Vitreous sounds

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Vitreous sounds

Author: Karina Lupetti – Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil

Co-authors:
Joel Andrade – Federal University of São Carlos
Antonio Brambilla – Federal University of São Carlos
Ariel Rodrigues – Federal University of São Carlos
Zildmara Rodrigues – Federal University of São Carlos
Rosemeire Silva – Federal University of São Carlos
Maxuel Souza – Federal University of São Carlos

Vitreous Sounds is the name of a project that comprises an orchestra of blind musicians among others with normal vision and theirs musical glass instruments developed by a glass maker. Brazilian popular musics were chosen to be played in special occasions such as science and cultural events. The musics are broadcast as background of UFSCar’s Radio Program called Vitreous Minute with short narratives about glass science. Since 2016, the Center for Research, Technology and Education in Vitreous Materials and Nucleus Ouroboros of Science Communication have a partnership to developed this project that was presented for hundreds of people . Musical instruments made of glass including various flutes, a chime and a wine glass organ and others idiophon musical instruments, such as caxixi, xequere and a berimbau were created since then. These pieces were made of borosilicate glass, molten in an oxidant flame and sculpted by the glass maker of the Chemistry Department of Federal University of São Carlos, by the other hand, the wine glass organ was tuned by adding water in the glasses. In July 2016, the glass instruments were played by the Ouroboros’s musician in a play of the group called Peter Q Pan. Q= Chemist. The orchestra, now with 8 members, is going on playing with a mixture of conventional and glass instruments, thinking about science, maths, chemical constitution of the materials and mainly the harmony and the beauty of the vitreous sounds. The propose is playing 30 minutes of Brazilian popular songs with the conventional and glass instruments, showing also the glass science during the presentation with talks, slides and experiments.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Perfomance
Theme: Stories
Area of interest: Applying science communication research to practice

Science communication as culture: Entertainment, interaction, and emotion

Author: Sarah Davies – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

Co-authors:
Megan Halpern – Michigan State University
Maja Horst – University of Copenhagen
David Kirby – University of Manchester
Bruce Lewenstein – Cornell University

For several decades, science communication researchers have cautioned scientists against deficit thinking—the idea that providing information about science will straightforwardly ensure public appreciation of science. Instead, scientists and science communicators have been encouraged to embrace public engagement with science (PES), which brings with it a host of best practices, ranging from storytelling and humour to interactive exhibits to citizen deliberation.

This roundtable discusses and interrogates these developments, focusing on the increasingly dominant sense that science communication is not external to (popular) culture and wider consumption of entertainment media, but is an important part of it. Its starting point is that we should understand science communication not as a process of sharing information, but as a space of collective meaning-making. As such, the discussion will explore what it means to understand science communication as culture, and how science communication practices are being articulated in different popular culture formats.

Participants in the roundtable will briefly present work, and raise questions, around the material, emotional, cultural, and experiential aspects of science communication. This will include, for instance, the ways in which the scientific community has started employing entertainment media as vehicles for science communication, how an interactive installation was used to engage publics in discussions about the social responsibility of science, and the notion of the ’emotional labour’ of public communication. These provocations will be used to trigger a general discussion of what it means to plan, practice and analyse science communication as culture.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Roundtable discussion
Theme: Stories
Area of interest: Building a theoretical basis for science communication

Questioning assumptions: The evidence gap in science communication

Author: Isabelle Kingsley – University of NSW, Australia

Co-authors:
Carol Oliver – University of New South Wales
Martin Van Kranendonk – University of New South Wales

Around the world, governments, institutions and organisations are increasingly focussing on supporting science communication initiatives to ensure the public is interested in science, scientifically literate and better able to understand its importance and relevance to society.

Yet, there is little evidence to support the assumed benefits of science communication.

First, there is a general lack of scientific rigour applied to the evaluation of science communication — “ … for a data-driven enterprise, science demands very few data from communicators of science, either to craft and frame appropriate messages and message content or to evaluate the impact of messages on scientific knowledge or behaviour” (Borchelt, 2001).

Secondly, some studies have found slight decreases in public scientific literacy after participation in science communication activities. For example, our pilot study measured scientific literacy pre and post activity and found that participants demonstrated a slight decrease in understanding of scientific practice (Kingsley et al., 2017). The results align with the findings from two other studies that identified slight decreases in participants’ scientific literacy after participating in citizen science projects (Brossard et al., 2005; Cronje et al., 2011).

