PONE-D-22-19529A socioscientific issues approach to ninth-graders’ understanding of COVID-19 on health, wealth, and educational attainmentsPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Powell,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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Ana Larissa Gomes Machado, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Dear Dr Powell

I am writing today because your manuscript “A socioscientific issues approach to ninth-graders’ understanding of COVID-19 on health, wealth, and educational attainments", which you submitted to PLOS ONE, has been reviewed. Please find the reviewer comments at the bottom of this letter.

I regret to inform you that the reviewers have raised serious concerns, and therefore your paper cannot be accepted for publication at this time. However, since the reviewers do find merit in the paper, we would be willing to reconsider if you wish to undertake major revisions and resubmit, fully addressing the referees’ concerns enumerated below.

Please note that resubmitting your manuscript does not guarantee eventual acceptance. Should you choose to do so, the manuscript will be subject to re-review before a decision is rendered.

If you chose to revise your manuscript, please highlight the changes you make in the manuscript by using the track changes mode in MS Word or by using bold or colored text. Please also upload a file that details your responses to the comments made by the reviewers. Please be as specific as possible in your response to the reviewers but do not include any author contact information and/or names as this will be shared with the reviewers and it is important to keep the review process anonymous.

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: In my opinion the research questions are out of alignment with the main story of the paper. The research questions seem to be what the students are studying however I think the real story is what the students were thinking about, and their proficiency in making reasoned claims with evidence using the data provided. Also, did this exercise help the students understand the need for using data to inform decision-making?

There is a good amount of literature on a justice orientation in science education that can be included as part of the theoretical framework. The author provides a good background and placing the pandemic in context, as well as identifying the need for a study by highlighting the skepticism and questionable claims made by public figures.

I would encourage the author to reconsider the main message from the study. In my mind the study should focus on the students’ perspectives and their thoughts rather than determining the relationship between the indicators present.

Reviewer #2: - Sampling technique is required along with the actual size of sample.

- this paper is more of qualitative research realm; so in results, discussion the data collected from focused group interview needs to be given more emphasis than document analysis.

- the real-life situations and challenges of the sample need to be highlighted more; this would be a better ground to give suggestive measures in conclusion part.

- the paper is nicely drafted.

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A socioscientific issues approach to ninth-graders’ understanding of COVID-19 on health, wealth, and educational attainments

PONE-D-22-19529R1

Dear Dr. Powell,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Ana Larissa Gomes Machado, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE