Exploration of effects of SSI program related to infectious diseases: Focus of high school students’perceptions on vaccination and health service

This study examined the high school students’perceptions on virus and vaccine after participating the SSI program related to infectious diseases. The SSI program consisted of eight topics dealing with issues, such as current status of vaccinations around the world, vaccine distribution issues, and etc. Students were engaged in the decision-making processes of socio-scientific issues related to vaccination and health services. The results indicated that after participating the SSI program, the students made decisions based on evidences rather than showing their indifference or vague trust. In addition, the semantic network analysis indicated that the centrality of the keyword of ‘reducing of the probability of infection with others’was the highest in the pretest, while the centrality of‘trust in domestic health service’ was the highest in the posttest. Before participating in the program, students had a high awareness of collective responsibility for preventing the spread of diseases through vaccination. On the other hand, after participating in the program, they became aware of the trustworthiness of domestic health services as a whole, such as the characteristics of health services and its implementation methods. School science education needs to develop problem-solving and decision-making capabilities by addressing social issues related to science, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.