proliferation of scientific disinformation. Users attempting to properly evaluate scientific information and disinformation are immensely obstructed by media communication mechanisms such as filter bubbles and echo chambers. Given the recent approaches to reconceptualizing the nature of science represented by facets of media communication mechanisms, we report results from seven focus groups of 26 tenth‐grade students (M = 15 years; 58% female, 38% male, 4% nonbinary) investigating such mechanisms as applied to climate change content on social media. Using qualitative content analysis, we identified the students' awareness and conceptions of mechanisms such as filter bubbles and echo chambers on a continuum between rather simple and elaborate. The findings suggest that the students have a general awareness of most mechanisms based on their own experiences and describe additional media communication mechanisms, such as bots, microtargeting, and, particularly, algorithms, which appear specifically relevant in dealing with scientific disinformation on social media. Based on the results, we derive a set of needs for science educational learning materials and science media literacy to prepare students to tackle scientific disinformation on social media.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Research in Science Teaching, the official journal of NARST: A Worldwide Organization for Improving Science Teaching and Learning Through Research, publishes reports for science education researchers and practitioners on issues of science teaching and learning and science education policy. Scholarly manuscripts within the domain of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching include, but are not limited to, investigations employing qualitative, ethnographic, historical, survey, philosophical, case study research, quantitative, experimental, quasi-experimental, data mining, and data analytics approaches; position papers; policy perspectives; critical reviews of the literature; and comments and criticism.