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RESEARCH PAPER
Examining Scientific Literacy through New Media
1
East China Normal University, CHINA
2
Henan Normal University, CHINA
3
University of North Texas, USA
Online publication date: 2019-07-10
Publication date: 2019-07-10
EURASIA J. Math., Sci Tech. Ed 2019;15(12):em1785
KEYWORDS
new mediascience-oriented websitesscience-oriented microblogsscientific literacyscientific knowledge
TOPICS
History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Mathematics, Science, or Technology
in Relation to Educational Issues and SettingsWeb 2.0 Tools for EducationScience Education
ABSTRACT
This study aims to evaluate the impact of new media on scientific literacy. Content analysis with a coding scheme was performed on 42 filtered websites and 20 microblogs to analyze the role of new media in disseminating scientific knowledge. The results showed that the quality of science-oriented websites was higher than that of microblogs. Although both types of new media include valid and accurate information, concerns have been expressed regarding the lack of in-depth analysis of scientific knowledge. In addition, a questionnaire was administered to 1,870 sampled college students to determine their scientific literacy levels. According to the results, the use of science-oriented microblogs does not produce a statistical difference, whereas students who use science-oriented websites have higher scientific literacy level than the non-users. Furthermore, students’ identification ability for scientific information from new media is significantly correlated with their scientific literacy. Students’ education, major, and identification ability contributed to their scientific literacy. Suggestions about how to improve the quality of science-oriented new media and how to develop students’ scientific literacy through new media have been discussed.
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