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The Rise and Rise of Science Festivals: An international review of organised events to celebrate science
Abstract
Recent years have witnessed a dramatic global growth in the development of large-scale public science events. Although usually grouped together under the umbrella term ‘Science Festivals’, the events differ greatly in size and scope. This paper presents the findings from a 2008/09 international survey of Science Festivals in order to compare and contrast worldwide trends. An online survey was completed by 56 self-identified Science Festivals, supplemented by a content analysis of 94 Festival websites identified internationally. This work identifies for the first time a common international definition for events which identify themselves as ‘Science Festivals’. The findings show that Science Festivals are currently particularly common within Europe; however, their popularity is growing within other regions. There is a large diversity in the scale of Science Festivals, encompassing some small, localised events reaching a few hundred people, up to nationwide events reaching many millions. Precise audience figures are not acquired by many Festivals; however, there is evidence that over 5.6 million people are reached by Science Festivals annually, with events focused mainly on hands-on activities combined with some talks, lectures, discussions, and debates. The funding and operational modes also vary significantly, with the vast majority of Science Festivals obtaining their funding from multiple sources, including government support, sponsorship, and funding grants. A considerable number of Science Festivals conduct at least an informal evaluation, with some Festivals making their evaluations publicly available. This work demonstrates that Science Festivals are an increasingly important area of science communication worthy of further research.
... The phenomenon of large public science communication events such as science festivals has spread throughout Europe and the world (Bultitude et al., 2011) with a dramatic increase in the last few decades (Cassidy, 2006). Science festivals are time-limited and recurring celebrations of science that engage non-specialists with scientific content using activities with common themes and branding (Bultitude et al., 2011). ...
... The phenomenon of large public science communication events such as science festivals has spread throughout Europe and the world (Bultitude et al., 2011) with a dramatic increase in the last few decades (Cassidy, 2006). Science festivals are time-limited and recurring celebrations of science that engage non-specialists with scientific content using activities with common themes and branding (Bultitude et al., 2011). They include a large variety of events showcasing STEM subjects through lively and entertaining events including hands-on activities, live experiment demonstrations, exhibitions, workshops, and lectures. ...
... European Researchers' Nights, supported by the European Commission's Research and Innovation Framework Programme Horizon 2020 (H2020, 2014-2020) by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, are public events dedicated to bringing researchers closer to various publics. Under the criteria set by Bultitude et al. (2011), European Researchers' Nights are considered science festivals and will be treated as such in this work. Science communication researchers argue that science festivals are ways to communicate science between scientists and different publics (Burns et al., 2003;Jensen, 2014;Jensen & Buckley, 2011. ...
In this work, we analyse and present a step-by-step guide on how to set up a valuable and informative mixed method evaluation strategy of large-scale science festivals and events. A literature analysis helped identify the best technique to set up a multi-approach methodology (multiple-choice questionnaire and silent observers). Questionnaire data was to be collected using systematic sampling. The approach was applied to a local case study to develop best practice. Its implementation was analysed and assessed to provide festival organisers with useful recommendations to enhance the evaluation strategy, and improve festival quality and researcher engagement in subsequent editions. Combining a mixed-method approach to collect both qualitative and quantitative data helped gather a good and comprehensive overview of the festival. It set a baseline for future editions to improve upon. All the evaluation efforts carried out in this work were very dependent on volunteers, therefore an effective and appropriate volunteer recruitment, training and retainment strategy was essential. This work has developed a baseline assessment of the festival establishing a professional evaluation strategy with limited funds and experience. It is a step-by-step guide for large science festival organisers who want to set up effective evaluation of their efforts.
... Studies were excluded if they: (1) used festivals to recruit participants for research, policy or service planning or prioritisation; (2) implemented the festival primarily as a health intervention (i.e. to bring about a change in health-related behaviour); (3) were published before 2000; (4) evaluated festivals with no health-related science or research remit/ not on a health topic; or (5) evaluated PE events which did not fit our definition of 'festival'. Searches were limited to English language reports of empirical studies published since the year 2000, since most PE festivals have emerged in the last twenty years [18]. ...
... In this systematic review of PE health-related festivals, eight studies were eligible for inclusion, and all were published in the last ten years, despite the science festival scene burgeoning over the last two decades [18]. PE was evaluated predominantly via mixed-methods, often using self-report questionnaires. ...
... However, the higher quality studies used a wider range of evaluation methods. Researchers are encouraged to use technology-based and unobtrusive evaluation methods [21], to reduce feedback burden on attendees and provide alternative ways to capture data [18,44]. One of the studies we included used social media data [36] and another avoided using an evaluation form completely, in favour of observation and frequency counts of activity output [42]. ...
The evaluation of public engagement health festivals is of growing importance, but there has been no synthesis of its practice to date. We conducted a systematic review of evidence from the evaluation of health-related public engagement festivals published since 2000 to inform future evaluation. Primary study quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Extracted data were integrated using narrative synthesis, with evaluation methods compared with the Queen Mary University of London public engagement evaluation toolkit. 407 database records were screened; eight studies of varied methodological quality met the inclusion criteria. Evaluations frequently used questionnaires to collect mixed-methods data. Higher quality studies had specific evaluation aims, used a wider variety of evaluation methods and had independent evaluation teams. Evaluation sample profiles were often gender-biased and not ethnically representative. Patient involvement in event delivery supported learning and engagement. These findings and recommendations can help improve future evaluations. (Research Registry ID reviewregistry1021).
... During this phase of analysis, we also identified four common characteristics of science festivals: (1) an intent to increase public awareness of science, (2) an intent to encourage young children to pursue careers in STEM, (3) the use of hands-on or otherwise interactive programming, and (4) a reliance on inter-organizational collaboration. These commonalities amplify the widely employed science festival typology developed by [Bultitude, McDonald and Custead, 2011]. ...
... An a priori coding scheme guided the collection and tagging of any information contained within the descriptions which was deemed to be relevant to the analysis. A priori codes were generated from the findings of Wiehe [2014] and Bultitude, McDonald and Custead [2011] and attended to the various dimensions of science festivals, including size, duration, geographic reach, theming, and programming. When articles did not describe the science festivals in question, the descriptions were classified as missing. ...
... In employing this methodology, we utilized a combination of inductive and deductive coding techniques. Some of our initial codes were developed based on previous research related to the nature of festivals, notably: Wiehe [2014], Davies [2015] and Bultitude, McDonald and Custead [2011]. Other codes were developed as we became increasingly familiar with the data as it was presented in festival web sites, annual reports, and social media pages. ...
The modern science festival movement has grown significantly since the Edinburgh International Science Festival launched in 1989. Hundreds of science festivals now occur annually and vary widely. This article examines how the term “science festival” is used within research and practice. We find that most research articles fail to describe the science festivals they study. A subsequent analysis of festival websites and other publicly available information confirms the wide variability of science festival formats, which suggests the need for descriptive information about science festivals in scholarly work.
... The popularity of these events started to increase in the 1990s, but the Edinburgh International Science Festival in 1989 was the first science festival with modern characteristics (Cassidy 2006). According to research conducted in 2008 and 2009, almost half of the 56 science festivals included in the survey were founded between 2006 and 2009 (Bultitude et al. 2011). During the twenty-first century, science festivals have gained an important position in public life and have evolved into a key tool for science communication and public engagement with science. ...
... Although there is not a widely accepted definition of a science festival, we employ Bultitude and colleagues' characterization (Bultitude et al. 2011) of a science festival as having the following qualities: ...
... A systematic science festival categorization has been attempted by a few research teams (such as Bultitude et al. 2011;EUSCEA 2005). This paper offers an overview of the wide science festival spectrum with six principal characteristics of those events: main objectives; venue type; organizations involved in managing and delivering the event; activities' facilitators; target audience; and science communication activities' formats. ...
Science festivals have their roots in the annual conference of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, which was founded in 1831 and later renamed the British Science Festival. The modern concept of a science festival, as we know it today, first emerged in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1989. The prevalence of science festivals has grown dramatically within the past decade, cementing their status as a global phenomenon. Between them, they share a few common characteristics of transiency, a high level of public engagement, a time-limited nature and a heterogeneous target group. However, they do not constitute a uniform set of events,as different kinds of science festivals have thus far been developed. This chapter aims to review the notion of science festivals and highlight their diversity and main characteristics. Special attention is paid to science festivals in Greece. Moreover,a brief overview of recent research data, as well as an overview of the limitations of existing studies in the field of science festivals’ evaluation, is presented. Subsequently, a theoretical and methodological framework for the study of science festival activities’ analysis, design and evaluation is proposed. Finally, suggestions for future research in the field of science festivals are discussed.
... The popularity of these events started to increase in the 1990s, but the Edinburgh International Science Festival in 1989 was the first science festival with modern characteristics (Cassidy 2006). According to research conducted in 2008 and 2009, almost half of the 56 science festivals included in the survey were founded between 2006 and 2009 (Bultitude et al. 2011). During the twenty-first century, science festivals have gained an important position in public life and have evolved into a key tool for science communication and public engagement with science. ...
... Although there is not a widely accepted definition of a science festival, we employ Bultitude and colleagues' characterization (Bultitude et al. 2011) of a science festival as having the following qualities: ...
... A systematic science festival categorization has been attempted by a few research teams (such as Bultitude et al. 2011;EUSCEA 2005). This paper offers an overview of the wide science festival spectrum with six principal characteristics of those events: main objectives; venue type; organizations involved in managing and delivering the event; activities' facilitators; target audience; and science communication activities' formats. ...
Science festivals have their roots in the annual conference of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, which was founded in 1831 and later renamed the British Science Festival. The modern concept of a science festival, as we know it today, first emerged in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1989. The prevalence of science festivals has grown dramatically within the past decade, cementing their status as a global phenomenon. Between them, they share a few common characteristics of transiency, a high level of public engagement, a time-limited nature and a heterogeneous target group. However, they do not constitute a uniform set of events, as different kinds of science festivals have thus far been developed. This chapter aims to review the notion of science festivals and highlight their diversity and main characteristics. Special attention is paid to science festivals in Greece. Moreover, a brief overview of recent research data, as well as an overview of the limitations of existing studies in the field of science festivals’ evaluation, is presented. Subsequently, a theoretical and methodological framework for the study of science festival activities’ analysis, design and evaluation is proposed. Finally, suggestions for future research in the field of science festivals are discussed.
