Educating primary students on infectious diseases and nurturing character and values using socioscientific instruction

Abstract

Outbreaks of infectious diseases, namely dengue, rabies, leptospirosis, influenza, and chickenpox, have sparked the need to educate people on the diseases. For this purpose, infectious disease-based socioscientific instruction (IDSSI) was developed, and the effects of IDSSI in enhancing knowledge of diseases and nurturing character and values were measured. A total of 85 11-year-old fifth-year students from a primary school were randomly assigned to treatment (N = 44) and comparison groups (N = 41) in this quasi-experimental study. The quantitative ANCOVA analysis and qualitative interview findings revealed that fifth-year students’ knowledge of infectious diseases improved with IDSSI, and IDSSI also helped to cultivate the students’ character and values. The findings suggest that IDSSI is a practical approach that can be incorporated within the primary science curriculum to educate students on the diseases beginning at an early stage.