The most important consideration in evaluating chemistry outreach efforts is how to best use the evaluation to serve project needs. Evaluation should be about making programs more effective—at communicating ideas, changing attitudes, inspiring action, or reaching wider audiences, for example. A well-conducted evaluation typically contributes to the quality of a project by helping its leaders better define their goals, identify important milestones and indicators of success, and use evidence to support ongoing improvements. At its best, evaluation is an integral part of project design and
The National Research Council’s (NRC) Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology (BCST) and Board on Science Education (BOSE) received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a framework for effective chemistry communication, outreach, and education in informal settings, with the ultimate goal of increasing the effectiveness of such efforts in engaging the public with chemistry. BCST and BOSE are assembling a committee of experts to execute this work. To support their efforts, BCST and BOSE also commissioned this landscape study, which serves as background for the
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Grunwald Associates LLC
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This article provides a brief synopsis of the second Science of Science Communication Sackler Colloquim, held September 23-25, 2013 at the National Academy of Sciences. It presents summaries and links to relevant research that informed the meeting.
Much of science communication is peer-to-peer communication in collaborative networks for innovation from the fuzzy front-end of innovation until the marketing back-end. Scientists and engineers at meetings tables talking about new developments. Or scientists and engineers in collaboration with industry and policy makers, discussing various scenarios for implementation of e.g. health care services. However, this focus on science communication 'within the action' of uncertain development of science and technology and its attached academic domains such as innovation studies, high-tech marketing
Written in response to a previous article by Weingart and Guenther [2016] in JCOM, this letter aims to open up some critical issues concerning the ‘new ecology of communication’. It is argued that this evolving ecology needs to be openly explored without looking back to a previous idyll of ‘un-tainted’ science.
In response to Weingart and Guenther [2016], this essay explores the issue of trust in science communication by situating it in a wider communications culture and a longer historical period. It argues that the popular scientific culture is a necessary context not only for professional science, but also for the innovation economy. Given that the neutrality of science is a myth, and that science communication is much like any other form of communication, we should not be surprised if, in an innovation economy, science communication has come to resemble public relations, both for science and for
This study of the science communication views and practices of African researchers ― academics at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe ― reveals a bleak picture of the low status of public science engagement in the developing world. Researchers prioritise peer communication and pay little attention to the public, policy makers and popular media. Most scientists believe the public is largely not scientifically literate or interested in research. An unstable funding environment, a lack of communication incentives and censoring of politically sensitive findings
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Heather NdlovuMarina JoubertNelius Boshoff
Social media is increasingly being used by science communicators, journalists and government agencies to engage in discourse with a range of publics. Despite a growing body of literature on Twitter use, the communication of science via Twitter is comparatively under explored. This paper examines the prominence of scientific issues in political debate occurring on Twitter during the 2013 and 2016 Australian federal election campaigns. Hashtracking of the umbrella political hashtag auspol was used to capture tweets during the two campaign periods. The 2013 campaign was particularly relevant as a
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Merryn McKinnonDavid SemmensBrenda MoonInoka AmarasekaLea Bolliet
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development in the US are critical for global competitiveness and national security. However, the U.S. is facing a decrease in entrants to the STEM workforce which is not shared evenly across demographics. Specifically, women, underrepresented minorities, and people with disabilities obtain STEM degrees and enter the STEM workforce at levels significantly below their demographic representation in the U.S. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) program supports models, networks, partnerships and research to ensure the broadening participation in STEM of women, members of racial and ethnic groups that have been historically underrepresented, persons of low socio-economic status, and people with disabilities. This conference focuses on collective impact as a strategy to address the broadening participation challenge. Collective impact is distinguished from collaboration in that the alliances require a backbone organization to succeed. The goal of this project is to organize a conference to inform backbone organizations toward broadening participation in STEM education and the workforce.
The conference takes place at the University of California, San Diego January 20-22, 2017 and brings together Project Investigators from the Design and Development pilots, along with stakeholders in broadening participation in STEM on a local, regional, and national scale. The overarching goal of the conference is to develop the knowledge base of participants in the application of the collective impact model, and the role of backbone organizations to address specific issues and transition points of the STEM pipeline. Conference participants include K-12, community college, and university representatives; leaders in graduate education, policy makers and private sector employers. The conference includes plenary sessions, flash presentations, and interactive workgroups engaged in the development of collective impact approaches to problems in Broadening Participation in STEM. Workgroups share their insights, and audience feedback is electronically curated via Twitter and Storify. To respond in real time to participant questions or insights this conference uses the innovative platform, IdeaWave, to solicit, sort and value ideas from the attendees before, during, and after the conference. Conference results are integrated into a final report to inform the NSF INCLUDES Alliances backbone organizations. The intellectual merit of the project is that it advances knowledge about the barriers to broadening participation in STEM education and the workforce, the collective impact model, and the role of the backbone organization to guide the vision and strategy, and support the activities, evaluation, and communication of the NSF INCLUDES Alliances. The broader impact of this project is that it benefits society by informing backbone organizations, which leads to broadening participation of the STEM workforce and ultimately increases U.S. global competitiveness and national security.
