Author: Lars Guenther – University of Hamburg, Institute for Journalism and Communication Studies, Germany

Co-authors:

  • Rodrigo Costas – Leiden University, Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Netherlands
  • Jonathan Dudek – Leiden University, Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Netherlands
  • Marina Joubert – Stellenbosch University, Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology, South Africa
  • Daniela Mahl – University of Hamburg, Institute for Journalism and Communication Studies, Germany

While science journalism is in crisis in many countries (e.g., Guenther, 2019) and scientists are increasingly called to make their work publicly visible (e.g., Rödder, 2012; Joubert, 2018), in new media environments (Brossard, 2013) alternative sources for informing the public on scientific topics have become popular (e.g., Brumfiel, 2009). Among them is The Conversation with its Africa Edition The Conversation Africa (TCA): a novel, open-access online platform for science news written by scientists, and edited by journalists. TCA’s content is free-to-republish by media outlets under a Creative Commons Agreement. Thus, TCA can be situated in the intersection between scientific and journalistic communication, acting as gatekeeper (Fahy & Nisbet, 2011; Shoemaker & Vos, 2009) and agenda setter (McCombs & Shaw, 1972) for science news. Since researchers have been asked to put more effort into studying alternative online sources of scientific information, the present study delivers insights into TCA’s nature as well as journalistic and social media uptake of its content in order to compare TCA’s impact on traditional journalism compared to social media engagement.

TCA provided access to metrics for all articles published since its launch in May 2015 until May 2020 (N = 5392). The number of publications per month was steady over time. In total, those articles were written by 3589 authors, with single-authored articles (n = 4390; 81%) and South African authorship (n = 3897; 56%) dominating. Using automated clustering and visualization techniques, journalistic uptake (e.g., republishing by other media outlets) was more frequent for TCA articles published on political topics; social media uptake (e.g., Facebook and Twitter shares) was particularly high for articles on education and academia, as well as wildlife and ecology. Hence, attention for TCA articles as an alternative online source of information about science varies regarding media (traditional journalism or social media) and topics concerned.

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

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Time

Author: Alexandre Schiele – Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Canada

Did the media, in the short span of two years, successfully took on one of the most powerful organizations in the world, revealed one of the most damning conspiracies, shed light on the extent of the Deep State and finally pressed it into confessing its secrets? In 2017, former Blink-182 band member Tom Delonge created To the Star Academy (TTSA), a commercial corporation with the purported aim of furthering UFO disclosure through the medium of science fiction. On 16 December 2017, a New York Times article disclosed that the US Government secretly funded the Defense Department Advance Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), officially discontinued in 2011, which had come in possession not only of genuine UFO footage but also of suspected UFO material. On 3 August 2018, a subsequent New York Times article disclosed that the US military’s official dismissal of UFOs was a deliberate cover-up, and that it continued to secretly track and monitor the phenomena. Their one and only source: Luis Elizondo, former AATIP director and now TTSA spokesperson. In April 2019, Politico, among others, revealed that the US Navy was drafting new UFO reporting guidelines. From 31 May to 5 July, History Channel broadcast a TTSA coproduced documentary miniseries: Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation. On 17 September 2019, the US military confirmed that it was not only in possession of UFO footage, but that it actively monitored and tracked UFOs. CNN, among others, jumped to the conclusion that UFOs were both real and a potential threat to national security. Yet, the military only confirmed its tracking and monitoring of “unidentified aerial phenomena” in restricted airspace. This talk aims to raise a crucial issue: by willfully ignoring the uses and abuses of science in the wider mass media system, science communication practitioners have already undermined their very purpose.

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

Presentation type: Insight talk
Theme: Time

Author: Carlo Gubitosa – ULB – Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Co-author: David Domingo – ULB – Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Trust in science communication is a multidimensional issue affected by local factors and cultural identities not easy to encompass within the definition of “general public”.

To perform an exploratory study of the bond of trust linking global science to local knowledge, we consulted before and after Covid-19 pandemic one pool of experts formed by researchers/academics, journalists and scicomm practitioners based in Italy and Belgium.