... Science festivals as a setting to engage the public through VR Science festivals are informal learning spaces where science education, science communication, and public outreach come together in an authentic and direct way. The recent years have seen a global growth in the development of public science events leading to an increased interest to compare different kinds of events and identify common themes (Bultitude et al., 2011;Canovan, 2019;Jensen & Buckley, 2014). Because of their socially active and transitory nature, science festivals provide unique settings to gain insights into the successes (and failures) of engaging the public through VR-technology. ...
... Second, science festivals are transitory because they involve the coming together of people, furnishings, technology, emotions, etc. (Davies, 2019). This transitory nature provides rich possibilities to create emotional connections with complex and abstract scientific concepts (Grimberg et al., 2019) and leads to different interactions than one finds in other informal learning spaces (Bultitude et al., 2011;Davies, 2019;van Beynen & Burress, 2018). Activities at science festivals are characterised by short-term interactions that often arise spontaneously in collaborative settings. ...
... Our study, thus, presents empirical evidence that the unique affordances, capabilities, and features of VR-environments can be successfully used in the EPO context. Moreover, our findings contribute to a growing body of research that places science festivals as an important informal learning space onto a sound theoretical and empirical footing (Bultitude et al., 2011;Canovan, 2019;Grimberg et al., 2019;van Beynen & Burress, 2018). We anticipate future research that will further unpack the complex engagement processes that occur in VR-environments in informal learning spaces and public outreach events. ...
Virtual reality applications turn abstract concepts into experienceable phenomena and present exciting opportunities to transform science education and public outreach practices. While research has started to look into the affordances of virtual reality (VR) in the formal science education context, the potential of these technologies to enhance public engagement with science is largely unexplored. To improve the way that VR may be used in informal learning and public outreach contexts, the purpose of our study was to undertake evidence-based investigations that shed light onto the relationship between VR and public engagement. Aiming to identify and develop the benefits of VR technologies, we propose a conceptual framework for engagement with VR at a science festival that comprises four aspects of participant activity: immersion, facilitation, collaboration, and visualisation. This framework guided the research design of our exploratory case study of one VR tour at a science festival. Data included visitor surveys, video recordings, VR screen captures, and focus group interviews with outreach and science professionals. Our findings reveal important ways that VR supports visitor engagement at a science festival. More generally, these findings and our framework contribute to the ongoing efforts of engaging the public with science in more diverse informal learning contexts. ARTICLE HISTORY
... Over the past decade, evaluators and researchers have spent significant resources developing instruments and processes to understand science festivals, the audiences who attend them, and the short-term outcomes associated with these types of events. Science festivals are defined as informal science communication events occurring over a short period of time to engage visitors with contemporary science issues and research, usually via personal interactions with scientists and engineers (Bultitude et al., 2011). In recent years, the number of science festivals across the globe has grown significantly (Bultitude et al., 2011;Canovan, 2019;Fooshee, 2019). ...
... Science festivals are defined as informal science communication events occurring over a short period of time to engage visitors with contemporary science issues and research, usually via personal interactions with scientists and engineers (Bultitude et al., 2011). In recent years, the number of science festivals across the globe has grown significantly (Bultitude et al., 2011;Canovan, 2019;Fooshee, 2019). ...
... Scholarship about science festivals is still in its infancy. Modern-day science festivals were defined in the literature in 2011 (Bultitude et al., 2011), via a review of festivals in the U.K. that demonstrated the variability in both programing and evaluation efforts of the 56 festivals surveyed at that time. Regarding evaluation, Bultitude and colleagues found that the majority of science festivals surveyed evaluated their festival in some way, and approximately half of those made their evaluation results public by sharing them through their web site or by request. ...
This methodological review considers science festival evaluation and research studies that have been published in the peer-reviewed literature since 2011, when modern-day science festivals were defined formally. Since that time, the number of science festivals around the world has increased dramatically. The methods and results used to study science festivals are summarized in order to reflect on existing work within this growing sector. The existing literature base is then positioned in relation to recent recommendations for visitor studies research on informal science learning overall, to provide suggestions for expanding current practices to include new methods that have the potential to support continued learning and fill key gaps in the literature.
... The phenomenon of large public science communication events such as science festivals has spread throughout Europe and the world (Bultitude et al., 2011) with a dramatic increase in the last few decades (Cassidy, 2006). ...
... Science festivals are time-limited and recurring celebrations of science that engage non-specialists with scientific content using activities with common themes and branding (Bultitude et al., 2011). (2011), European Researchers' Nights are considered science festivals and will be treated as such in this work. ...
... Science festivities are events held at a particular time of the year, usually focusing on a specific theme, whose primary focus is science, technology, engineering, and related fields, and aim to engage non-specialists in scientific content [10]. Science festivals allow the public to meet scientists on various science and health issues. ...
... Science festivals which gain more importance every day in America and Europe, are also among the scientifically significant organizations in our country [10]. The festivals that include activities where participants are active are more effective, but these organizations have a very high budget. ...
Science festivals are organizations that aim to raise public awareness on various scientific issues and popularize science. Science Festivals' effects on participants have vital importance. Accordingly, the impact of a science festival supported by the TÜBİTAK 4007 Science Festivals Support program on students' scientific attitudes is discussed. The working group consists of middle and high school students participating in four activities. The data collection tool was the scientific attitude scale. Total attitude scores were compared according to total scientific attitude scores, gender, class level, and whether the participants followed popular science publications and participated in a science camp or scientific research project competition. Results showed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores except for the grade level. Besides, students who did not read popular science books, watched experimental videos, or participated in scientific activities such as a science camp/research project competition experienced a more significant change in their attitude scores. The effects of the activities in the science festivals be organized after that can be determined with mixed-method research. Also, addressing the changes in the curiosity levels of the participants, and examining the long-term effects of the festivals can be effective in increasing these organizations' quality. * Özlem KARAKOÇ TOPAL, karakoc@balikesir.edu.tr, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8290-54257 Hayret BAŞARAN, hayretbasaran@hotmail.com, https://orcid.org/ 0000-0003-0855-8650 BAŞARAN H., KARAKOÇ TOPAL Ö. 646 Bilim şenliğine katılan öğrencilerin bilimsel tutumlarındaki değişimin değerlendirilmesi Öz Bilim Şenlikleri çeşitli bilimsel konularda toplumun farkındalığını arttıran ve bilimi popüler hale getirmeyi amaçlayan organizasyonlardır. Bilim şenliklerinin katılımcılar üzerindeki etkilerini incelemek oldukça önemlidir. Bu nedenle TÜBİTAK 4007 Bilim şenliği destekleme programı tarafından desteklenen bir bilim şenliğinin öğrencilerin bilimsel tutumları üzerindeki etkisi incelenmiştir. Proje süresince dört etkinliğe katılan ortaokul ve lise öğrencileri çalışma grubunu oluşturmaktadır. Veri toplama aracı olarak bilimsel tutum ölçeği kullanılmıştır. Toplam tutum puanları farklı değişkenler ile katılımcıların popüler bilim yayınlarını takip edip etmedikleri, deney videosu izleyip izlemedikleri ve bir bilim kampı ya da bilimsel araştırma projesine katılıp katılmadıklarına göre değerlendirilmiştir. Bulgular sınıf düzeyi haricindeki tüm değişkenlerde öntest ve sontest puanları arasında anlamlı bir fark olduğunu göstermektedir. Bunun yanında popüler bilim kitabı okumayan, deneysel videolar izlemeyen ya da bilim kampı/bilimsel araştırma projesi yarışması gibi bilimsel aktivitelere katılmayan öğrencilerin tutum puanlarında daha büyük değişimler meydana gelmiştir. Bundan sonra düzenlenecek olan bilim şenliklerindeki etkinliklerin etkileri karma yöntem araştırmaları kullanılarak araştırılabilir. Ayrıca katılımcıların merak düzeylerindeki değişimin incelenmesi ve şenliklerin uzun vadeli sonuçlarının araştırılması bu organizasyonların kalitelerinin arttırılmasında etkili olabilir. Anahtar kelimeler: Bilim şenlikleri, TÜBİTAK 4007, bilimsel tutum, popüler bilim kitapları, bilim kampları, bilimsel araştırma projesi yarışmaları.
... Science festivals offer an example of non-formal science communication events, attracting a wide range of publics, with different ethnicity, educational levels, and interests (Wharton & Rutherford, 2011). Science festivals offer a unique opportunity for the attendees to engage with scientists and experience STEM disciplines' application in the real world (Bultitude et al., 2011). Science festivals have been also shown to enhance parents' positive attitudes towards STEM disciplines and STEM careers (Canovan, 2019a). ...
... The main engagement methods that can be found in science festivals are scientific lectures, hands-on activities, exhibits, debates and dialogues, science shows and demonstrations (Bultitude et al., 2011). With the spread of online teaching, other engagement methods have emerged. ...
Non-formal, yet educative, activities such as science festivals can positively influence the public regarding their attitude towards Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) subjects and students’ willingness to pursue STEM-related careers. We evaluate the changes made to adapt the Oxford Brookes Science Bazaar, a science festival that has been delivered face-to-face since 2008, to a virtual format in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The online festival included 28 pre-recorded and 12 live activities of different types (hands-on, demonstration, games, lectures, podcasts, virtual tours). Hands-on activities and virtual tours had the highest number of unique viewers, while lectures and podcasts were the least watched. The videos were watched also after the advertised date of the festival and reached a broader audience than the physical events. The number of participants, the holding time, and the proportion of people who filled the feedback forms, however, were lower in the online than the physical events. STEM organisations should consider hybrid events, with both virtual and in-person contents, to reach a broader audience and to create more inclusive events. We provide recommendations on how to maximise the benefit of virtual formats, including expanding blended virtual activities to reach a wider variety of age groups.
... Alongside the growing demand for scientists to find ways to engage with public audiences, science festivals have become increasingly popular as showcases and meeting places for science in the public eye, and these events have grown rapidly in number, size and scope in many countries (Bultitude et al., 2011;Durant, 2013;Wiehe, 2018). ...
... Science festivals are a thriving global phenomenon, with an estimated global participation topping 5.6 million people annually (Bultitude et al., 2011). They are typically organised as time-limited events that provide a concentrated and focused burst of activities, thereby providing a space for direct interaction between scientists and various publics at a level that would be unsustainable on a year-round basis (Jensen & Buckley, 2014). ...
