Viruses, Vaccines and the Public

Area of Science:

• Virology and Public Health Communication
• Science Education and Outreach

Background:

• Public understanding of virology, vaccines, and infectious diseases is evolving.
• Effective science communication is crucial for addressing public health challenges.
• The University of Nebraska State Museum initiated a project to improve public engagement with virology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate public outreach materials about viruses and infectious diseases.
• To assess the impact of these materials on public perceptions and understanding.
• To investigate different learning approaches for communicating complex scientific information.

Main Methods:

• Collaboration between virologists, science writers, artists, and learning researchers.
• Development of diverse outreach materials: comics, books, and programs.
• Three learning research components: adult surveys, comparative mental model studies, and a controlled study with high school students comparing comic vs. text-based information.

Main Results:

• The project successfully created a range of public outreach materials.
• Initial research explored public opinions on vaccines and infectious diseases.
• A controlled study compared the effectiveness of comic-based versus text-based information delivery to high school students.

Conclusions:

• Public outreach materials, including comics, can effectively change public conceptions about vaccines and infectious diseases.
• Interdisciplinary collaboration is key to developing impactful science communication tools.
• Further research is needed to fully understand the long-term effects of these outreach efforts.