A qualitative analysis of feedback provided by this pool in a series of iterative steps revealed a lack of consensus concerning social, cultural, political and environmental factors potentially increasing trust in scientific communication among lay audiences. A similar uncertainty emerged regarding risks and threats undermining trust in scicomm.

A strong consensus, not affected by the pandemic spread, was found about good practices fostering trust in scientific communication, and also about critical topics or scientific domains in which the bond of trust in science communication plays a key role. Nevertheless, a strong disagreement emerged again when asking experts to prioritize these lists of items .

These outcomes and their uncertainty, when put into dialogue with recent literature (where the “understanding of publics by science” is now considered as a resource for the “public understanding of science”) suggest an opportunity for transforming science communication practice, using an adaptive approach to the audience.

Multiple tools and techniques for audience analysis, public segmentation, strategic communication and content framing (available from literature and previous practitioners’ experience) can be combined with information on critical topics and good practices for scicomm emerging from this research.

The outcome is a set of “adaptive strategies” visually presented with the support of comics and infographics, a “toolbox” for practitioners and researchers building trust in science communication upon the knowledge of the public they want to reach and engage.

Presentation type: Visual presentation
Theme: Transformation

Author: Valentina Grasso – Italian National Research Council, Institute of Bioeconomy; Consorzio LaMMA, Italy

Co-authors:

  • Alba L’Astorina – Italian National Research Council, Institute for Remote Sensing of Environment, Italy
  • Armida Torreggiani – Italian National Research Council, Institute of Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity, Italy

Many scientists carry out communication activities mainly addressed to school as a one-way approach in which they would transfer scientific knowledge to an uneducated public (deficit model). In the last decades, social sciences scholars have described the relationship between experts and not experts as a more complex process than just “filling empty boxes with scientific knowledge” and define it as a more collaborative relationship, where the public has an active role in sharing and creating new knowledge. This is particularly true when the “uneducated public” is made of pupils. We present some reflections from an initiative promoted since 2003 by some researchers of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) base in Bologna, addressed to pupils of different schools. The initial idea of school lessons aimed at spreading the scientific culture has been the basis for further projects, like “Il Linguaggio della Ricerca” funded by the Italian Ministry of Education (https://ldr-network.bo.cnr.it/), and European projects as “RM@Schools – Raw Matters Ambassador at Schools” (http://rmschools.eu) or “UrBIOfuture”.

The researchers involved belong to different scientific areas and the vast majority of them have no background in social sciences or communication and education studies. The idea of “transferring knowledge” to an “uneducated public” is always in the background and influences their communication approach. However, the active and constant engagement with the pupils has transformed the imaginaries of researchers participating, who start to recognize an impact on their work and not only on the knowledge of pupils. Through a questionnaire addressed to researchers who joined the projects, we explored which dimensions of research work have been affected by the interaction with the audiences and how their ideas of the relationship with pupils have been eventually transformed and reframed. The analysis showed how researchers’ motivations and outreach visions may vary along with scientific areas.

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

Presentation type: Insight talk
Theme: Transformation

Author: Valentina Grasso – Italian National Research Council, Institute of Bioeconomy; Consorzio LaMMA, Italy

Co-authors:

  • Alba L’Astorina – Italian National Research Council, Institute for Remote Sensing of Environment, Italy
  • Rita Rita Giuffredi – Italian National Research Council, Institute for Remote Sensing of Environment, Italy

A decade has passed since the first systematic survey about science communication practices – and the underlying visions of science-society interplay – was realized within the Italian National Research Council (CNR). In particular, the study investigated the aim of outreach activities and their organizational framework; the types of communication practices adopted and the imaginaries of scientists towards science. Results showed a scientific community scarcely involved in public communication activities, interested in “educating the public”, with low trust in non-experts when it came to making decisions about the future of science and society.

Ten years later, the reflections about science communication evolved and the media ecosystem dramatically changed, with the outburst of social networks and mobile applications, strongly impacting also on how science and society interact. Science communication practices and visions developed, oriented to the hybridisation of expert and non-expert knowledge (e.g. RRI, citizen science).