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Kim Barrett
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
As the NSF INCLUDES Program seeks to scale from the Launch Pilots to the full program, achieving its goals to promote the progress of science by broadening participation will rely on the ability to successfully scale the technical and human infrastructure for collaboration across the mini-backbones and the national backbone. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is seeking support for an NSF INCLUDES infrastructure conference that will provide a forum for discussion about current and long term technical and human infrastructure needs for scaling. Technical infrastructure might refer to the functions provided by any communication, community building and collaboration tool, such as document sharing or storage. Human infrastructure might refer to data analysts or community managers.
The conference would include discussion of the structures and processes for creating a shared, overarching vision of the changes at all levels and for all groups that would be needed to promote the talent development goals envisioned within INCLUDES, supporting the current design and development launch pilots, and supporting scaling and promoting conditions for sustainability. Based on research on collective impact and improvement science in education, we would offer presentations followed by structured conversations within the setting of working sessions. The goals of AAAS for diversity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are very much in keeping with the goals of INCLUDES; thus AAAS proposes to offer its existing online platform, Trellis, to support this comprehensive initiative to develop STEM talent from all sectors and groups in our society.
The goals of the conference activity are to: (1) define short term and long term communications and networking needs that can support the pilots; (2) outline the technical specifications and human resources needed to support the pilots; (3) envision the technical, resource and human needs required to support Alliances; (4) develop design specifications for intra- and cross Alliance networking to support technical assistance, identification and curation of resources, support for communities of practice and capture of lessons learned and (5) propose tools, techniques, capacities and functionalities for an NSF INCLUDES National Network Backbone.
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Shirley MalcomJosh Freeman
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This award supports a conference and related activities which will bring together researchers, higher education administrators, industry representatives, members of professional societies, and other community members to design collective impact initiatives to improve the retention and continuation of Hispanics, women, and other underrepresented groups in STEM fields. Retention and continuation to the next step in their educational careers is a particular challenge for underrepresented minorities and first-generation students, whether in community college, four-year institutions, or graduate programs (Ishitani 2006, Sowell et al. 2015). The conference focuses explicitly on this critical issue, and will identify potential remedies that can scale across different types of institutions, communities, and underrepresented groups.
This conference will employ a collective impact, networked improvement approach to help fill this gap and engage the broader community. This approach offers a means of identifying and agreeing upon shared, measurable objectives, mechanisms for coordination across individuals and organizations, a commitment to contrast and comparison, and an ethic of continuous improvement. Drawing from the extant literature and recommendations from a wide array of stakeholders, the team will propose measurable strategies for Alliances and the National INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners that have been Underrepresented for Diversity in Engineering and Science) Network that can be implemented, tested, enhanced, and expanded. The workshop team will draw on evidence-based knowledge, leveraging findings from disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields and from differing types of institutions and educational levels to determine whether strategies identified can yield large-scale progress towards INCLUDES goals. Results will inform the INCLUDES Alliances and the backbone organization supporting the Alliances.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Marjorie ZatzAnn GatesDeborah Santiago
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The National Science Foundation's (NSF)Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) program supports models, networks, partnerships and research to ensure the broadening participation in STEM of women, members of racial and ethnic groups that have been historically underrepresented, persons of low socio-economic status, and people with disabilities.
The University of Akron will convene a two-day conference to develop a backbone organization to support the preparation and advancement of underrepresented minorities K-12 through careers in the biosciences, a high growth area for engineering (biomechanics, biometrics and biomaterials). This conference draws on the expertise of a wide range of organizations, professional associations, K-20+, community based organizations, industry and museums. The intent is to strengthen the network among participants and leverage learning on how to engage youth in the biosciences.
The results of this first conference will be a white paper that will be disseminated to several professional societies that outlines a backbone infrastructure for addressing both short-term and longer-term aspects of an NSF INCLUDES alliance centered on bioengineering, biomechanics, biomedical engineering and biomaterials.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Brian DavisCarin HelferRouzbeh Amini