We should not assume that any science communication is effective and beneficial for the public. There is a need for more rigorous research to measure the effectiveness of science communication in achieving objectives. These objectives can range from changing public knowledge and understanding, attitudes and perceptions of science, or simply attracting a large number to an event. There is also the need to identify the types of activities that are most effective at achieving these objectives, and the need to better understand our audience — from the educated choir to the uneducated curious. We need to grow our evidence base, which will provide important insights by which the field can enhance its efforts and more effectively direct future investment.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Science
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

A new tool to evaluate impacts of science communication on scientific literacy

Author: Isabelle Kingsley – University of NSW, Australia

Co-authors:
Isabelle Kingsley – University of New South Wales
Carol Oliver – University of New South Wales
Martin Van Kranendonk – University of New South Wales

What evidence do we have that science communication improves scientific literacy? To date, the standard questionnaire has been the ‘go to’ instrument for measuring scientific literacy and impacts of science communication. However, researchers in the field are pointing to the need for more sensitive instruments (Cronje et al., 2011; Crall et al., 2013; Brossard et al., 2005).

We report on the development and testing of a new instrument—a digital game—designed to measure scientific literacy. Scientific literacy, as defined by Jon D. Miller (1983), involves knowledge of scientific constructs, understanding of the nature of science (NOS) and understanding of the societal impacts of science. This instrument focuses on the understanding of NOS dimension of Miller’s definition, which—we argue to some extent—is at the heart of scientific literacy.

This new tool is based on a Teachable Agent (TA), a learning technology, which uses the social metaphor of teaching a computer agent by creating a concept map that serves as the agent’s ‘brain’ (Schwartz and Arena, 2009). Concept maps are visual representations of knowledge used to measure changes in cognitive structure—that is, changes in or development of meanings of concepts (Novak and Gowin, 1984). Using concept maps and TAs, this instrument identifies the validity and complexity of ideas held by subjects about NOS and measures any changes in their cognitive structure, pre and post science communication activity, by comparing the choices they make in producing their concept maps to ‘teach’ their TA.

The instrument automatically scores concept maps via an algorithm, making it scalable and just as fast and easy to use as traditional questionnaires.

This study indicates that this instrument may be more sensitive and accurate than questionnaires at measuring the impacts of science communication on scientific literacy. Validation as well as further testing is required.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Visual talk
Theme: Science
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

Changing climate x changing communities = emergency communication challenges

Author: Craig Cormick – ThinkOutsideThe, Australia

Understanding how the values of different communities frame the types of emergency services messages they are most receptive to.

A key success factor for emergency service agencies in saving lives and property is being able to communicate effectively with communities at risk. But this is becoming harder and harder.

Agencies have to adapt not just to a changing climate, but to changing communities, and to understand the changing values of different communities and how they influence the types of communication messages they are receptive to.

A study was undertaken across four diverse communities across the Australian state of Victoria, to map their attitudes towards fire services, fire risk and fire minimisation strategies such as planned burning and then compare them with each communities’ values.

The communities included those who were homogeneous and long-established, and those with many newcomers or ‘tree-changers’ – with little fire experience or knowledge.

The research, presented as four case studies, showed that messages that were framed in accord with a communities’ key values, even from a position of low trust, were much more likely to effectively engage with diverse communities and enable emergency service messages to be conveyed.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Show, tell and talk
Theme: Stories
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

Introducing LEARN CitSci – Exploring youth participation in citizen science

Author: Julia Lorke – The Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom

Co-authors:
Heidi Ballard & Déana Scipio – University of California, Davis, US
Lila Higgins – Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, US
Christothea Herodotou Maria Aristeidou – The Open University, UK
Grant Miller – The University of Oxford, UK
Alison Young & Rebecca Johnson – California Academy of Sciences, US
Lucy Robinson – The Natural History Museum, London, UK

The Learning and Environmental science Agency Research Network for Citizen Science (LEARN CitSci) is a collaborative research programme studying the learning outcomes of participation in citizen science and crowdsourcing for young people aged 5-19 years.

Using the framework of Environmental Science Agency [1], we will study three settings in which young people take part in citizen science: 1) long-term monitoring projects, 2) short-term events such as BioBlitz, and 3) online or mobile-enabled projects.

The Environmental Science Agency (ESA) research framework is adapted from Basu and Barton’s concept of Critical Science Agency [2] and aims to investigate and support “the ability to use experiences in environmental science to make positive changes in one’s life, landscape and community” [3]. The development of ESA can be observed as:

  • Deepening understanding of environmental science content and practice.
  • Identifying an area of one’s own expertise in environmental science.
  • Using experiences in community and citizen science as a foundation for change.

