An Alberta high school science teacher is using humour — and his beloved dogs — to battle misinformation about the novel coronavirus.
Jason Zackowski has a degree in Science and teaches Chemistry at Lindsay Thurber High School in Red Deer.
He also hosts a podcast called The Science Pawdcast and his two adorable pups Bunsen Berner and Beaker have more than 75,000 followers on Twitter.
“There just seems to be an easier way for people to connect with a dog giving you science rather than somebody really important — even like Dr. Deena Hinshaw,” Zackowski said.
“Their engagement is through the roof so I thought: let’s use them to dispel some misinformation.”
Zackowski describes the dogs as “science communicators.”
“We’re in a time right now where misinformation spreads faster than true information. So anybody that wants to spread good science, we have to use everything we can. And if we have to use dogs, we should use dogs. They’re adorable.”
So far, the team has posted four COVID-19 videos online. They’re used at the high school, but Zackowski wanted to reach a wider audience.
“We wanted to arm them with information that was from reliable sources, and I thought: let’s make it funny.”
He says his students roll their eyes at his project, but it’s been very well received outside the class.
“The feedback I’ve got from the public is way different from what I’ve got from my students,” Zackowski said.
One video explains how the Pfizer mRNA vaccine works.
“There’s so much misinformation. If you type it in and you go to the wrong place on the internet, somebody’s going to tell you it’s going to turn you into a bat, or that Bill Gates developed it to put computer chips in it or something crazy like that.
“I just wanted to distill the science to as simple as possible and it’s been pretty well received for sure.”
Zackowski plays the role of COVID-19 in that video.
“My son is in it and he’s smacking me with the pool noodle. That was our favourite part to shoot,” he said with a laugh.
Another video explains how these vaccines are being developed in record time. Of course, the episodes feature Bunsen and Beaker as the virus characters.
“We kind of knew what this dog looked like and we did a lot of research on them. And a new dog comes along that’s a little crazy, but we can use the old information on the new virus. And that’s one of the reasons the vaccine was developed so quickly.”
The videos have tens of thousands of views on Twitter.
While Zackowski embraces humour, he stresses the importance of critical thinking and getting your health information from reliable sources.
“Reliable sources aren’t a post on Facebook, a reliable source isn’t a meme.
“It comes from… the consensus of scientists. When all the of the scientists — or the vast majority of them — and health care professionals are making some kind of statement, that’s a reliable source.”
Find out more about The Science Pawdcast here, find Zed Science on Facebook or follow Bunsen Berner and Beaker on Twitter.
“You’ll get a dose of science, empathy and cuteness every day.”