Scientists are key actors in public engagement activities, such as science festivals. This study sought to explore factors that encouraged and/or deterred scientists’ participation in Scifest Africa, the flagship science festival in South Africa. A self-administered, online survey was completed by 40 scientists who participated in this science festival in 2019. The survey was comprised of a mix of closed- and open-ended questions, and responses were processed statistically and thematically. The results showed that objectives of informing, exciting and inspiring the public were key motivators, while time constraints and concerns over the efficacy of engagement were prominent deterrents. Factors linked to the legacy of apartheid in South Africa and current societal challenges, inspired a strong moral obligation amongst most scientists to give something back to society through inclusive platforms such as the Scifest. In particular, for black African and/or female scientists, being role models was a key motivating factor. Our findings illustrate the importance of context-specific factors concerning motivators for public engagement. Understanding why scientists participate in public engagement events, is crucial for festival organisers, who rely on scientists as volunteers. These insights could also help to advance public engagement with science, which features prominently in government policy frameworks.
... 10 Festivals, in particular, can be effective ways of engaging and informing the public and improving death and grief 'literacy'. 11,12 Engagement and education regarding end-oflife issues are crucial elements of the public health approach to palliative care, which emphasises universal access to palliative care through community ownership and the integration of evidence-based, cost-effective interventions at all levels of healthcare systems. 13 In WsM there has been increasing community arts investment in recent years. ...
Background
Festivals play an important role in improving death and grief literacy, enabling members of the public to engage with these often-sensitive topics. Good Grief Weston festival was co-designed and delivered with the community in Weston-super-Mare, a coastal town in South-West England with high levels of socioeconomic disadvantage but rich community assets. It was held in person over 8 days in May 2023.
Objectives
To evaluate the reach and impact of Good Grief Weston festival and gather data to inform future festivals.
Design
Mixed methods evaluation (survey and focus groups).
Methods
Online and paper surveys assessing participants’ characteristics and experiences were administrated during and after the festival. Survey participants who indicated their willingness to participate were invited to attend a focus group. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Data were collected by trained community co-researchers.
Results
Approximately 3000 people attended the festival. Of 204 completed surveys, 64.5% were from women, age range ⩽15 to ⩾75 years; 88.2% identified as White; 14.9% deaf, disabled/with a chronic condition; 18.9% neurodivergent; 9.0% gay, bisexual or queer. Festival participants were entertained (70.9%), inspired (68.5%), felt part of a like-minded community (54.3%), talked to someone new (49.2%), learnt about grief/bereavement (34.3%), shared or expressed experiences (30.3%) and found out about local support (19.7%). 71.3% reported that they felt more confident talking about grief after attending. Median experience rating was 5 (IQR 0; possible range 1 = poor to 5 = excellent). In free-text comments, participants expressed appreciation for the festival and described benefits in attending. Two focus groups were conducted (n = 8 participants, all women), lasting c.1.5 h. Focus groups added rich descriptions of the festival’s value, and data to inform the next festival.
Conclusion
Findings suggest festivals of this nature can play a central role in a public health approach.
... The promotion of science in unconventional spaces is one proposal for engagement of a diverse audience [Bultitude, McDonald & Custead, 2011;Bultitude & Sardo, 2012;Boyette & Ramsey, 2019]. These generic locations differ from informal spaces such as science museums, since visitors do not normally expect to find science there [Sardo & Grand, 2016]. ...
This practice insight describes a case study in which structured observation and questionnaires (for visitors and presenters) were combined to investigate a public science event during Brazilian National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) in 2019. A very large proportion of participants (68.6% of visitors and 25 of the 31 presenters) had been unaware of the NSTW. Among those visitors who showed initial engagement, more than half progressed towards more effective engagement behaviors. The relaxed atmosphere favored the public's participation. Activities in generic locations in less favored areas are relevant to reach out to a diverse audience. Further research is recommended for critical assessment of similar events.
... Research on science festivals has also gained momentum in the last decade (Kennedy et al., 2018;Peterman et al., 2020). Science festivals are defined as informal science communication events that occur over a short period of time to engage visitors with contemporary science issues and research, often through personal interactions with scientists and engineers (Bultitude et al., 2011). According to Durant (2013), science festivals are public celebrations of science and technology that last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks and include many different events in many different venues. ...
Science festivals are crucial events that bring together scientists and the public, where information flow and interaction are intense. The first online Polar Festival organized by TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center Polar Research Institute is one of these events. With this research, the opinions of the participants of the TÜBİTAK Polar Festival held at the national level regarding the event were examined. The study group of research determined by the maximum diversity sampling method consists of 311 middle school and high school students between the ages of 10 and 18. The research is a cross-sectional pattern research designed in a qualitative nature. Questions regarding demographic information and a semi-structured interview form regarding the participants' opinions on the Polar Festival were used as data collection tools in the study. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. In the main findings of the research, it has been determined that teachers play a key role in students' access to the Polar Festival, and the festival, in general, attracted great interest from the participants, which supports the development of positive views on science among the participants. As a result of the research, it was determined that the Polar Festival positively affected students' views on science and contributed to their environmental and polar awareness. It is recommended that science festivals organized in the field of polar sciences be sustainable and continue under the leadership of scientific institutions.
... Science festivals have gained global popularity over the past decade as part of an ongoing drive to raise participation in science, especially amongst young people from underrepresented groups. Science festivals offer an opportunity for people to engage with and learn about science in an informal setting (Bultitude et al., 2011). For universities, hosting a science festival is also seen as a way of encouraging members of the public onto campus who might not otherwise visit; many UK universities, for example Swansea, Cambridge and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) now host science festivals. ...
This paper reports findings from a pilot study undertaken at the Lancashire Science Festival to explore the impact of interacting with a scientist on parents??? attitudes towards their child pursuing a career that involves science. Parents were asked a series of questions about their science festival experience and to provide some demographic information. The key finding was that half of the respondents reported that meeting a scientist had made them more likely to think that their child could pursue a career related to science. The attitudinal shift was particularly prevalent amongst parents from low-participation backgrounds. This preliminary finding suggests that interactions between scientists and parents at public science events may offer an avenue by which to foster positive perceptions of science as a career path amongst under-represented groups.
... Wissenschaftsmuseen, Science Festivals (vgl. Bultitude et al., 2011), Wissenschaftsmagazine (vgl. Born, 2015, Science Cafés (vgl. ...
... Στην πρώτη ομάδα βιβλιογραφικών αναφορών ανήκουν οι φαινομενολογικές μελέτες, που ασχολούνται με την περιγραφική ανάλυση του πλαισίου. Μεταξύ των πιο βασικών συμπερασμάτων που προκύπτουν από τις μελέτες αυτές είναι ότι (α) το κεντρικό κοινό-στόχος των φεστιβάλ επιστημών είναι οι οικογένειες με παιδιά και το μαθητικό κοινό (Bultitude et al., 2011) και (β) το μεγαλύτερο ποσοστό των δραστηριοτήτων ενός φεστιβάλ επιστήμης χαρακτηρίζονται ως διαδραστικές (hands-on) δραστηριότητες (π.χ. εκθέσεις, εργαστήρια, ζωντανές επιδείξεις πειραμάτων, εργαστήρια και άλλα), με τις διαδραστικές εκθέσεις να είναι οι πιο δημοφιλείς για το νεανικό κοινό (Bultitude et al., 2011˙ Ramsey & Boyette, 2021. ...
This article aims to set the theoretical and methodological bases that are needed to study designers’ conceptions about the designing process of an interactive exhibition event. An interactive exhibition event constitutes the most representative and popular intervention taking place in a science festival and contains several activities with different topics, designing teams and strategies. More precisely, in
this paper it is presented a general theoretical framework derived from the intersection of three well defined research fields, whose common feature is the transformation of scientific knowledge when it becomes the object of education and/or public understanding. Thereafter, it will be introduced a functional version of a theoretical framework, meaning a framework that is adaptable to the special
conditions of the dissemination of scientific knowledge in a science festival interactive exhibition environment and, at the same time, a framework that leads to a methodological perspective of addressing the main above mentioned research question. Finally, the strategy and technique of investigating the conceptions of the designers of such science festival interactive exhibition activities will be presented in detail, while individual research hypotheses will emerge as products of this very
process of documenting the developed methodological strategy.
... Στην πρώτη ομάδα βιβλιογραφικών αναφορών ανήκουν οι φαινομενολογικές μελέτες, που ασχολούνται με την περιγραφική ανάλυση του πλαισίου. Μεταξύ των πιο βασικών συμπερασμάτων που προκύπτουν από τις μελέτες αυτές είναι ότι (α) το κεντρικό κοινό-στόχος των φεστιβάλ επιστημών είναι οι οικογένειες με παιδιά και το μαθητικό κοινό (Bultitude et al., 2011) και (β) το μεγαλύτερο ποσοστό των δραστηριοτήτων ενός φεστιβάλ επιστήμης χαρακτηρίζονται ως διαδραστικές (hands-on) δραστηριότητες (π.χ. εκθέσεις, εργαστήρια, ζωντανές επιδείξεις πειραμάτων, εργαστήρια και άλλα), με τις διαδραστικές εκθέσεις να είναι οι πιο δημοφιλείς για το νεανικό κοινό (Bultitude et al., 2011˙ Ramsey & Boyette, 2021. ...
Το παρόν άρθρο έχει ως στόχο να θέσει τα θεωρητικά και μεθοδολογικά θεμέλια για τη μελέτη των αντιλήψεων των σχεδιαστών σχετικά με τη διαδικασία σχεδιασμού δραστηριοτήτων που αποτελούν μέρος της δράσης εκείνης η οποία είναι γνωστή ως διαδραστική έκθεση ενός φεστιβάλ επιστήμης. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, κατ' αρχάς πρόκειται να παρουσιάσουμε ένα γενικό θεωρητικό πλαίσιο προερχόμενο από τρία ερευνητικά πεδία κοινό χαρακτηριστικό των οποίων είναι ο μετασχηματισμός της επιστημονικής γνώσης όταν αυτή αποτελεί αντικείμενο εκπαίδευσης ή/και δημόσιας κατανόησής της. Στη συνέχεια, θα επιχειρήσουμε να συγκροτήσουμε μια εκδοχή θεωρητικού πλαισίου το οποίο όμως να έχει λειτουργικό χαρακτήρα, δηλαδή, να είναι δυνατή η προσαρμογή του στις ειδικές συνθήκες της διάδοσης της επιστημονικής γνώσης σε περιβάλλον διαδραστικής έκθεσης ενός φεστιβάλ επιστήμης και, συγχρόνως, να μπορεί να οδηγεί σε μια μεθοδολογική προοπτική της αντιμετώπισης του βασικού ερευνητικού ερωτήματος. Τέλος, θα παρουσιαστεί λεπτομερώς η στρατηγική και η τεχνική διερεύνησης των αντιλήψεων των σχεδιαστών μιας τέτοιας διαδραστικής έκθεσης, ενώ θα αναδυθούν και επί μέρους ερευνητικές υποθέσεις ως προϊόντα αυτής ακριβώς της διαδικασίας τεκμηρίωσης της μεθοδολογικής στρατηγικής που θα περιγράψουμε.
... Proje görevleri danışmanlığına ilişkin hizmet içi eğitim almalarına ihtiyaç olduğu söylenebilir. Nitekim proje hazırlama süreçlerinde öğretmenlerin öğrencilere yeteri kadar rehberlik yapamadığı bilinmektedir(Avcı ve Su Özenir, 2018;Bozdemir, 2018;Maltepe, 2015; Ural-Keleş ve Soyuçok, 2020).Alanyazında projelerin öğrencilerin üst düzey düşünme, araştırma, iletişim ve iş birliği becerilerini geliştirdiği bulgulanmıştır(Bultitude, McDonald ve Custead, 2011;Camcı, 2008;Okuyucu, 2019; Sontay, Anar ve Karamustafaoğlu, 2019; Şahin ve Çelikkanlı, 2014; Yıldırım ve Şensoy, 2016). Bu araştırmada da proje görevlerinin öğrencilere yeni bilgiler kazandırdığı, araştırma becerilerini geliştirdiği belirlenmiştir. ...
Bu araştırmada, 5, 6, 7 ve 8. sınıflarda öğrencilere verilen Türkçe dersi proje görevleri incelenmiştir. Araştırma nitel araştırma modellerinden durum çalışmasına göre tasarlanmıştır. Araştırmanın çalışma grubu Türkçe dersi proje görevi alan öğrenciler ve Türkçe öğretmenleridir. Araştırmaya veri elde etmek için öğrencilerin projeleri incelenmiş, bunlar hakkında öğretmenlerle görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Proje görevleri ve görüşmeler tematik içerik analizine göre çözümlenmiştir. Bu araştırma sonucunda genellikle tasarım odaklı projeler yapıldığı, çoğunlukla edebiyat, fiiller, sözcükte anlam, dilimize giren yabancı sözcükler, ses olayları ve sözcük türleri konularında görev alındığı belirlenmiştir. Bunun yanında proje görevinin not yükseltmek amacıyla alındığı bulgulanmıştır. Öğretmenlerin öğrencilerin yaş grubu özellikleri, ilgi ve istekleri, kazanımlara uygunluk, oyunsu ve eğlendiriciliği, akademik başarı, ekonomiklik ve yaratıcılık ölçütlerini dikkate alarak görev oluşturduğu tespit edilmiştir. Projeler daha çok okuma, yazma becerilerine, dil bilgisi ve sözvarlığı alanlarına yöneliktir. Dinleme ve konuşma becerilerine yönelik hiçbir proje faaliyetlerinin yapılmadığı belirlenmiştir. Türkçe dersi proje görevini hazırlama sürecinde proje görevlerinin zamanında teslim edilmemesi, öğrencilerin yaratıcı ve özgün ürünler hazırlamaması, görevleri yapmada isteksiz olmaları ve görevleri yönergelere uygun yapmamaları gibi sorunlar yaşandığı belirlenmiştir. Proje görevi sürecinde yaşanan bu sorunların aşılması için öğretmenlerin daha etkili danışmanlık süreci yürütmeleri gerektiği söylenebilir.
... (British Science Association, n.d.;Cassidy, 2006). Bultitude et al. (2011) proposed some defining features of 'Science Festivals': They are time-limited and recurring, they have common themes, their purpose is to engage audiences (especially non-scientific audiences) with scientific content, and most of all, they are intended to be a celebration of science. In addition to promoting general scientific knowledge, Science Festivals are excellent events to disseminate knowledge about new, exciting and relevant development in science to the general public. ...
Non-formal learning activities have an important role in continuous education of the general audience, and thus provide an essential element in increasing evolutionary knowledge and scientific literacy for European citizens, beyond the formal schooling. This guide brings together explanations of how non-formal learning can be designed, with special emphasis on evaluating the activities. The guide describes common activity types and examples encountered in our scoping conducted via surveys, personal contacts, and literature and internet search. It also provides reflection points for practitioners (activity designers, educators, science communicators) to embed evaluation as a form of engaging activity participants, as well as a tool to assess the impact and improve practice.
... Although there is no singularly agreed definition for a science festival, the most convincing definition comes from Bultitude, McDonald and Custead [2011] who define it as: a celebration of STEM; that sets out to engage non-specialists with science; that is time-limited and recurring; and has a common theme or branding. Cheltenham Science Festival have demonstrated through BTC that theme of a science festival does not have to be around the STEM subjects and can instead be around social issues. ...
“Be the change” (BTC) was the theme for Cheltenham Science Festival. BTC set out to empower audiences as individuals and as a collective to enact positive change across a wide range of global issues linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We examine the role of theming within festivals and analyse how BTC centred social change within the science festival. We conclude by noting that science festivals do not have to have science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) themes, but can instead be themed around global social issues.
... Bütün bu etkin çalışma öğrencilerin becerilerinin gelişimini desteklediği söylenebilir. Benzer araştırmalar incelendiğinde; bilim fuarları için proje hazırlayan ve projesini sunan öğrencilerin iş birliği, yaratıcılık, kendini ifade edebilme, düşünme, el becerileri (Sontay vd., 2019); araştırma, iletişim (Şahin ve Çelikkanlı, 2014); iletişim ve kendini ifade edebilme becerileri (Bultitude, McDonald ve Custead, 2011); analitik, yaratıcı ve eleştirel düşünme (Okuyucu, 2019); yaratıcı düşünme (Yıldırım ve Şensoy, 2016); iletişim ve iş birliği becerilerinin (Camcı, 2008) gelişim gösterdiği bulgulanmıştır. Projelerin öğrencilere bütün bu katkıları dikkate alındığında proje yapma çalışmalarına daha çok öğrencinin katılması desteklenebilir. ...
Bu araştırmada Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu (TÜBİTAK) 4006 Bilim Fuarlarındaki dil projelerinin değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırma durum çalışmasına göre yapılmıştır. Bunun için önce ortaokul ve liselerdeki bilim fuarları gözlenmiş ve dil projelerini yapan öğrenci ve öğretmenler ile görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda 9 bilim fuarı, 191 proje olduğu ve bunların 24’ünun Türkçe dersi projesi ile ilgili olduğu gözlemlenmiştir. Bu projelerde 18 öğretmenin danışmanlık yaptığı ve 84 öğrencinin görev aldığı belirlenmiştir. Bu projeler birbirine yakın sayıda tasarım, araştırma ve inceleme türündedir. Araştırma konuları daha çok edebi eser ve sözvarlığı çalışmalarıdır. Öğrencilerin proje konularını merak ettiklerinden dolayı projelere katıldıkları belirlenmiştir. Yine öğrencilerin proje konusu seçiminde konunun önemliliği ve merakları etkili olmuştur. Öğrenciler proje araştırma sürecinde konu ile ilgili kaynakları taradıklarını ve iş birliği yaptıklarını belirtmişlerdir. Danışman öğretmenlere göre öğrenciler daha çok internet üzerinden kaynakları araştırmışlardır. Öğretmen ve öğrenciler proje yapma sürecinde genellikle herhangi bir sorun yaşamamışlardır. Araştırmaya katılan öğretmen ve öğrencilerin az bir bölümünün verilerin toplanmasında sorun yaşadıkları belirlenmiştir. Bu projelerin öğrencilerin araştırma, iletişim, iş birliği, tasarım ve eleştirel düşünme becerilerini geliştirdiği ve aynı zamanda konuya ilişkin bilgi düzeylerini de arttırdığı belirlenmiştir. TÜBİTAK 4006 Bilim Fuarı sayısının artırılması, bilimsel araştırma proje süreçlerine ilişkin öğretmenlerin eğitilmesi ve öğrencilerin projelere katılımlarının teşvik edilmesi önerilmiştir.
... There is plenty of literature on informal environments for science learning (Bell et al., 2009;Bonnette et al., 2019;Falk & Dierking, 2000;Hofstein & Rosenfeld, 1996) but it is hard to find a precise description and analysis of the specific approach SRW's use. Similarly, when we turn to work on science festivals (Bultitude et al., 2011;Jensen & Buckley, 2014;Peterman et al., 2020;Peterman & Gathings, 2019;Sayer et al., 2014;van Beynen & Burress, 2018) there are some mentions of activities similar to what we refer to, but they only appear marginally; those documents, for the most part, address the broad picture of the development and evaluation of larger events that also involve other activities (lectures, exhibits, science fairs and so on). ...
Science Recreation Workshops (SRW) are engaging activities intended to create scientific experiences for participants, who play with natural phenomena while they explore, discover, discuss, and learn about them. They take people into a first-hand scientific adventure. SRW’s do not demand a lot of resources to develop, that is why SRW’s groups can operate ‘guerrilla-like’ tactics: with fast-moving and small-scale actions to get people to enjoy and learn science in all kinds of contexts. It is possible to take SRW’s to a wide variety of places: museums, parks, schools, public squares, streets, marginal neighborhoods, and small towns. It could be said that SRW’s present an interesting dichotomy: their versatility allows them to go where other science communication activities cannot reach, but they hardly appear in the literature on informal science education or public communication of science and technology. SRW’s have developed without barely having scholarly discussion about them, but this kind of work poses constraints for their development. Tasks such as improving their activities, training new practitioners, and impact evaluation demand for a solid bedrock. In this article, we intend to characterize SRW’s – alongside the organizations devoted to their development–, in an initial effort to spark discussion about them.
... The festival industry has undergone rapid growth in recent decades on a global scale (Bultitude et al., 2011;Gelder & Robinson, 2009;Quinn, 2005;Stewart, 2013). As festivals grow, so does their potential to impact economies, communities and the environment. ...