We will employ mixed methods research to characterize the settings and activities in these programmes, to capture the learning processes, and to identify how programme features and settings in NHM-led citizen science projects foster or hinder the development of ESA.

LEARN CitSci brings together citizen science practitioners and educational researchers from six organisations:

  • University of California, Davis
  • California Academy of Sciences
  • Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
  • The Natural History Museum, London
  • The Open University
  • The University of Oxford

This project is funded by the National Science Foundation and Wellcome with the UK Economic and Social Research Council.

References

[1] H. Ballard, C. Dixon, E. Harris (2017). Biological Conservation, 208: 65-75

[2] Basu, S. J., Barton, A. C., Clairmont, N., & Locke, D. (2009). Cultural Studies of Science Education, 4: 345-371

[3] UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science (2016). Fostering Environmental Science Agency. Research brief

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Idea in progress
Theme: Science
Area of interest: Applying science communication research to practice

Attitudes towards science in New Zealand: Psychological factors and implications for science communication

Author: John Kerr – Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand

Co-authors:
Samantha Stanley
Marc Wilson

People don’t always see eye to eye despite having access to the same information. Our worldviews and values can influence how we attend to and interpret scientific information. Understanding when and how these factors come into play is critical to effective science communication, especially when dealing with contentious, publically debated issues.

This talk will report the results of a survey of New Zealand students, revealing how ideological attitudes about freedom and equality are linked to opinions on scientific issues covered in the media (such as climate change, vaccination, and genetic modification). Specifically, we find that individuals who endorse authoritarian and conformist views, or who value a hierarchical society, are more likely disagree with the scientific consensus. A lack of trust in scientists partially explains these relationships in some, but not all cases.

The findings underscore the importance of building trust but also offer insights into how messages about contentious scientific issues (for example vaccination campaigns) can be framed so as not to conflict with deeply held values and social attitudes.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Society
Area of interest: Building a theoretical basis for science communication

From ‘old media’ to interactive radio?

Author: Julia Lorke – The Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom

Currently we are in the fourth stage of the story of radio and its public (Bonini, 2014); social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook or Twitter have made the public audible, visible and connected. This also means that radio can be participative; listeners can become producers and as a result producers become curators. Social networking sites allow horizontal communication and therefore seem like the ideal platform to enable dialogue between science and technology radio makers and their listeners.

This study explores in a comparative analysis whether science and technology radio programmes have already entered this fourth stage in reality or if these programmes only facilitate SNS to promote their products and increase their audiences. Do SNS enable science journalism to switch from deficit to dialogue? A quantitative and qualitative analysis investigates the websites and social media activities of nine science and technology radio programmes and one science podcast in Germany and the UK.

The results show that additional content is provided on most websites and functions to share content on SNS are embedded in all but one website. However, for further interaction users are mainly referred to SNS presences of stations or presenters; engagement with the listeners on a programme level is rare.

A comparison of two in-depth case studies, BBC Radio 4 Inside Science and BBC World Service Click, reveals how different approaches within one corporation can be and that horizontal communication between science and technology radio programmes and their audiences is not only possible but also has influenced the content and the production process of science and technology radio programmes.

Bonini, T. (2014): The new role of radio and its public in the age of social network sites. First Monday, Volume 19, Number 6

Lorke, J. (2017): Von »Old Media« zum interaktiven Radio?. Info7, No. 2, pp. 48-51

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Society
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

Communicating disasters: After action reviews as a genre of science communication

Author: Eric Kennedy – Arizona State University, Canada

Around the globe, emergency services are tasked with responding to a wide range of disasters. Whether floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, or terrorist attacks, these events are nearly always characterized by an imperfect response. This has spurred on a specific genre of scientific communication, the “after action report,” used by governments and emergency response agencies to determine where their responses fell short and how to act more effectively in the future. This genre of communication is meant to reach several audiences (including governments, the public, and the responders themselves), and simultaneously share lessons learned while avoiding the potential for accusations and admissions of guilt or insufficiently. Moreover, there’s a recent trend to after action reports that emphasize learning rather than placing blame.

In this paper, I consider a series of after action reports on major wildfires that occurred over the past 15 years. I argue that these reports represent a distinct genre of scientific communication worth investigating, and identify the ‘language’ of the after action report. Using a comparative analysis, I argue that there are more and less productive formats of the after action report, and I identify best practices for this genre of communication that could lead to better learning and emergency response.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Science
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

Research and the arts – Allegra Lab Helsinki

Author: Milla Karvonen – Allegra Lab Helsinki; University of Oulu, Finland

Allegra Lab Helsinki is a Finnish nonprofit association (founded 2013) focusing on finding new ways of communicating research to various audiences. Project highlights include for example electronic music festival organised in Helsinki suburbs in context of an urban research project, festival discussing mental normality and abnormality in various ways including live action role playing and sound art in addition to scientific talks and panels, and an evening for climate change topics from talks to music and visual arts.

