Abstract This study investigates high school students’ health-information seeking behaviors related to COVID-19 and viruses in a rural area of the south-central United States, and how these behaviors relate to students’ knowledge, perceptions, and learning interests. Survey data were collected from 83 students in Spring 2023, during the post-pandemic period, as part of a STEM and public health unit. Drawing on frameworks from Health Information-Seeking Behavior and student interest, the study examines students’ COVID-19 information sources, how these sources relate to their knowledge about viruses and their perceptions of COVID-19, and the specific topics about which they were most interested in learning. Our analysis showed that students most frequently reported using governmental health agencies, healthcare professionals, and mainstream media as sources of COVID-19 information, while science teachers were rarely cited. Students with higher general knowledge about COVID-19 were more likely to support individual protective behaviors such as mask-wearing. Thematic analysis of students’ open-ended responses ( N = 233) revealed strong interest in learning about COVID-19 biology, treatment, and origin, with less expressed interest in vaccines. These findings highlight the importance of connecting students lived experiences with disciplinary knowledge by integrating the information sources they already use into science instruction. Insights from this work can inform science teaching and help educators better support students during future public health challenges.
Alameh et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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