Ten years ago, in 2012, the United Nations announced a global waste crisis. The festival industry produces a significant amount of waste; however, management practices and policies across locational contexts can help address sustainability goals. This study used Mair and Jago's model to understand the drivers and barriers experienced by festival organizers in Canada and New Zealand. Five key findings emerged from this study: (1) similarities in context, drivers, barriers, and catalysts exist across these two countries; (2) internal forces were generally more significant drivers than external forces; (3) waste management companies hold the potential to be a significant catalyst; (4) the most prominent barriers were a lack of resources and a lack of knowledge/awareness/skill; (5) political leadership as a contextual factor can support the adoption of festival waste management practices. Recommendations are put forth to leverage drivers and fill management and policy gaps in support of the United Nations SDGs.
... Science festivals are an increasingly popular avenue for public engagement with science, and are growing in number [Bultitude, McDonald and Custead, 2011;Science Festival Alliance, 2018]. These events typically occur in-person, but in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many science events and festivals rapidly moving online, alongside similar transitions in education, entertainment, and social events. ...
In 2020, National Science Week events shifted online in response to Australian COVID-19 restrictions. Our research captures this rapid pivot from in-person to online science events, exploring experiences through audience and presenter questionnaires, and follow-up interviews. We examine characteristics of audiences for online science events, benefits and barriers of these events, and opportunities for online engagement. Key benefits were ease of attendance, new experiences enabled online, and greater control and flexibility. Lack of social interaction, technology issues, and audience reliability were identified as barriers. Our research suggests online events operate in a different sphere to in-person events and informs the delivery of engaging online experiences.
... While science festivals have existed in some form since at least 1831 [4], they have dramatically increased in number and size in recent decades [5]. Such festivals are seen as celebrating scientific content and ideas to engage public audiences [6]. Studies that have explored why people attend science festivals have found visitors value direct interactions with researchers [7]. ...
Taking place annually in more than 400 cities, European Researchers’ Night is a pan- European synchronized event that aims to bring researchers closer to the public. In this paper audience profiles are compared from events in 2019 and 2020. In 2019, face-to-face events reached an estimated 1.6 million attendees, while in 2020, events shifted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and reached an estimated 2.3 million attendees. Focusing on social inclusion metrics, survey data is analyzed across two national contexts (Ireland and Malta) in 2019 (n = 656) and 2020 (n = 506). The results from this exploratory, descriptive study shed light on how moving public engagement with research online shifted audience profiles. Based on prior research about the digital divide in access and use of online media, hypotheses were proposed that online European Researchers’ Night events would attract audiences with higher educational attainment levels and greater self-reported, subjective economic well-being. While changes were observed from 2019 to 2020, results for each hypothesis show a mixed picture. The first hypothesis was upheld for the highest education levels but failed for the lowest levels suggesting that the pivot to online events simultaneously attracted participants with no formal education and those with postgraduate qualifications, while attracting less of those with undergraduate or lower levels of education. The second hypothesis was not upheld, with online European Researchers’ Night events attracting audiences with slightly higher levels of economic well-being compared to face-to-face events. The findings of this study indicate that European Researchers’ Night events present a clear opportunity to measure the effects of the digital divide in relation to public engagement with research across Europe.
... In the early 2000s, there were a handful of American science festivals; today more than 50 festivals celebrate STEM annually. While each festival is a unique reflection of its home institution and community, science festivals share some common characteristics and goals (Bultitude et al., 2011): (a) they celebrate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); (b) they engage the public with STEM content; (c) they are time-limited events that recur annually or biennially; and (d) they use a common theme or branding to unify their various activities. Beyond these commonalities, science festivals can differ significantly, with budgets varying by a factor of 1,000, geographic reach ranging from a neighborhood to a city to a state, length varying from one day to one month, and staffing ranging from entirely volunteer to several fulltime paid staff (Wiehe, 2014). ...
... The last few decades has seen a dramatic increase in the number of science festivals, as well as their diversity and scale [3]. Bultitude et al. [4] analyzed 94 science festivals from around the world to clarify commonalities. Bultitude et al. define science festivals as celebrations (time-limited and recurring) of scientific ideas and content with the intention of engaging non-specialists. ...
European Researchers’ Night is an annual pan-European synchronized event devoted to public engagement with research. It was first held in 2005 and now occurs in over 400 cities across Europe, with the aim of bringing researchers closer to the general public. To investigate social inclusion in these events, we conducted survey research across three national contexts (Ireland, Malta and the UK) and events in seven cities between 2016 and 2019 (n = 1590). The results from this exploratory descriptive study confirmed one hypothesis, namely that event attendees had substantially higher levels of university qualification than the national publics. This is in line with wider patterns of unequal participation in public engagement with research activities based on socio-economic status. However, we also found mixed evidence on the prevalence of ethnic minority representation among event attendees compared to the general population, thus failing to uphold the second hypothesis that predicted an over-representation of white majority participants. This second finding diverges from existing research findings about ethnic diversity amongst science communication audiences, raising the possibility that some public engagement events are over-performing on this dimension of social inclusion. Overall, the findings demonstrate that European Researchers’ Night has potential for addressing the critical goal of enhancing the diversity of audiences for public engagement with research, even as it falls short on the key metric of socio-economic diversity.
... These dynamics hold true in Europe as elsewhere. Indeed, since the 1980s there has been a steady development in European science communication as a field of practice [Bultitude, McDonald and Custead, 2011;Claessens, 2012], an educational programme [Mulder, Longnecker and Davis, 2008;Trench and Miller, 2012;Trench, 2012;Trench, 2017], and a multidisciplinary area of scholarship [Anichini and de Cheveigné, 2012;Gascoigne, Cheng et al., 2010;Guenther and Joubert, 2017;Smallman, 2016]. While national contexts remain highly specific, with these developments being articulated in quite different ways, an opening up of practices towards dialogue, engagement, and participation has been generally visible across the continent. ...
European science communication project QUEST surveyed and reviewed different aspects of European science communication, including science journalism, teaching and training in science communication, social media activity, and science in museums. This article draws together themes that collectively emerge from this research to present an overview of key issues in science communication across Europe. We discuss four central dynamics — fragmentation within research and practice; a landscape in transition; the importance of format and context; and the dominance of critical and dialogic approaches as best practice — and illustrate these with empirical material from across our datasets. In closing we reflect upon the implications of this summary of European science communication.
... Ένα τέτοιο μη τυπικό περιβάλλον μάθησης είναι και τα Φεστιβάλ Φυσικών Επιστημών. Σύμφωνα με τους Bultitude, McDonald & Custead (2011) το ΦΦΕ είναι ένας τύπος επικοινωνιακής εκδήλωσης που χαρακτηρίζεται από εφήμερο και τοπικό χαρακτήρα, προσφέροντας σημαντικές ευκαιρίες εμπλοκής των δημόσιων ακροατηρίων στην επιστήμη και στην τεχνολογία. Πρόκειται για μια σχολική δραστηριότητα που εντάσσεται στις μορφές μη τυπικής μάθησης και είναι παγκόσµια γνωστή, κυρίως, για τη δηµιουργία κινήτρων και θετικών στάσεων των µαθητών απέναντι στις ΦΕ (Levin & Levin, 1991). ...
Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι να αποτυπωθεί η εξέλιξη των απόψεων και του ενδιαφέροντος των μαθητών δημοτικού σχολείου για την εργασία του επιστήμονα μέσω της εμπλοκής τους σε Φεστιβάλ Φυσικών Επιστημών και Τεχνολογίας (ΦΕ/ΤΧ). Το δείγμα της έρευνας είναι 40 μαθητές δημοτικού σχολείου. Για τη συλλογή των δεδομένων χρησιμοποιήθηκε ερωτηματολόγιο. Τα αποτελέσματα φανερώνουν αλλαγές στις αρχικές απόψεις των μαθητών, επιβεβαιώνοντας σε ικανοποιητικό βαθμό την άποψη, ότι τα περιβάλλοντα μη τυπικής μάθησης μπορούν να λειτουργήσουν ευνοϊκά στην ανάπτυξη του ενδιαφέροντος και των γνώσεων των μαθητών για την εργασία του επιστήμονα.
... Each year, science events such as eclipse viewings, wildlife watches, meteor showers, and space launch or astronomy-themed activities reach millions of people around the world (Bultitude et al., 2011). Museums, parks, libraries, and community groups offer face-to-face and virtual events, lectures, programs, and other activities that coincide with important science or engineering related phenomena. ...
Opportunities to engage with science exist in a variety of non-formal educational contexts, but rarely have studies examined ways to leverage science interest and learning at community science events and other single-attendance occasions. This study builds on Yeager and Walton’s (2011). concept of brief, wise interventions by using open-ended prompts to explore attendees’ engagement during a solar eclipse viewing event. Written responses from 79 adults revealed multiple motivations for attendance. Further, these responses illustrated that attendees expanded their literal and metaphorical meaning making about the eclipse. We explore the utility of brief intervention prompts in the context of existing theories of informal science engagement and discuss implications for supporting and understanding visitors’ motivation and engagement at public science events.
... As demand for a STEM-literate workforce continues to grow, implementing programs designed to spark an interest in the STEM fields to younger students has been expanding in recent years [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Texas A&M University at Qatar is a branch campus of the Texas A&M University System that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in multiple engineering disciplines to students of the Middle East region. ...
... collecting or coding data). Dissemination efforts, in contrast, have remained mostly unidirectional, with the exception of science nights or fairs that can be described as interactive science communication events (Bultitude, McDonald, and Custead 2011). Such events can be quite diverse in terms of their duration, location, and organisational backing. ...
Openness and collaboration in scientific research are attracting increasing attention from scholars and practitioners alike. However, a common understanding of these phenomena is hindered by disciplinary boundaries and disconnected research streams. We link dispersed knowledge on Open Innovation, Open Science, and related concepts such as Responsible Research and Innovation by proposing a unifying Open Innovation in Science (OIS) Research Framework. This framework captures the antecedents, contingencies, and consequences of open and collaborative practices along the entire process of generating and disseminating scientific insights and translating them into innovation. Moreover, it elucidates individual-, team-, organisation-, field-, and society-level factors shaping OIS practices. To conceptualise the framework, we employed a collaborative approach involving 47 scholars from multiple disciplines, highlighting both tensions and commonalities between existing approaches. The OIS Research Framework thus serves as a basis for future research, informs policy discussions, and provides guidance to scientists and practitioners.
full text available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13662716.2020.1792274
... If these networks were used in conjunction with strategies to support efforts in languages other than English, they could effectively lower the barriers of access to knowledge worldwide. (Bultitude et al., 2011) can allow researchers to meet face-to-face and share their science with the greater public in their native language(s). ...