This talk presents a selection of science communication projects and ideas by Allegra Lab Helsinki, from the more conventional to the wildest ones, from the past four years.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Show, tell and talk
Theme: Society
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

Evaluation of attitudes toward CAM among budding science storytellers – Medicine, nursing, journalism and teaching undergraduate students

Author: Emilia Hermelinda Lopera-Pareja – CIEMAT, Spain

Co-author: Carolina Moreno-Castro – University of Valencia

Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM) encompass a wide and diverse array of techniques and, although most of them only provide well-being and comfort, others can directly influence health and, consequently, are not exempt of risks. These risks can even lead to death in the case of very serious diseases, such as cancer, if patients abandon conventional therapies to be treated exclusively with alternative ones. At present, there is a heated debate on this issue in Spain whose social evolution and political regulation might depend on how CAM are communicated in the coming years in several spheres of interest such as medicine itself, but also the media and even in formal education. The main objective of this paper is precisely to explore the attitudes and beliefs toward CAM among medicine, nursing, journalism and teaching students in their key role as budding science storytellers in communicating and/or managing the use of these therapies in the near future. For this purpose, a validated Spanish version of the 10-item Complementary and Alternative Medicines Health Belief Questionnaire (CHBQ) -7 point Likert scale- was administered for the first time to a sample of 234 medicine, nursing, journalism and teaching undergraduate students at different universities of Valencia (Spain). Because the maximum score on the CHBQ is 70, a positive attitude toward CAM was predefined as a total mean score of 35. Our results showed positive attitudes among students since the CHBQ overall mean score was 41.7 (standard deviation= 11). On the other hand, journalism and medicine students reported certain degree of criticism or caution -a lower mean score (34.2 and 37.8, respectively)-. These findings can be helpful in addressing CAM management, policymaking and communication processes.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Society
Area of interest: Influencing policies through science communication

Science with symphony

Author: Milla Karvonen – Allegra Lab Helsinki; University of Oulu, Finland

Classical music seems to be somewhat a neglected media in science communication. However, many classical composers extend their sources of inspiration to science and scientists. There are numerous examples of works from operas of scientists’ lives to compositions based on actual scientific data.

Is classical music a good format for informing audiences on scientific topics, or making them interested in science? Does scientific accuracy, emotional connection, or a new point of view matter in the end? In this paper I interview composers to discuss for example why these topics are chosen, and if there is a message they wish to convey, or do they have other motives? The paper also explores what kind of contexts and venues these works are presented in.

I will also discuss if classical music could be used as a tool for science communication. In what ways the impact of scientifically motivated music on the society could be enhanced?

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Society
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

Attitudes and perceptions of training teaching students about alternative and complementary medicines: A focus group study

Author: Mavi Corell – Florida Universitària, Spain

Co-authors:
Yolanda Cabrera – Universitat de València
Ramón Camaño-Puig – Universitat de València
Emilia Hermelinda Lopera-Pareja – CIEMAT

The main objective of this research is to study the perceptions and attitudes that teacher training students have about alternative and complementary medicines (CAM) in the context of the scientific literacy of these students. In Spain, alternative and complementary medicines are being questioned and analyzed given the absence of hard scientific evidence to support them. Pre-primary and Primary Education Degrees foster the development of scientific competences as a critical attitude towards knowledge, the capacity to understand how scientific knowledge is generated and the reliability of the information as well as the sources that provide it. As trainers of future generations, the scientific expertise of the teachers repeats directly in the scientific literacy of citizenship and it is relevant to study their attitudes and perceptions towards these therapies.

A qualitative methodology was chosen, creating six focus groups with seven students in each and using a script of 10 questions. The average age of the participants was 27 years; females were predominant (85%). Different categories of answer were established. In the category of ’relationship between emotions and health/illness‘ we found terms such as mood, anxiety, stress, depression, sadness and suffering, alluding to emotions. Respondents considered that there are internal and external causes of diseases and illness, understanding that the internal ones are the negative emotions and stress, and the external ones being life habits and alimentation. The participants referred to the doctor as a professional with whom it is difficult to communicate and who does not attend the emotions of patients. The absence of scientific evidence was not considered a factor to distrust CAM. In conclusion, the students are in favour of CAM, although they may not have use them, because these therapies deal with the emotional needs of the patient. This indicate a lack of scientific literacy in teacher training students.