Against this background, in 2019 we promoted a survey to investigate if and how public communication of the scientific network of the Italian CNR has changed in response to technological transformations and to the increasing call for public engagement. The analysis explored the research Institutes’ websites as the primary interface of public communication, through quantitative and qualitative analysis. Even if online descriptions of communication activities may not strictly reflect their actual nature, the type of contents chosen to be published on websites and the frames employed to describe them can be considered as a sensitive litmus paper of the underlying science communication and science-society paradigms. As results showed, communication of science gained some spaces in the last decade, but opportunities opened up by digital technologies seem not to be fully embraced yet, with research institutes struggling between institutional communication and engaging the public, transferring knowledge, and educating the public.

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

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Transformation

Author: Barbara Gorgoni – University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom

Co-authors:

  • Beatriz Goulao – University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom
  • Helen Heaney – University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom
  • Andrea Spence-Jones – Station House Media Unit (shmu), United Kingdom

Science Communication increases science capital, curiosity and knowledge, breaking down barriers between academic institutions and local communities. It is also a powerful tool to improve confidence and aspirations and involve these communities in research.

We will discuss how long-lasting partnerships can be established between universities and local communities through science communication projects, and the outcomes for all those involved, looking also at how the pandemic has affected participation and perception of science and how we’ve adapted our activities accordingly.

The University of Aberdeen has a long-standing relationship with a local charity, Station House Media Unit (shmu) that supports residents in the most disadvantaged areas of the city in media production. In particular, University staff and students work with shmu Youth Media Group (YMG; 10-18 year olds) producing science-based radio shows, videos and podcasts. In 2017 shmu and the University started the “Curiosity” project that successfully engaged young people from the city’s regeneration areas in science activities. We recently secured phase 2 funding, which will support a further 3-year partnership enabling YMG to determine the research content of the activities, based on their interest and relevance to their communities. YMG are also co-creating a “Podcast Camp”, as part of a research project on public/patient involvement in numerical aspects of research, aimed at developing young people’s critical thinking.

We will demonstrate our approach to engaging young people with science and different media platforms and invite young participants to share their experience and showcase their outputs (videos, podcasts and blogs). We will discuss the impact of these projects on researchers, young people, their communities and the University, and how science communication can be used to empower the local community. This partnership also allows a transformation of the relationship between communities and the University, enabling a wider participation of a group traditionally disengaged from research and science.

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

Presentation type: Demonstration
Theme: Transformation

Author: Yaela Golumbic – University of Sydney, Australia

Co-authors:

  • Ayelet Baram-Tsabari – Technion- Israel Institute of Science & Technology, Israel
  • Barak Fishbain – Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion- Israel Institute of Technology, Israel

Citizen science is a collaborative effort of citizens and scientists, where members of the public actively engage in scientific research projects. As such, participants engage in data collection, classification and analysis, leading to both scientific and social beneficial outcomes. A key factor in facilitating wide public engagement with science through citizen science, lies in the diversity of participants actively engaging and participating in projects’ activities. Yet, participants in citizen science projects are often addressed as one group, with motivations, benefits and outcomes discussed collectively, overlooking group diversity and personal needs and requirements from participation.

In an attempt to better understand the diversity of participants in citizen science, we describe here a multiple case study aimed to identify motivations and underlying engagement styles of citizen science participants. This was done by examining the motivation, activities and experiences of the most active participants (n=25) in Sensing the Air citizen science project, for monitoring air quality in the local environment, over the years 2015-2018. Using interviews, questionnaires, participation reports, online comments and correspondences with participants, log data from the project website, and participant feedback, we identified five unique engagement styles: the worried resident, the environmentalist, the researcher, the educator and the circumstantial participant. We found that initial motivation for engaging with the project often predicted the activities participants engaged with, their personal outcomes and their overall satisfaction from the project. These finding highlight the need for more diversity and flexibility in citizen science projects supporting participants’ individual goals alongside its potential in promoting social impact and facilitating wider public engagement with science.