... New studies have recently emerged to determine the effects of implementing programs that stimulate progress in STEM education [1][2][3][4][5][6]. This paper details a five-day program, named Engineering Heroes: Qatar Special Investigators (QSI), which was established and implemented in Texas A&M University at Qatar. ...
In this paper, a model STEM program called Engineering Heroes: Qatar Special Investigators (QSI), aimed to familiarize young students with science and engineering in real life applications, is presented. The program theme is about forensic science and technology, which included science and engineering activities with hands-on projects to challenge students’ science and critical thinking skills. Throughout the program, students learned about forensic science as an application of science, engineering and technology to collect, preserve, and analyze evidence to be used in the course of a legal investigation. Participants learned the history of forensic analysis and how it evolved into today’s specialized career field. Forensic specialists include backgrounds in chemistry, physics, biology, toxicology, chemical and electrical engineering. Topics included in the program were a study of toxicology and chemical analysis, assays to determine drug contents, fingerprint development, environmental contamination, chromatography in forgery, presumptive vs. confirmatory testing, scanning electron microscopy, infrared analysis, and evidence handling techniques. The details of the program are presented, including the contents, preparation, materials used, case studies, and final crime scene investigation, which featured the learning outcomes.
... Science festivals are big organizations including exhibitions, fairs, stage shows, demonstrations and science shows, street presentations, outdoor activities, interviews, workshops, etc. (Durant, 2013). Science festivals can be organized locally in small groups or in the form of large organizations across the country (Bultitude, McDonald & Custead, 2011). Science fairs, are mostly smaller events than science festivals, where the students present their studies with their teachers, friends, parents, scientists and other people in the society. ...
Bu çalışmada ortaokul üçüncü sınıf öğrencilerinin görsel matematik okuryazarlık algılarını belirleyen bir ölçme aracı geliştirmek, cinsiyet ve önceki dönem sonu matematik başarı düzeyi değişkenleri açısından ilgili okuryazarlık algılarını incelemektir. Tarama türünde olan araştırmanın çalışma grubunu, Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesinde bulunan bir ildeki ortaokullar arasından basit seçkisiz örnekleme yöntemi ile seçilmiş üç ortaokulun üçüncü sınıflarında öğrenim gören 260 (144 kız, 116 erkek) öğrenci oluşturmuştur. Ölçek geliştirme aşamasında uygulanan açımlayıcı faktör analizi neticesinde Cronbach Alfa iç tutarlık katsayısı .92 olan dört faktörlü, 14 maddeden oluşan üç dereceli Likert tipinde geçerli ve güvenilir “Görsel Matematik Okuryazarlığı Ölçeği” geliştirilmiştir. Gerçekleştirilen t-testi sonucunda ise öğrencilerin görsel matematik okuryazarlık algılarının cinsiyet ve önceki dönem sonu matematik başarı düzeyi açısından anlamlı farklılık gösterdiği bulunmuştur. Bu bulgular neticesinde çalışma yapacak araştırmacılara farklı örneklem gruplarıyla veya farklı değişkenlerle ilgili ölçeği kullanarak araştırma yapmaları önerilmiştir.
... In recent years there has been a rapid growth in the science festival sector, both in the UK and internationally (Bultitude, McDonald, & Custead, 2011). As well as welcoming the general public, many festivals have specific provision for school parties to visit. ...
Science festivals are a rapidly-growing phenomenon worldwide, and many such events host trips by school parties. However, what type of learning takes place on these visits, and how effective it is, is an area that merits more academic study. This paper investigates these questions from the perspective of three groups – teachers, pupils and festival organisers – and asks how well the attitudes and priorities of these categories are aligned. We find that teachers and organisers share the primary aim of affective learning (excitement, inspiration) and that this is experienced by almost all pupils. A secondary aim of cognitive (factual) learning is reported by just under half of pupils. However a third aim of careers learning which was expressed by festival organisers and some teachers was not reported by pupil participants. In addition, we found that the groups could work more effectively together to promote educational aims by measures such as reducing the novelty of the event situation and making educational agendas for the visit clearer. Finally, to address the areas of misalignment pinpointed in this study, we give a series of recommendations to optimise learning at such events.
... Much of what is known about live science events has been captured in literature describing science festivals, and to some degree can be seen as reflective of the wider live public science events sector [Bultitude, McDonald and Custead, 2011;Fogg-Rogers et al., 2015]. Festival events have been described in the event management literature as time-bound, themed public celebrations [Getz, 2010], and are well researched for their abilities to increase local and regional tourism through focused marketing [Daniel, Bogdan and Daniel, 2012;Getz, 2008;Kim et al., 2010]. ...
Live science events engage publics with science in a social context. This article articulates the aims and ethos of this growing sector within a research context. Semi-structured interviews (N=13) and focus groups (N=77) were conducted with event practitioners (both professional and volunteers) in the U.S.A. and U.K.. Inductive thematic analysis indicated that event producers aim to raise awareness of and professionalism in the sector. In particular, they seek to develop research into long-term impacts of events for both audiences and practitioners.
Since the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859), the concepts of “Darwinism” and “Darwinian evolution” have long been debated. Alongside the theoretical adjustments evolutionary biology has undergone over time through the integration of research traditions, tools of analysis and sets of data, the narratives and representations of Charles Darwin’s legacy have significantly changed. Undoubtedly, the in-depth study of Darwin’s notebooks, which only became known to historians in the mid-twentieth century, has contributed to better reconstructing the phases of his theoretical formulation as well as his constant consideration of issues raised by critics. However, the very meaning of the concept of “Darwinian evolution” has been disassembled and reassembled in light of the debates in evolutionary biology and thus seems to be the product of a long and complex interplay between historiographical and scientific needs. This appears clearly when considering the way evolutionary biologists addressed Darwin’s views on theoretical issues that turned out to be objects of great debate in twentieth-century evolutionary biology. In particular, this chapter will examine how scholars commented on Darwin’s endorsement of the inheritance of acquired characters on the occasions of the 1909, 1959, and 2009 celebrations. Not only did these years represent symbolic occasions for evolutionary biologists to take stock of the state of affairs within their research field but were also an opportunity to reassess Darwin’s legacy. This analysis will help deconstruct the category of Darwinism, showing that the boundary between “Darwinian” and “non-Darwinian” theories of evolution has undergone several shifts over time and that evolutionary biologists have often been concerned with identifying what the Darwinian research agenda should include and exclude, erecting research traditions, and confining inconvenient ideas.
In the article I am presenting the results of a systematic review of the event programmes of eight science festivals organised in various Polish cities. The aim of the study is to identify the most common forms of festival activities and the scientific disciplines represented. In the paper, I also try to establish whether science festivals go beyond the walls of universities, and to what extent they provide opportunites to interact with the scientists in a relaxed, uninhibited manner (e.g. during workshops). In the course of the analyses I also examine to whether individual scientific fields are in any way particular (e.g. have preferred forms of activity). I use the results as a starting point for further questions: to what extent do festivals go beyond the usual modes of communication in the academy? To what extent does their formula allow us to assume that they reach a broad audience, the so-called society?
Both science festivals and insect festivals have increased in frequency in the last few decades. In order to compare insect festivals with science festivals, we modified a validated science festival visitor survey (EvalFest) for Purdue’s Bug Bowl, a long-running insect festival. Benchmarking against EvalFest and Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies (COVES) results, we found that Bug Bowl audiences were similar in having high levels of education, a high interest in science, and frequently visiting science venues. In fact, 23% of Bug Bowl survey takers indicated that they were actual scientists themselves. In contrast to EvalFest results, Bug Bowl had a higher rate of returning visitors than new visitors. Bug Bowl visitor motivations were primarily to have fun and bring their children for a learning experience, and they rated their experiences very positively. Ninety-one percent of Bug Bowl attendees surveyed lived in the state of Indiana. We discuss gaps in expected visitor demographics and possible applications for a shared common evaluation within a working group of insect festivals.
Background
Good Grief Festival was originally planned as a face-to-face festival about grief and bereavement. Due to COVID-19, it was held online over 3 days in October 2020.
Objective
To evaluate the festival’s reach and impact.
Design
Pre/post evaluation
Methods
Pre-festival online surveys assessed reasons for attending and attitudes to bereavement across four items (fear of saying the wrong thing, avoiding talking to someone bereaved, knowing what to do if someone bereaved was struggling, knowing how to help). Post-festival online surveys evaluated audience experiences and the four attitude items. Free-text responses, analysed using thematic analysis, generated suggestions for improvement and general comments.
Results
Between 5003 and 6438 people attended, with most attending two to five events. Pre-festival survey participants ( n = 3785) were mostly women (91%) and White (91%). About 9% were from Black or minoritised ethnic communities. About 14% were age ⩾65 years, 16% age ⩽34 years. Around 75% were members of the public, teachers, students or ‘other’; 25% academics, clinicians or bereavement counsellors. A third had been bereaved in the last year; 6% had never been bereaved. People attended to learn about grief/bereavement (77%), be inspired (52%) and feel part of a community (49%). Post-festival participants ( n = 685) reported feeling part of a community (68%), learning about grief/bereavement (68%) and being inspired (66%). 89% rated the festival as excellent/very good and 75% agreed that they felt more confident talking about grief after attending. Higher ratings and confidence were associated with attending more events. Post-festival attitudes were improved across all four items ( p < 0.001). Attendees appreciated the festival, particularly valuing the online format, opportunities for connection during lockdown and the diversity and quality of speakers. Suggestions included improving registration, more interactive events and less content.
Conclusion
Good Grief Festival successfully reached a large public audience, with benefit in engagement, confidence and community-building. Evaluation was critical in shaping future events. Findings suggest festivals of this nature can play a central role in increasing death- and grief-literacy within a public health approach.
Gwen Pearson and Betty Bee at the 2015 Purdue Bug Bowl. (Photo by John Obermeyer, Purdue Extension Entomology.)
