Socioscientific Issues Thinking and Action in the Midst of Science-in-the-Making

Area of Science:

• Socioscientific Issues (SSI)
• Science Communication
• Public Health

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic presented complex societal challenges requiring scientific understanding and decision-making.
• Understanding how students' perceptions of science and their social identities influence their behaviors and support for public health measures is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the associations between COVID-19 science perceptions, sociocultural membership, and university biology students' behaviors and support for future pandemic responses.
• To explore how political orientation moderates the relationship between trust in scientific models and personal COVID-19 actions.

Main Methods:

• Hierarchical moderated multiple regression analyses were employed.
• Data were collected from 557 university biology students regarding their COVID-19 behaviors and support for societal responses.

Main Results:

• COVID-19 mitigating actions were positively associated with spread prevention knowledge, liberal political orientation, being female, and disbelief in misinformation.
• Political orientation moderated the effect of trusting scientific models on personal actions, with a significant positive association observed for conservative students.
• Support for future societal COVID-19 measures was linked to liberal political orientation, knowledge, disbelief in misinformation, trust in scientific models, and belief in personal action's role.

Conclusions:

• Sociocultural membership, personal biases, and trust in science interactively influence socioscientific decision-making among students.
• Effective science communication strategies must acknowledge sociocultural variations to enhance trust in science and promote responsible actions.