Children's Beliefs About the Viral Transmission of COVID-19 and the Common Cold

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

In the COVID-19 crisis, effective means of educating children about disease transmission is of vital concern, for both scientific literacy and public health. Contrary to earlier reports, evidence suggests school-age children can contract and spread COVID-19 (e.g., Szablewski et al., 2020). Children often play a role in viral transmission, given how frequently they put things in their mouths, touch their faces, etc. Public health recommendations include teaching children best practices (e.g., hand-washing) to reduce disease spread. Yet research indicates children are unlikely to engage in these practices without understanding transmission processes. Because COVID-19 is novel, it is unknown what children understand regarding its transmission. This talk reports on a study of children's and adults' understanding of COVID-19 transmission (and the common cold, as comparison), with a comprehensive, cross-age assessment with U.S. families.

We developed a survey instrument with 40 closed-ended and 13 open-ended questions to assess four components: (1) knowledge that viruses are quasi-living agents that operate via biological processes (e.g., can replicate), not just mechanical processes; (2) understanding that viral transmission processes are non-obvious (e.g., a virus is invisible); (3) how biological beliefs relate to understanding of transmission processes in a coherent manner; and (4) how beliefs regarding COVID-19 compare to those of the common cold.

Study 1 (N=240, completed, pre-registered) tested a national sample of adults via an online survey. Analyses are ongoing. Preliminary results indicate adults generally have basic knowledge of viruses (e.g., transmissibility; symptoms; incubation period), but there is also variability in their understanding of the underlying causal mechanisms by which viruses affect the body. Whereas some adults discuss viruses as requiring a host, reproducing, and evoking immune system responses, others have vaguer understandings (e.g., “It takes time to do whatever it does to make you sick”), refer to viruses as bacteria, or report that viruses eat, grow, and move (see Figure 1).

Study 2 (projected N=160, current N=88, pre-registered) investigates the same questions as Study 1 in a child-friendly format. Children (5-12 years old) are interviewed via video conferencing. Interviews are recorded, and are being transcribed and coded. Initial testing indicates that children may overbiologize viruses, often reporting that they can grow and move on their own (see Figure 2). This tendency to overbiologize also may appear in their discussion of transmission, with some children describing viruses as tiny creatures that “crawl” around and anthropomorphizing viruses by assigning them agency, character, and desire. Intercorrelations among children's performance across tasks will assess whether understanding consists of piecemeal facts vs. coherent understandings.

Findings from the project will provide information regarding gaps and misconceptions in children's understanding of the transmission of viruses generally, and COVID-19 in particular, providing data on how to target efforts to improve children’s scientific literacy and adherence to public health guidelines. It will also provide theoretically significant data relevant to STEM education regarding the coherence of children's biological theories over development, and children's informal biological theories in the context of an ongoing pandemic.

Authors

• Danielle Labotka, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
  Presenting Author

• Susan A Gelman, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
  Non-Presenting Author