Insect festivals have multiplied like locusts over the last 20 years. Eighty-one bug festivals have been identified in the U.S. (Hvenegaard 2016, Blevins 2018). The scope of insect education is huge and varied; what distinguishes insect festivals (Table 1) from other entomology outreach programming?
Insect festivals encompass many different experiences. For example, Purdue’s Bug Bowl is a choose-your-own-adventure event, with multiple concurrent events indoors and outdoors across a campus. Other insect festivals are closely scripted events with high production values. Across this spectrum of experience, the value of a live event becomes clear: rich social experiences.
Because insect festivals feature “aversive taxa,” attention to visitor emotions and developing trust are key. It’s a sad reality that insects and their arthropod relatives engender strong negative emotions in many people (Polák et al. 2020, Fukano and Soga 2021). The festive party vibe of a bug festival means audiences can be more relaxed and open to new experiences, compared to a formal educational setting.
This article presents findings from a secondary study of science capital within the context of U.S. science festivals. Drawing on attendee survey data from eleven science festivals across the United States (n = 1,645) and evaluation surveys from a statewide school-based festival program (n = 2,320), we explore the concept of science capital (i.e. science-related cultural capital, science-related social capital, and science-related behavior and practices) within science festival programs. Using linear regression, we utilize attendee demographics and event characteristics to predict shifts in science capital. Our results indicate that members of STEM minority groups (i.e. girls and women; Black/African Americans, Latino/Hispanic/Latinx, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders) report greater shifts in science capital scores. Time at event and scientist interactions at the event are also associated with greater shifts in scientific cultural capital. We interpret these findings in light of Philip and Azevedo's work (2017) on out-of-school science learning and equity. As a concept, science capital offers a useful lens through which to view informal science learning, science communication, and how public science events (e.g. science festivals) play an important role in contributing to the local STEM learning ecosystem.
In today’s fast-paced and globalized business landscape, the need for sustainability has increased for organizations. The need to re-evaluate practices, however, can be difficult if existing practices or models of operation are traditionally change adverse. For organizations to be motivated to make these changes, understanding both the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for change are essential. This is especially true in the festival industry. This study applied the Drivers of Sustainability Framework and linked it to the underlying psychological factors outlined in Self-determination Theory in the context of Canadian festivals. Interviews were conducted with 38 festival organizers to determine intrinsic and extrinsic motivations along with barriers towards the implementation of sustainability practices. Four key findings were identified. First, intrinsic motivations were the primary driver towards festival sustainability management and are a key influence on the holistic integration of sustainability. Second, intrinsically driven volunteers contribute greatly to the adoption of sustainability practices. Third, extrinsic motivations affect how festivals address their sustainability efforts but are often short-term and isolated in nature. Fourth, autonomy, competence, and relatedness were recognized to increase self-determination of festivals in adopting sustainable initiatives.
Bilim insanlarının halk ile bütünleşebilmesi toplumların gelişimi açısından
oldukça önemlidir. Bu kapsamda Türkiye’de TÜBİTAK destekli 4007
program kodlu bilim şenlikleri düzenlenmektedir. Düzenlenen bu
şenliklerin, toplum üzerinde nasıl etkiler bıraktığının değerlendirilmesi,
gelecekte yapılacak olan şenliklerde dikkat edilecek hususların ortaya
çıkarılmasını sağlayabilir. Bu nedenle bu araştırmada TÜBİTAK tarafından
desteklenen bir proje olan Merzifon Bilim Şenliği’nin, farklı yaş
gruplarından elde edilen verilerle değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır.
Değerlendirme sürecinde araştırmada eş zamanlı iç içe geçmiş desen
kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın örneklemini şenlik katılımcısı olan öğrenciler
ve yetişkinler oluşturmuştur. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak Bir
Bilim İnsanı Çiz Testi, Daimi Bilim Öğrenme Motivasyonu Ölçeği, Bilim
Şenliği Tutum Ölçeği ve yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu
kullanılmıştır. Şenliğe katılan okul öncesi ve ilkokul öğrencilerinin bilim
insanı imajlarında; cinsiyet algıları açısından olumlu değişimler olduğu
görülmüştür. Ayrıca mutlu bir ifade ile resmedilen bilim insanı
çizimlerinin oranında artış görülmüştür. Ortaokul öğrencileri açısından ise
şenlikteki etkinliklere katılmış olmanın, bilim öğrenmeye yönelik
motivasyon ve bilim şenliklerine yönelik tutumda olumlu yönde anlamlı
bir etki yarattığı belirlenmiştir. Lise öğrencileri için de benzer durum
geçerlidir. Şenliğe katılan yetişkinler ise şenliğin gerçekleştirildiği yerleri,
şenlik sürecini ve zamanını uygun bulduklarını, şenlikteki etkinliklerin
içeriğinin kendileri açısından faydalı ve güncel olduğunu belirtmişlerdir.
Bu değerlendirme sonucunda şenliğin katılımcılar açısından faydalı
bulunduğu ve amacına hizmet ettiği kanısı oluşmuştur
In 2015, the British Science Association (BSA) began developing a model to describe various publics based on how they engage with science. Currently, the model includes four groups along a continuum: Not interested, Inactive, Engaged, and Professionals. This article focuses on the Engaged, defined as those who are interested in science and who actively search for information about science and science-related activities and events. In 2018, a survey was administered to members of five science festival listservs in order to learn more about their interest in and engagement with science. Because listserv membership is voluntary, all nonprofessional respondents were considered members of the Engaged group. Through a series of cluster analyses, three distinct clusters were identified within this group. We describe the three clusters and how they are both different from and similar to one another. The clusters are then used to explore how Engaged publics participated in their local science festival. Findings are discussed in relation to our growing understanding of the BSA model, as well as practical applications for recruiting and programing for Engaged publics.
Festivais de ciência como o Pint of Science (PoS) têm se popularizado e registrado um aumento de participantes. O PoS visa aproximar cientistas e público em locais informais, como bares e restaurantes. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi traçar o perfil do público no festival realizado em 2018, no Rio de Janeiro, e identificar pontos fortes e fragilidades. Por meio de questionários aplicados aos participantes (n=486), constatamos a predominância de um público branco, com alta escolaridade e já envolvido com ciência. Um desafio para o PoS é diversificar seu público e avançar na popularização da ciência.
The representation of science, medicine, and technology has been an emerging agenda item for cultural and media research in the last decade. In part, its importance arises out of a concern for the public understanding of science (PUoS), which has been a priority in governmental policy discussions. This paper discusses how the utilization of cyberspatial communities can address the challenge of developing a global engagement with science and ethics, by considering the case of genetic technology and the role of experts in public debate. It critically appraises the PUoS and suggests that a way of advancing its methodological assumptions is through developing a “Public Engagemen with Ethics.” On this basis, concerns about scientific journalism are more effectively contextualized and enhance the possibility of ensuring that non-experts are aware of the importance of any scientific innovation.
This report outlines science communication priorities in a country facing the same global issues as the developed world while in a state of transition and situated on an impoverished continent. South Africa's science communication aims are defined, with examples of successes (like science weeks and festivals, and science centers). Highlighting the bridge-building role of local scientists and the media, the report outlines progress and gaps, recommending action that gives South Africans the opportunity to understand and take pride in their country's scientific achievements, and to be able to apply and appreciate science and technology and develop it for future generations.
Public engagement with a problem or an issue relative to science (PEP/IS) is suggested as an alternative and complementary model for understanding the communicative effectiveness of science. PEP/IS is conceptualized as the process of individual and collective problem solving in relation to science and exemplified with South Korean exploratory data. Finally, further steps for improving PEP/IS and related research capability are suggested with communicative effectiveness being anticipated.
Historically, most of the focus of science education has been on pre-college and college level schooling. Although some of the public's interest and knowledge about science is unquestionably shaped by compulsory schooling, given that the average adult spends only a fraction of their life participating in some kind of formal schooling, we argue that the contribution of school-based science learning to the long-term public understanding of science is limited, particularly for the majority of Americans who do not go on to post-secondary schooling. This article shows that the majority of the public constructs much of its understanding of science over the course of their lives, gathering information from many places and contexts, and for a diversity of reasons. A random telephone survey of Los Angeles, California residents found that nearly half (43 percent) of the public's self-reported science understanding derives from leisure time, free-choice learning; science understanding was primarily acquired for reasons related to personal interest, need and/or curiosity. The conclusion drawn from this preliminary investigation is that future efforts to understand and support the public's understanding of science will require approaches that take into account individual differences and the unique personal and context-specific nature of knowledge; findings also support the value of asset-based approaches to education which build from strengths rather than dwelling upon deficits.
Science communication is a growing area of practice and research. During the past two decades, the number of activities, courses, and practitioners has steadily increased. But what actually is science communication? In what ways is it different to public awareness of science, public understanding of science, scientific culture, and scientific literacy? The authors review the literature to draw together a comprehensive set of definitions for these related terms. A unifying structure is presented and a contemporary definition of science communication positioned within this framework. Science communication (SciCom) is defined as the use of appropriate skills, media, activities, and dialogue to produce one or more of the following personal responses to science (the AEIOU vowel analogy): Awareness, Enjoyment, Interest, Opinion-forming, and Understanding. The definition provides an outcomes-type view of science communication, and provides the foundations for further research and evaluation.
With the publication of the House of Lords report "Science and Society" in the spring of 2000, public understanding of science in the United Kingdom is now at something of a crossroads. After well over a decade of efforts to improve what has come to be known as "scientific literacy" among the general population - led by such organizations as the Committee on Public Understanding of Science (CoPUS) - surveys suggest that little has been achieved. But how are we now to interpret this? Is it a failure by the scientific community to "get their message across?" Is the public just insufficiently interested in matters scientific? Or is it that the relationship between the public and scientists, and the dispersal and uptake of information, is more subtle than simple measurement models suppose? And how can the "new age," as envisioned by their Lordships, be realized?
Results from a cross-national quantitative study of 3,301 visitors to four large physics research centers in Europe focus on short-term learning and motivational effects. The authors collected data from these visitors before and after visiting the centers as part of a research project funded by the European Union. Overall, visitors' knowledge of the research centers increased. However, effects on learning of scientific concepts are not so clear. The visits mostly seem to reaffirm visitors' prior attitudes and images related to the centers. The findings imply that these visits offer some learning potential and, for school students, increased motivation to enter a scientific profession, but in terms of altering visitors' images they seem rather ineffective. Nevertheless, because of their uniqueness in allowing different publics an authentic glimpse of the production of scientific knowledge, visits to research centers remain an important public communication activity.
