This paper was presented at the 10th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST-10). The authors conducted a survey to lay the groundwork for a national survey to determine the relative importance of science communication to university scientists and engineers, to reveal what factors facilitate or impede communication of science to the non-specialist public on communicating their research, and to provide evidence to substantiate where resources should be targeted and to help develop programming for innovative and effective public engagement.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Susi Sturzenegger-VarvayanisGina EoscoSara BallKelvin LeeMegan HalpernBruce Lewenstein
Today, most scientific institutions acknowledge the importance of opening the so-called "ivory tower" of academic research through popularization, industrial innovation or teaching. However, little is known about the actual openness of scientific institutions and how their proclaimed priorities translate into concrete measures. This paper helps getting an idea on the actual practices by studying three key points: the proportion of researchers who are active in dissemination, the academic productivity of these active scientists, and the institutional recognition of their activity in terms of
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Pablo JensenJean-Baptiste RouquierPablo KreimerYves Croissant
The middle grades are a crucial time for girls in making decisions about how or if they want to follow science trajectories. In this article, the authors report on how urban middle schoolgirls enact meaningful strategies of engagement in science class in their efforts to merge their social worlds with the worlds of school science and on the unsanctioned resources and identities they take up to do so. The authors argue that such merging science practices are generative both in terms of how they develop over time and in how they impact the science learning community of practice. They discuss the
The Coalition for Science After School (CSAS) was established in 2004 in response to the growing need for more STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning opportunities in out-of-school time. CSAS sought to build this field by uniting STEM education goals with out-of-school time opportunities and a focus on youth development. Over a decade of work, CSAS Steering Committee members, staff and partners advocated for STEM in out-of-school-time settings, convened leaders, and created resources to support this work. CSAS leadership decided to conclude CSAS operations in 2014, as the STEM in out-of-school time movement had experienced tremendous growth of programming and attention to science-related out-of-school time opportunities on a national level. In its ten-year strategic plan, CSAS took as its vision the full integration of the STEM education and out-of-school time communities to ensure that quality out-of-school time STEM opportunities became prevalent and available to learners nationwide. Key CSAS activities included: (1) Setting and advancing a collective agenda by working with members to identify gaps in the field, organizing others to create solutions that meet the needs, identifying policy needs in the field and supporting advocates to advance them; (2) Developing and linking committed communities by providing opportunities for focused networking and learning through conferences, webinars, and other outreach activities; and (3) Identifying, collecting, capturing, and sharing information and available research and resources in the field. The leadership of the Coalition for Science After School is deeply grateful to the funders, partners, supporters, and constituents that worked together to advance STEM in out-of-school time during the last decade, and that make up today's rich and varied STEM in out-of-school time landscape. We have much to be proud of, but as a movement there is much more work to be done. As this work continues to expand and deepen, it is appropriate for the Coalition for Science After School to step down as the many other organizations that have emerged over the last decade take on leadership for the critical work that remains to be done. A timeline and summary of CSAS activities, products, and accomplishments is available for download on this page. All resources noted in the narrative are also available for download below.
The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), as an active cultural promoter, implemented a virtual museum system in order to help and develop expression related to art, science and humanities. The UNAM's cultural heritage is, as in many other universities, a vast number of different kinds of objects, ranging from painting and sculpture to numismatics and architecture, from traditional art to modern multimedia-based exhibits to Scientific Collections. It is impossible to exhibit it all in a single place in an orderly fashion. The Virtual Museum of the University's Cultural Heritage
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Francisco CaviedesEsther de la HerranAndrea VitelaA. Libia CervantesJose MondragonAlma RangelJose SilvaIldiko PelczerFrancisco SalgadoAdidier Perez-GomezCarolina Flores-IllescasJose CasillasGraciela de la TorreJorge ReynosoRafael SamanoJulia MolinarJose Manuel MaganaAlejandrina EscuderoAriadna Patino
In September 2008 the Greater Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) hosted the one-day symposium Connecting Society with Science: the Greater Potential of Giant Screen Experiences. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the symposium was held in Jersey City, New Jersey, one day before the GSCA International Conference and Trade Show.
In 2008, CSAS conducted a market study in partnership with the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment (REA) at the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS), University of California, Berkeley, with funding from the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. The purpose of the market study was to help answer some highly practical questions for CSAS, including: Which after-school programs are "doing" science? What exactly are they doing? What are their needs? By collecting data that answered these questions, CSAS proposed to gain a greater understanding of existing science programs in after-school settings
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bernadette ChiJason FreemanShirley Lee
The on-line information environment has changed dramatically since the earliest on-line systems emerged in the early 1960s. Growth has occurred both in the number of users of on-line information as well as in the number of on-line information resources and providers. The rate of growth in each of these areas increased exponentially with the availability of the public Internet and the World Wide Web. These foundational technological developments created an environment in which almost anyone can “publish” or function as an information provider and have virtually instantaneous access to massive
This guide grew out of the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Museums and Libraries Engaging America’s Youth initiative and draws on the wide body of research and knowledge from the fields of youth development and informal learning, as well as from the rich experience of museum and library professionals and volunteers. The specific goals of the initiative are: to examine what works, to share best practices to encourage effective programming to build bridges with policy makers.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mary Downs
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This poster session showcases ten examples of expertise development in everyday domains of personal relevance and consequence to learners. The collection of cases highlighted in the posters stem from ethnographic research studies investigating learning from socio-cultural-historical perspectives. In each poster, authors describe their ethnographic project, explicate a case of expertise development, and detail the specific learning processes, practices, and pathways associated with that expertise development. Implications for understanding personally relevant and consequential learning for the
This review takes a critical position with regards to Treagust and Duit’s article, Conceptual Change: A discussion of theoretical methodological and practical challenges for science education. It is proposed that conceptual change research in science education might benefit from borrowing concepts currently being developed in the sociology of emotions. It is further suggested that the study of social interaction within evolving emotional cultures is the most promising avenue for developing and extending theories about conceptual change.
Argumentation has become an increasingly recognized focus for science instruction---as a learning process, as an outcome associated with the appropriation of scientific discourse, and as a window onto the epistemic work of science. Only a small set of theoretical conceptualizations of argumentation have been deployed and investigated in science education, however, while a plethora of conceptualizations have been developed in the interdisciplinary fields associated with science studies and the learning sciences. This paper attempts to review a range of such theoretical conceptualizations of