While some public works are monumental civil engineering structures like the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Harbour Bridge, most are commonplace, even invisible, and they are taken for granted. The reason for existence of public works is to provide basic services, but both large and small infrastructure facilities also present opportunities to engage the public in understanding fundamental concepts of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). We review here lessons learned in the National Science Foundation-funded Golden Gate Bridge Outdoor Exhibition project. Using the title of
Digital media have transformed the social practices of science communication. They have extended the number of channels that scientists, media professionals, other stakeholders and citizens use to communicate scientific information. Social media provide opportunities to communicate in more immediate and informal ways, while digital technologies have the potential to make the various processes of research more visible in the public sphere. Some digital media also offer, on occasion, opportunities for interaction and engagement. Similarly, ideas about public engagement are shifting and extending
This article sums up key results of a web-based questionnaire survey targeting the members of the Danish Science Journalists' Association. The association includes not only science journalists but also other types of science communicators. The survey shows that science communicators have a nuanced and multidimensional view on science communication, science, and technology. Science communicators are thus more than the "mountain guides" of science, as a recent definition describes it. The survey respondents are not just interested in helping the public at large to a wider recognition of
Astronomy from the Ground Up (AFGU) was a five year project directed by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) and funded by the NSF Informal Science Education (ISE) division (DRL- 0451933). The primary partner institutions were the National Optical AstronomyObservatory (NOAO) and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC). Between 2006 and 2008, the AFGU project hosted 6 onsite and 6 online workshops. The project provided professional development for informal science educators in the area of astronomy educational
programming. The project’s primary goal was to encourage more
Standards and Good Practice guidelines provide explicit criteria for maintaining quality and integrity in science. But research practices are now openly questioned. I defend the idea that the tension between norms and practices in scientific writing must be addressed primarily by the scientific community if quality of the sources in the process of science communication is to be guaranteed. This paper provides evidence that scientific writing and researchers’writing practices do not reflect expected quality criteria. Evidence is based on four complementary analyses of: (i) communication manuals
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) explores the Earth, the Sun, our solar system, the galaxy and beyond through four SMD divisions: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Planetary Science and Astrophysics. Alongside NASA scientists, teams of education and public outreach (EPO) specialists develop and implement programs and resources that are designed to inspire and educate students, teachers, and the public about NASA science.
Since 2011, the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE), housed at Education Development Center, has been collaborating with the National Science Foundation on a series of national and regional STEM Smart meetings, which bring together educators, advocates, policy makers, and STEM thought leaders. Particularly useful resources resulting from these meetings are easy-to-read STEM Smart Briefs on a number of STEM education issues.
Connected Science Learning is a journal around which all science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) educators can gather. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) have partnered on this National Science Foundation (NSF)–funded project to leverage our extensive combined reach across the formal and informal STEM educator communities. NSTA represents about 50,000 K–12 science educators, while ASTC member science centers and museums are in communities across the globe, reaching 100 million visitors per year, many of whom are
Over the last decade, the National Geographic Society (NGS) has been developing and supporting FieldScope, a web-based science information portal. Through an interactive mapping platform, citizen scientists have access to a wide range of tools that enable them to document and understand the world around them. By 2008, two major citizen science projects were using FieldScope, but the range of tools and the flexibility of projects were limited. NGS sought additional funding to expand the capabilities of FieldScope.
In September 2010, NGS received a award from the National Science Foundation
Over the past ten years, investments in infrastructure for informal STEM education and science communication have resulted in significant growth in the number and variety of resources and depth of expertise available to members of the STEM research community wishing to develop outreach, engagement and broader impacts activities. This report/white paper recounts some of the developments that led to the existing synergy between Informal STEM Education (ISE), science communication, and STEM research, provides examples of infrastructure and resources that support this work, and identifies areas of
Within the UNAM (The National Autonomous University of Mexico) there is an institution, the Dirección General de Divulgación de la Ciencia (DGDC) devoted to the popularization of science through different media such as museums, exhibitions, journals, books, radio and TV programs, internet, workshops for children, demos, shows, plays, summer courses and outreach programs. Most of these products and materials are planned, designed and manufactured by a multidisciplinary team of professionals in the DGDC. Some of our most outstanding projects are: the creation and operation of two science museums
The Exploratorium explainer program is not only important to the young people involved, but is an integral part of the museum culture. This initiative that started to help the youth of our community has blossomed into a program that has been very helpful to the science centre. In fact, the institution would not be complete without the fresh energy of the explainers. They help the Exploratorium to continue to give the real pear to its public.