This paper explores the phenomena of public scientific debates, where scientific controversies are argued out in public fora such as the mass media, using the case of popular evolutionary psychology in the UK of the 1990s. An earlier quantitative analysis of the UK press coverage of the subject (Cassidy, 2005) suggested that academics associated with evolutionary psy-chology had been unusually active in the media at that time, particularly in association with the publication of popular science books on the subject. Previous research by Turner, by Gieryn, and by Bucchi has established the relationship between such appeals to the public domain and the establishment of scientific legitimacy and academic disciplinary boundaries. Following this work, I argue here that popular science has, in this case, provided a creative space for scientists, outside of the constraints of ordinary academic discourse, allowing them to reach across scientific boundaries in order to claim expertise in the study of human beings.
The Science House of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) is a space where science is approached through the perspective of culture, seeking interdisciplinarity, stimulating debate among different areas of knowledge, and building a closer and more pleasant relationship between society and scientific knowledge. Work with mediators has gone through significant changes over time and the paths chosen have been modified, re-evaluated and transformed. The presence of mediators can mean the possibility of dialog, conversation, informal chat, and sharing. It has been one of the main channels of communication with the general public.
The past few decades have been marked by a rapid scientific and technological development. One of the most paradoxical, and perhaps more disturbing, features of this process is the growing divide between the increased importance science has acquired in economic and social life and a society persistently showing spreading signs of contempt, mistrust and, most of all, disinterest in research.
Public Understanding of Science (PUS) is a field of activity and an area of social research. The evolution of this field comprises both the changing discourse and the substantive evidence of a changing public understanding.1 In the first part, I will present a short account on how the discourse of PUS moved from Literacy, via PUS, to Science-in-Society. This is less a story of progress, but one of false polemics and the multiplication of concerns. In the second part, I will show some empirical evidence on how PUS has changed by drawing on mass media data and large scale comparative survey evidence. I conclude by stressing that the Science-Society relationship is variable both in distance between science and the wider society and in the quality of this relationship.
A wide gap exists between what scientists and rural farmers know. The rapid advancements in digital technology are likely to widen this gap even further. At the farmers' level, this knowledge gap often translates into poor and inefficient management of resources resulting in reduced profits and environmental pollution. Most modern rice cultivars can easily yield more than 5 tons per hectare when well managed, but millions of farmers often get less than 5 tons using the same production inputs. In pest management, for instance, rice farmers often apply pesticides unnecessarily, as they base their decisions on visual clues and over estimations of potential damages by pests. Frequently, farmers overestimate potential losses due to pests by more than ten-folds. In the Philippines, scientists estimated that about 80% of farmers' insecticide sprays were unnecessary as they were either applied at the wrong time, for the wrong pests or both. Using the wrong chemicals at the wrong dosages is also common. Highly visible symptoms such as leaf damages are often signs that stimulate farmers to spray. In fertilizer management, most farmers believe that more is better, perhaps since the local terms for fertilizer are often translated to mean "fat" in many countries. Similarly in other resource management decisions, farmers rely on their own beliefs and perceptions. While there are strengths in farmers' indigenous knowledge, there are also weaknesses. If some of these weaknesses are modified, farmers' resource management decisions and skills can be improved. Thus discovering the key weaknesses should be the first step and developing a communication strategy for the new information to reach the millions of rice farmers is next. Tons of scientific information are communicated between scientists through publications, electronic media and conferences. But very little will actually reach rural communities because of limited access. Even when access is facilitated, the scientific literature is riddled with jargon which only a few in the discipline would understand. In addition, the information may not have direct use or may not be in the appropriate prospective and need further synthesis. Sometimes rural communities may have the information but are not motivated to act. We suggest that scientific information alone is insufficient to benefit rural farmers unless it is further processed, simplified and effectively communicated to reach a wide audience. As pointed out by Akio Morita, the founder chairman of Sony, to be successful in business, technological creativity is not enough. There is need for creativity in product development and marketing as well. To add value to scientific information and "getting science into practice" so as to benefit rural communities, we suggest that there are various phases involved. In this comment we discuss and share our experiences in implementing the phases. The initial phase is identifying the problem and the associated ecological as well as the sociological issues and conducting research to better understand them. Understanding the root causes besides the direct causes of the problem is important. It is also important at this phase for all stakeholders to gain a common understanding of the various issues. The findings are then used as inputs into the second phase, "technology development" where technical information is "distilled" into an "actionable" entity expressed in the form of a "heuristic". Heuristic is a term introduced by Tversky and Kahneman 1 to refer to informal rules-of-thumb. Heuristics are developed through experience and guesswork about possible outcomes and may thus have inherent faults and biases. Research to understand farmers' current heuristics and reasons for their adoption will help scientists frame new heuristics that are "actionable". For instance, scientists discovered that leaf damages by leaf feeders in the early growth stages of the rice crop have little effect on yields. Farmers, however,
The wonderful thing about contemporary science and technology is the rate at which new discoveries are made. This incessant innovation is a precious gift if you are in the business of engaging the public with science and technology. It provides a constant source of new material and new reasons to go back to your audience. Furthermore, these innovations build on an established body of scientific and technological knowledge that is immense. If you look in the right places there is a virtually limitless pool of fascinating and accessible material suitable for public consumption.
The following excerpts are from a report that draws together the results from two pieces of research - an overview of science communication activities in Britain today and a detailed review of the public's attitude toward science. By combining the information from both studies, the report aims to inform future science communication strategies for both policy and practice. The full report is Office of Science and Technology and the Wellcome Trust, Science and the Public: A Review of Science Communication and Public Attitudes to Science in Britain (London, October 2000) and is available online at http://www.wellcome.ac.uk.
Preface Part I. Foundations of Research 1. Science, Schooling, and Educational Research Learning About the Educational World The Educational Research Approach Educational Research Philosophies Conclusions 2. The Process and Problems of Educational Research Educational Research Questions Educational Research Basics The Role of Educational Theory Educational Research Goals Educational Research Proposals, Part I Conclusions 3. Ethics in Research Historical Background Ethical Principles Conclusions 4. Conceptualization and Measurement Concepts Measurement Operations Levels of Measurement Evaluating Measures Conclusions 5. Sampling Sample Planning Sampling Methods Sampling Distributions Conclusions Part II. Research Design and Data Collection 6. Causation and Research Design Causal Explanation Criteria for Causal Explanations Types of Research Designs True Experimental Designs Quasi-Experimental Designs Threats to Validity in Experimental Designs Nonexperiments Conclusions 7. Evaluation Research What Is Evaluation Research? What Can an Evaluation Study Focus On? How Can the Program Be Described? Creating a Program Logic Model What Are the Alternatives in Evaluation Design? Ethical Issues in Evaluation Research Conclusions 8. Survey Research Why Is Survey Research So Popular? Errors in Survey Research Questionnaire Design Writing Questions Survey Design Alternatives Combining Methods Survey Research Design in a Diverse Society Ethical Issues in Survey Research Conclusions 9. Qualitative Methods: Observing, Participating, Listening Fundamentals of Qualitative Research Participant Observation Intensive Interviewing Focus Groups Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research Conclusions 10. Single-Subject Design Foundations of Single-Subject Design Measuring Targets of Intervention Types of Single-Subject Designs Analyzing Single-Subject Designs Ethical Issues in Single-Subject Design Conclusions 11. Mixing and Comparing Methods and Studies Mixed Methods Comparing Reserch Designs Performing Meta-Analyses Conclusions 12. Teacher Research and Action Research Teacher Research: Three Case Studies Teacher Research: A Self-Planning Outline for Creating Your Own Project Action Research and How It Differs From Teacher Research Validity and Ethical Issues in Teacher Research and Action Research Conclusions Part III. Analyzing and Reporting Data 13. Quantitative Data Analysis Why We Need Statistics Preparing Data for Analysis Displaying Univariate Distributions Summarizing Univariate Distributions Relationships (Associations) Among Variables Presenting Data Ethically: How Not to Lie With Statistics Conclusions 14. Qualitative Data Analysis Features of Qualitative Data Analysis Techniques of Qualitative Data Analysis Alternatives in Qualitative Data Analysis Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Ethics in Qualitative Data Analysis Conclusions 15. Proposing and Reporting Research Educational Research Proposals, Part II Reporting Research Ethics, Politics, and Research Reports Conclusions Appendix A: Questions to Ask About a Research Article Appendix B: How to Read a Research Article Appendix C: Finding Information, by Elizabeth Schneider and Russell K. Schutt Appendix D: Table of Random Numbers Glossary References Author Index Subject Index About the Authors
Participation of scientists in public understanding of science (PUS) activity has frequently been encouraged by appeals to the notion of duty. This paper reviews the schemes of five of the U.K. Scientific Research Councils that encourage their scientists to get involved in PUS activity. The success of such schemes is measured by the number of scientists participating and the way in which this activity is monitored. This paper compares and contrasts the different strategies used and gives comparative data on the Councils' expenditure on PUS activity. The results suggest an uncomfortable gap between the formal policy of the Research Councils and their practices on the ground. While the involvement of practicing scientists is an important element of the Research Councils' PUS program, the work reported here raises questions about the desirability and feasibility of the notion that PUS involvement should be an obligation for all research scientists.
A pesar de los grandes avances tecnológicos, los críticos sostienen que vivimos en sociedades iletradas científicamente, donde las personas toman decisiones importantes sin tomar en cuenta el conocimiento científico. Los autores de esta obra enfrentan las interrogantes referentes a si es necesario que el público en general necesita comprender la ciencia y en caso que así fuera, si es responsabilidad de los científicos comunicar estos conocimientos; si la solución es innundar a las audiencias con información o si las noticias científicas han de estar enfocadas en torno a temas específicos y presentadas en forma de relatos, de modo que sean significativas y relevantes para la vida de las personas.
There are many public-awareness-of-science initiatives (PASIs), representing a major investment of resources. This review will consider how far these initiatives have succeeded. How much evaluation is taking place, and what patterns of success does it reveal? Work with the European Network of Science Communication Teachers (ENSCOT) enabled a review of reports for initiatives in European Union countries. Initial findings are that many PASIs are not formally written up and fewer are evaluated against their aims. The evidence also suggests differences between countries. This review considers how evaluation could improve future initiatives in Europe and beyond.
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