Empowering Tomorrow's Scientists: a preprint and peer review platform to transform student learning and participation in science communication innovations

Scientific literacy is an important educational goal, and the way scientists communicate is key to how science, as an institution, succeeds in its work. This project introduces students to science communication. Conveniently, the recent and rapid rise of preprint publication platforms means that the public now has greater access to scientific communication and dialogue that occurs through open peer-review.

This is driving the need to educate students on, and engage them in, the evolving ways in which scientists construct and communicate knowledge. The goal of this project is to engage students in authentic science communication innovations through the implementation of a preprint and peer review platform specifically designed for high school students.

To achieve this, the team will complete, test, and research a preprint platform named eiRxiv (Emerging Investigators archive, pronounced e-i-aarkive). This platform will empower high school students to share their scientific research, receive transparent constructive feedback from scientists, and become part of a peer scientific community. This project has the potential to transform students’ understanding of science communication and scientific literacy.

The study is examining how students develop their scientific literacy, science disciplinary literacy, and science identity through participation in the communication of their scientific research projects through an authentic preprint platform that models a platform used by professional scientists. The project team hypothesizes that students will make significant gains in the metrics of science literacy and science disciplinary literacy, which will facilitate their development along a continuum of science identity.

The project tests this hypothesis with an initial group of student participants, and subsequently open the platform to all interested high school students with about 1,000 students participating per year. The project investigates outcomes by employing pre/post surveys of students who submit papers to the platform and receive feedback through the transparent peer review process.

The study contributes significant new knowledge of student engagement in authentic science communication and has implications for developing science education opportunities that model evolving scientific technologies.

The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) is an applied research program that seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for funded projects.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.