Science news is an important part of many Americans’ daily lives. Roughly half get science news on a regular basis, and about a third actively seek it out. These active science news consumers are more likely than others to say the general news media gets the facts about science right most of the time and to trust these sources. They are also more likely to discuss science news with friends and family, and to follow scientists or science-related pages on social media.
While Americans have a wide range of concerns about the way science is covered in the news, they tend to have more positive opinions about the quality of science journalism overall than about the accuracy of specific scientific findings – such as global climate change, childhood vaccines or genetically engineered crops. This may be because they recognize that it is very difficult to make accurate predictions based on ongoing research, and because the results of any one study rarely answer all questions about a particular topic.
Educators also turn to Science News Explores for timely accounts of new developments across STEM disciplines. Designed for students in middle and high school, stories include a glossary of key terms called Power Words and are linked to Next Generation Science Standards codes. To assist teachers, many online stories have teacher resources available for free download.
Founded in 2003 as Science News for Kids, it underwent a redesign and expanded offering 10 years later, becoming Science News for Students. Since summer 2022, the digital publication has been known as Science News Explores.
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