SUMMARY Stopping an Epidemic of Misinformation: Leveraging the K-12 Science Education System to Respond to Ebola (EBOLA 2015)
SUMMARY
This report details findings from a survey about teachers’ decisions and instruction related to the Ebola outbreak of 2014. Survey data show that almost half of elementary school teachers and over three-fourths of middle and high school science teachers addressed Ebola during the 2014–15 school year. The results indicate that student interest was the major factor in determining whether or not teachers took up Ebola in their instruction. Age appropriateness was also an important factor, especially among elementary teachers, who tended to identify it as a discouraging factor. This finding may explain why only about half of elementary teachers taught about Ebola. In contrast, middle and high school teachers saw age appropriateness as an encouraging factor.
Since the topic of viruses is commonly included in life science classes, it was not surprising to find that life science teachers were almost twice as likely as non-life science teachers to address Ebola as a part of the curriculum. In fact, over 87 percent of middle and high school life science teachers covered the topic.
Although a high percentage of teachers reported that they would have addressed the topic without the students asking, about 80 percent of those who taught about Ebola reported that their students asked first. Students not only initiated the topic, but also drove the discussion. The most commonly addressed topics by all teachers were not surprising—defining Ebola and explaining how the virus is transmitted, including how to prevent transmission. The most frequent instructional activity was question-and-answer, guided by students’ questions.
Teachers most frequently cited websites from health organizations as substantially useful sources of information about Ebola (over 80 percent regardless of grade range). In order to get a better sense of how well the teachers understood the Ebola virus, the survey asked teachers to answer a series of 20 true or false questions. On average, teachers answered three-fourths of the items correctly. In contrast, the majority of teachers answered two questions incorrectly. About 60 percent of teachers incorrectly answered a question on whether a drug was available for treating people infected with the Ebola virus. Interestingly, the other question related to a topic teachers reported addressing the most in their classroom: how Ebola is transmitted and how to prevent the transmission. This question was answered incorrectly by more than two-thirds of teachers, regardless of grade range. The large overlap between the percentage of teachers who taught about the transmission of Ebola and the percentage of teachers who missed those transmission questions indicates that many teachers may have provided students with incorrect information.
One of the largest differences between those who did and did not teach about Ebola was confidence in their knowledge of Ebola. Interestingly, teachers’ confidence scores did not seem to reflect their test scores. Specifically, teachers seemed less confident than their test scores would suggest. This finding was evident in individual items as well.
Although a high percentage of teachers reported that they would have addressed the topic without the students asking, about 80 percent of those who taught about Ebola reported that their students asked first. Students not only initiated the topic, but also drove the discussion.