The role of blogs and news sites in science communication during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We present a brief review of literature related to blogs and news sites; our focus is on publications related to COVID-19. We primarily focus on the role of blogs and news sites in disseminating research on COVID-19 to the wider public, that is knowledge transfer channels. The review is for researchers and practitioners in scholarly communication and social media studies of science who would like to find out more about the role of blogs and news sites during the COVID-19 pandemic. From our review, we see that blogs and news sites are widely used as scholarly communication channels and are closely related to each other. That is, the same research might be reported in blogs and news sites at the same time. They both play a particular role in higher education and research systems, due to the increasing blogging and science communication activity of researchers and higher education institutions (HEIs). We conclude that these two media types have been playing an important role for a long time in disseminating research, which even increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. This can be verified, for example, through knowledge graphs on COVID-19 publications that contain a significant amount of scientific publications mentioned in blogs and news sites.

Public Perception of COVID-19 Vaccination in Italy: The Role of Trust and Experts' Communication.

Objectives: Vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 throughout the world are not only a major organisational challenge, but also a communication and social challenge. Recent data from several countries show that a relevant proportion of citizens either do not plan to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or would rather postpone their vaccination. We argue that such attitudes are not the result of generalised scepticism about vaccination, nor of generalised distrust in science. Methods: We analysed data from three survey waves on attitudes to vaccination against COVID-19 conducted in Italy in October 2020, January 2021, and May 2021 in the context of the Science in Society Monitor. Results: Positive evaluations of experts' communication and trust in their contribution-as well as in that of health institutions, local authorities, and healthcare workers-play a key role in understanding the willingness to be vaccinated. Conclusion: Relevant implications can be drawn in terms of communication efforts and institutional strategies that are essential to build effective and inclusive vaccination campaigns.

Expanding the Scope of Citizen Science: Learning and Engagement of Undergraduate Students in a Citizen Science Chemistry Lab

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed public health and wellbeing at the forefront of public concerns and interests, transforming the ways people interact and engage with science. One way to support and expand such engagement is through citizen science, which has seen huge growth over the past decade. Since many scientific fields are still largely underrepresented within citizen science, this paper explores the expansion of citizen science into new fields and settings. The study examines the learning processes and outcomes of students participating in a lab-based chemistry citizen science initiative, Breaking Good, and explores the “why,” “how,” and “what” of laboratory learning. Our findings reveal a dynamic learning environment characterised by the hands-on, authentic, and novel science experience within these labs. The broader context afforded by a citizen science approach was found to enhance student knowledge of course content and knowledge of both the process and nature of science alongside increased motivation. As universities are ideally placed to incorporate citizen science into higher education teaching, this paper calls for research institutions to take a leading role in this process, promoting student learning and the development of scientific fields by expanding the scope of citizen science. © 2021 Ubiquity Press. All Rights Reserved.

Perceptions of the European Space Sector: Youth Engagement With Space Education Events

Space education not only plays a key role in helping young people understand the natural world and their impact on the planet but is also vital in ensuring that future generations can make meaningful contributions to the space sector at all levels. Positive perceptions of the space sector can lead young people to take roles where they can contribute to new knowledge, develop new technologies, and tackle societal challenges. As the relationship between science and society is tested by global events-such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic-scientific trust and accountability have become topics of frequent and public debate. The way in which young people engage with space education and perceive their potential involvement with the space sector is of greater importance now than ever before. This paper describes a two-year European space education project that was carried out before and during the COVID-19 global pandemic. An evaluation of the project activities showed that young people are generally enthusiastic about space, but their perceptions of the European space sector-and their connections to it-are less positive. Recommendations are made on the challenges facing the space sector and how it needs to adapt to better support the development of a more inclusive space education community.

Gifted Students' Decisions and Justifications on a Socio-Scientific Dilemma Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The study focuses on the socio-scientific dilemma which arises in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and is frequently voiced in the society and media: "Should we get a COVID-19 vaccine or not?" The study group of the study were selected via holistic single case study design, one of the qualitative research methods, is comprised of gifted students (n:32). As a result of the study, it was determined that the students made positive and negative decisions regarding getting vaccinated, and some of them stated that they would decide to get vaccinated or postpone the decision depending on whether some criteria would be met. The justifications proposed by the students making a positive decision include protection against the virus, fear of being infected and increasing number of deaths while the students making a negative decision gave justifications including not trusting the WHO (World Health Organization) and the vaccines produced by other countries, wanting to develop immunity through natural ways and believing that free vaccine is dangerous. Some of the students stating that they would decide depending on whether the criteria would be met emphasized some criteria such as the vaccine's being tried and approved, development of the vaccine in their own country and its content's being harmless.