Including a service learning educational research project in a biology course-I: Assessing community awareness of childhood lead poisoning

Abstract

A university course project was developed and implemented in a biology course, focusing on environmental problems, to assess community awareness of childhood lead poisoning. A set of 385 questionnaires was generated and distributed in an urban community in North Carolina, USA. The completed questionnaires were sorted fırst into yes and no sets based on the responses obtained for the fırst question, which gauged the participants' awareness of lead as an indoor pollutant at 71% (n=273). For the other questions, the yes response percentages ranged from 30%-67%, with the exception of the fifth question, which was on awareness of lead's particular impact on children that received the largest percentage of total responses (85%; 327/385). Using Chi square (χ2) analysis, the study revealed that university education levels among the participants in the study significantly enhanced awareness of the body systems affected by lead poisoning (α<0.02), whereas age significantly enhanced awareness of the treatment of lead poisoning (α <0.02), its prevalence, causes, and the body systems affected (α<0.05). A majority of the participants showed interest in learning about lead poisoning (67%), but perhaps not only through a university seminar (42%). The project showed that involvement of students in innovative communication avenues between universities and communities, aimed at enhancing public awareness of a major environmental health risk, is possible through a biology course project in which students are part of the project's development, implementation and analysis. Also, such an educational research project can, despite some limitations, offer educational opportunities that can intensify the students' interest in the course and knowledge of the research topic.

Keywords

• childhood lead poisoning, community awareness, service learning

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