Trust in Science: Developing a Learning Environment to enable Public Understanding and Support for Evidence-based Information for Senior Secondary School Students and Students in Higher Education

Identifying early design principles in times of COVID-19

Abstract

Drawing upon international, multidisciplinary expertise and the experience of participation in a pan-European hackathon, the authors describe the development and implementation of an online learning environment. Their hackathon project, named “Trust in Science”, recognised the importance of confidence in academic knowledge in the context of current societal transformations and constitutes an extension of education on the processes and principles of research integrity (RI). RI is described here as the quality of honest and verifiable methods and adherence to professional norms in research. The authors participated in the hackathon in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent suspension of classroom education. The emerging principles presented in this report may have more general application in current educational transitions.