Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented amounts of information communicated to the public relating to STEM. The pandemic can be seen as a ‘wicked problem’ defined by high complexity, uncertainty and contested social values requiring a transdisciplinary approach formulating social policy. This article argues that a ‘Critical STEM Literacy’ is required to engage sufficiently with STEM knowledge and how science operates and informs personal health decisions. STEM literacy is necessary to critique government social policy decisions that set rules for behaviour to limit the spread of COVID-19. Ideas of scientific, mathematical and critical literacy are discussed before reviewing some current knowledge of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to aid interpretation of the examples provided. The article draws on experience of the pandemic in the United Kingdom (UK), particularly mathematical modelling used to calculate the reproductive rate (R) of COVID-19, communication of mortality and case data using graphs and the mitigation strategies of social distancing and mask wearing. In all these examples, there is an interaction of STEM with a political milieu that often misrepresents science as activity to generate one dependable truth, rather than through careful empirical validation of new knowledge. Critical STEM literacy thus requires appreciation of the social practices of science such as peer review and assessment of bias. Implications of the pandemic for STEM education in schools requiring critical thinking and in understanding disease epidemiology in a global context are discussed.
Highlights
Résumé En raison de la pandémie causée par la COVID-19, une quantité d’information sans précédent a été communiquée au public concernant les STIM
I draw on the United Kingdom (UK) experience of the COVID-19 pandemic to show how an understanding in STEM, especially how STEM information and data are communicated and understood, builds a wider case for critical STEM literacy
STEM educators in countries that have been more effective than the UK has at controlling the pandemic would not find such fruitful ground to compose an article such as this, but I believe the argument for Critical STEM literacy is universal and holds true wherever you are
Summary
The body of literature potentially relevant to this article is vast, from research in scientific and mathematical understanding of COVID-19-related concepts and processes, through STEM literacy and public understanding of risk and aspects of public behaviour. Graph comprehension is not just affected by the visual characteristics of graphs outlined above and by the viewers’ prior knowledge and expertise in associated skills such as graphical, explanatory and reasoning skills (Shah et al, 2005) These authors warn that acceptance of a particular theory or assumed familiarity with data can lead people to see trends in data that are not really there. It seems our established views and information overload including that communicated graphically can make us ‘data blind’. This has been a prescient danger in the use of data streams in coronavirus government and media updates, especially in the UK, as we shall see later
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