Teaching Virology at School: An Analysis of Student Knowledge, Textbooks, and Other Published Materials and a Summary of Essential Virology Knowledge for Teachers

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has made explicit how little many people know about viruses, how fake news concerning these particles spread almost as fast as the virus itself, and thus how important a thorough foundation in virus-related knowledge at school is. Yet virology is not an everyday topic at school and is also rather neglected in many school textbooks. From a public health perspective, without understanding what viruses are and, particularly, in what respect they are different from bacteria and other living beings, students will not develop a thorough understanding of how to treat and prevent viral diseases. In times of rapidly spreading multi-resistant bacterial strains on the one hand and an increasing misuse of antibiotics on the other hand, it seems irresponsible not to explain to students that antibiotics cannot kill viruses, since these particles do not have a metabolism this medication could interfere with. Secondly, the alarming spread of viral diseases against which vaccination already exists (such as measles) shows that better information about vaccination in school is urgently required. All of this will be discussed in here. Furthermore, data from various projects are presented to demonstrate and analyse misconceptions present amongst students, teachers, and parents.