Communicating about Technology and Research of the Large Hadron Collider: Interests, Knowledge, and Curiosities of Adult Science Center Visitors

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is one of the world's largest experimental facilities, where thousands of scientists and engineers from over 100 countries collaborate to shed new light on the workings of our universe. As LHC research, such as the discovery of the Higgs boson, continues to hit the news in future years, it will be important for educators in informal science institutions to understand how to engage their visiting public's interests and curiosities and shape their understanding regarding this leading edge research. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the "Secrets of the Universe" project has at its core a giant screen film that will explore the fundamental laws of nature under investigation at the LHC. To support the development of the film and associated outreach components, the goal of the front-­‐end study reported here is to discover what the adult science center public is interested in, familiar with, and curious about as relates to LHC technology and research. These findings were intended to help filmmakers and informal science educators understand what the visiting public brings into US science centers and to identify starting points for the film and outreach to explore what this audience may perceive to be difficult and esoteric content. Focus groups at US science centers gathered quantitative data and qualitative discussion to address three overall research questions related to the LHC facility and experiments: (1) What is the extent of adult science center visitors' awareness of and familiarity with the LHC technology and research? (2) What are the curiosities of adult visitors about LHC facility and scientific research? and (3) How interested are adult visitors in the LHC physical facility and research questions?

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