Copyright 2021 by Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. Moreover, we recognize how reasoning about societal problems, like COVID-19, necessitates the integration of knowledge and practices from multiple STEM disciplines, which is referred to as STEM convergence.Īs an example of STEM convergence, to examine how our society can flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases, we can combine data science like the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center (shown below) with computer science simulations, like this one at the Washington Post.įrom COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), 2021. Computer models of social distancing and the reopening of society have also become available through the media to design solutions to the pandemic.
Since the breakout of the pandemic, an enormous amount of data has been made available through the media to explain the pandemic. In our most recent work in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we focus on how data science made available through the media play critical roles in explaining and designing solutions to the pandemic. Below, we describe our framework along with examples of how students may experience our resources in science classrooms.Įngaging Students in Societally Pressing Phenomena and Challenges Through Data Science, Computer Science, and STEM Convergence To help science educators teach science that intersects with society and addresses systemic racism, we proposed a teaching framework (Lee & Campbell, 2020) and developed teaching materials to engage students in addressing societally pressing phenomena and challenges (Campbell & Lee, 2020 Campbell et al., in preparation). struggle to draw on science as an essential tool for making informed decisions of consequence” (Verma et al., 2020, p. We recognize that, “ithout more explicit connections between classroom teaching and learning to societally pressing phenomenon and challenges, our next generation of leaders and citizens will. Science teaching and learning play a pivotal role in addressing pressing issues and the media provide up-to-date, easily-accessible information. Additionally, the standards don’t point to the role media literacy can play in helping students address societally pressing issues or make justice-centered decisions. While the Next Generation Science Standards offer promise for making science teaching and learning more relevant to students by explaining natural phenomena and solving problems, they are not oriented toward addressing societally pressing issues or making justice-centered decisions. COVID-19 and other global societal issues like climate change, require individual, communal, and societal action by informed citizenry to abolish systemic racism, protect vulnerable people, and reverse the role humans play in planetary destruction.
As science teacher educators committed to making science relevant to students’ lives and consequential in the pursuit of justice, we highlight how science intersects with society, especially how science is represented and made accessible through the media.Ī most prominent case of how science and society intersect is currently affecting our daily lives – systemic racism in the US has resulted in disproportionate numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths among Black, Latino, and Native American populations.
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