Dr. Barbara Flagg, Director of Multimedia Research, implemented a summative evaluation of "Talk of the Nation: Science Friday." a weekly two-hour science talk show hosted by science correspondent Ira Flatow. The evaluation focused on what demographic or background characteristics relate to whether or not one listens to Science Friday and to frequency of listening; what effects the series has on listeners and what kind of actions the series has prompted in listeners. Surveys were mailed to random names, stratified by gender, drawn from the member subscriber lists of public radio stations in
This dissertation focuses on an integral aspect of public opinion formation — individual selectivity of information. Principally, I seek answers about why individuals opt for certain media. Broadly, my research is guided by the following question: How do communication contexts and individual traits contribute to and motivate individuals’ selectivity? Though there have been many studies on the phenomenon of selective exposure in political science and political communication, my research is conducted in the context of a scientific issue. There is relatively little clear empirical data
Despite new governmental initiatives aiming to engage the general public in policymaking related to nuclear energy, little is known about how expert stakeholders involved in the decision-making process perceive such activity. This study examines how a series of social, cognitive and communication factors influences expert stakeholders’ attitudes toward public participation in policy decisions related to nuclear energy. Specifically, using data from a survey of 557 experts identified through content analyses of public meeting records, we find that among those perceiving public opinion as being
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Nan LiLeona Yi-Fan SuXuan LiangDominique BrossardDietram Scheufele
Novice teachers require support in learning to attend and respond to students’ thinking as expert teachers do. Video clubs in which groups of teachers respond to videos of one another’s classrooms can help. Van Es and Sherin describe how a video club helped teachers make space for student thinking to emerge, probe students’ understanding, and learn from their students while teaching.
This is a 90-minute feature documentary film about falconry from award winning filmmakers Elisabeth Haviland James, Revere La Noue and Robert Nixon. The project will create a documentary experience that connects the past to the present and weaves together distant lands and cultures though a character-driven exploration of the art of falconry.
Interest in the possible role for comedy as a medium for communicating and engaging the public in science is growing. However, current research has so far been restricted to exploring whether the content of scientific knowledge is accurate and precise within comedy, and whether the public might be said to understand science better for having watched it. In this commentary, I suggest that this approach neglects the diversity with which scientific ideas and images are used in comedy, particularly when comedy is written without the explicit goal of communicating science. I present my current
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. Hacking the Mind (working title) is an upcoming public television special exploring the science behind human decision-making.
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. Using a combination of Peg + Cat, an animated math-based PBS television series for preschoolers; professional development (PD); family engagement resources; and the existing infrastructure of a regional Head Start system, this project aims to increase participating educators’ and families’ comfort and engagement with mathematics.
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. This project develops and researches the integration of Peg + Cat (an animated, math-based PBS television series for preschoolers), accompanying digital media, and early childhood educator professional development (PD). PD is designed to enhance educators’ abilities to support preschoolers’ social-emotional learning in the context of math activities, and in turn, their interest and engagement in math. The project also includes recommendations for engaging
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. Experiments in Transmedia (NSF Grant #DRL-1516347) explores how early career adults respond to science news
stories in different media formats. As new STEM-based technologies and advances become more frequent, significantly widening the intergenerational knowledge gap, there is a growing need to understand how this group accesses, understands, and shares science knowledge.
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. The project is producing twenty videos of scientists and engineers presenting their research that are closely aligned with one hundred scientific inquiry and engineering design-based experiments and lesson plans.
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. In this project, Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) will produce Latina SciGirls, a fourth season of the Emmy Award-winning television and transmedia project SciGirls.