Presentation type: Visual talk
Theme: Science
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

Public engagement-oriented science education practices and research – using TV programs broadcasted by NHK in Japan

Author: Kei Kano – Shiga University, Japan

Co-authors:
Eri Mizumachi – Assistant Professor, Osaka University
Takayuki Shiose – Associate Professor, Kyoto University
Shinichi Takeuchi – Executive Producer, NHK Educational Corporation

The OECD PISA Framework (2015) defines the scientific literacy as ” the ability to engage with science-related issues, and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen.” A scientifically literate person is willing to engage in reasoned discourse about science and technology. The indicators for promoting and monitoring Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in EU (2015) includes science education goals: one of the goals is boosting interest in science among children and young people with the purpose of either recruiting them to a research career or allowing them to contribute to a science-literate society, that is, to become scientific citizens. Thus, recently, science education or scientific literacy has been more likely to belong to public engagement (PE).

In this situation, in Japan, we have developed two PE-oriented science education TV programs: “Think Like a Crow -Scientific Method-” and “Viewpoint Science: Make it and See!” broadcasted by NHK (counterpart of BBC in UK, ABC in Australia etc.), and participatory PE-oriented workshops using the TV programs and their related board games, in order to foster the scientific mindsets and viewpoints of students and their parents. One of the TV programs, Viewpoint Science, awarded “US International Film & Video Festival Gold Camera Award” and “Good Design Award” in Japan. The participatory PE-oriented workshops awarded “Prize for Science and Technology (Public Understanding Promotion Category)” by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. We have been trying to export the workshops to other countries and have just implemented them in Indonesia.

From the viewpoint of science communication research, we have focused on assessing scientific mindsets and viewpoint, using a rubric, one of the evaluation methods. The rubric we have developed could bring participants clear criteria or standards for them to easily understand or improve their scientific mindsets and viewpoint.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Society
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

Support for citizen scientists through social media

Author: Nancy Longnecker – Centre for Science Communication, University of Otago, New Zealand

Co-author: Andrea Liberatore – Centre for Science Communication, University of Otago

The use of citizen science as a means of data collection has greatly increased over recent years. Recruitment and retention of volunteer participants is vital to the success of these projects and can be a time-intensive task for project managers. This research explores the use of social media to nurture a Community of Practice (CoP) for citizen scientists involved in the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey (NZGBS). CoPs create a space where people can share knowledge, excitement, stories and ideas about a particular topic and at the same time have been shown to facilitate deepening knowledge and the development of expertise. CoPs are especially useful for novices and for a dispersed group of participants.

A Facebook group was set up to support the NZGBS. Over its first two years, the development of the NZGBS online community enabled its geographically dispersed volunteers to interact with each other and share their common passion as bird lovers. The group has also provided a forum where members of all expertise levels can learn from and support each other in a way that requires little input from project managers.

This presentation reports results of a questionnaire of about 200 members of the NZGBS Facebook group as well as content analysis of interactions within the Facebook group of more than 2600 members. It will showcase some of the benefits and challenges of online support for citizen scientists and ultimately feature tips and lessons that can be applied to other projects.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Society
Area of interest: Applying science communication research to practice

Climate modelling, cognitive mapping and literary form

Author: Tim Corballis – Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

One of the primary difficulties of communicating climate modelling research is that of locating specifically human perspectives within its results. Their spaces and durations are too large and long, their views generally ‘God’s eye’, and their themes implicitly too dystopian to allow for engagement on a subjective level—all we can do is watch from afar as the world burns. In this paper I argue that this is a representational problem. I suggest that architectural theorist Kevin Lynch’s notion of ‘cognitive mapping’, as taken up by literary critic Fredric Jameson, is a useful way to think it through. A cognitive map is a way of thinking about ones position within a larger totality such as a city. Literary writing can be argued to offer cognitive maps of different situations by placing protagonists, say, in relation to representations of a social, economic and ethical totality, giving us imaginative tools for thinking about our own situation. An example is the detective novel: the detective moves through all parts of a city, mapping the connections between them and tracing the effects of human actions. I will engage with climate models, asking what literary forms are useful to explore human perspectives within them. What tools can literary writing offer, to: 1. connect multiple spatial and temporal scales—the human and the global; 2. dramatise cause and effect that is statistical rather than direct; and 3. relate protagonists to a setting that, like a changing climate, no longer offers a neutral backdrop for human action?

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Stories
Area of interest: Building a theoretical basis for science communication

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