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

Presentation type: Roundtable discussion
Theme: Transformation

Author: Avshalom Ginosar – The Academic College of Yezreel Valley, Israel

Co-authors:

  • Tali Tal – Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Israel

This study addresses one of the challenging topics which Science Communication as a research field attempts to explore, analyze and provide solutions for: how to make science accessible for the general public. Although the information-era enables scientists to directly communicate their scientific work to the public through personal blogs and websites, journalism still plays a major role in mediating between scientists and lay-people. Commonly, it is through science news published on general news websites. However, in this study we investigate a less popular, yet promising, online channel: science news websites, which are studied only to a limited extent. The study focuses on five major science news websites in Israel and aims at understanding their nature and their actual and potential contribution to the public’s knowledge about, and awareness of, various scientific issues. In this presentation we address only our first research question: What are the characteristics of the five science news websites, and to what extent do they act and operate as journalistic institutions? To answer the question, we content analyzed each item published on the websites during four months; altogether 395 items. Initial findings show that the only private-owned website has published 44% of the items, while the other four (operated by: a science institution, an environmental research association, and scientist/medical-doctors’ groups) have each published 7-20% of the items. The authors comprised of 46% scientists/experts, 18% journalists and 14% others. The text-types are informative/news: 63%; interpretative texts: 19%; opinionated texts and others: 6%. Almost all items were supported by images (80%) and/or video (25%). The published scientific topics greatly vary from climate change to nature-conservation, galaxies, and vaccination. Our initial observation is that although these websites format is very similar to a traditional journalistic formats, the authors and the writing are quite different than these of general journalistic websites.

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

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Time

Author: Alexander Gerber – Rhine-Waal University | Institute for Science & Innovation Communication, Germany

Just like other research fields coming of age, science communication is increasingly asking itself which patterns have characterised its development, which topics and methodologies were particularly often used, and what this can tell us about the strengths and weaknesses of the research field. An in-depth empirical analysis has explored exactly these questions. The results were published as a book in spring 2020, which also comprises reflections by the world’s leading science communication scholars about the field’s future needs and perspectives.

The study triangulates a bibliometric and content analysis of approx. 3,000 journal papers with a multi-stage panel study and a review of grey literature spanning four decades. Quantitative findings from the journal analysis (e.g. about disciplinary contexts or topics, research methods, data analysis techniques used) were discussed in a multi-stage series of qualitative interviews.

This paper will especially explore one of the key findings of the study, namely that research and practice do not take sufficient notice of each other’s priorities, challenges and solutions.

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

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Transformation

Author: Sevinc Gelmez-Burakgazi – Hacettepe University, Turkey

Co-authors:

  • Zeynep Aydogan – Hacettepe University, Turkey
  • Hamdican Yildirim – Hacettepe University, Turkey

In this survey research study, which was carried out over time at the national level, it is aimed to obtain information about the sources of perceptions about the COVID-19 pandemic. The main data collection tool was a questionnaire developed by the researchers. The data was collected in April and in May 2020 (the very first months of outbreak and the restrictions) via Google Forms to see how things might have changed. The survey was disseminated through social media, primarily Whatsapp and Telegram groups. Within the scope of this research, it is planned to determine society’s perceptions about COVID-19 during the pandemic period, the ways people accessed information, and the reliability of the resources they used to obtain that information. The results indicated that people mostly preferred television to access information during the pandemic period, followed by institutional websites, Twitter, communication applications (WhatsApp, Telegram etc.) and Instagram. In both stages, it was seen that the individuals mostly trusted scientists in accessing reliable information. Participants had a common belief that scientific research led to far more benefits than harms. One of the most remarkable results of the study was public believed that COVID-19 was a biological weapon. In the last part, with open-ended questions, participants stated that the measures being taken around the world were not enough to prevent the spread of the pandemic. Participants commonly stated that people should pay attention to health and hygiene. As well as revealing perceptions during the pandemic, the findings are expected to inform different stakeholders and policy makers by determining the position of society in relation to myths about the virus. In addition, it is thought that the current research may be useful at national and international levels for potential future pandemics, as it reveals the trends for the current pandemic in two periods.

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

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Transformation

Author: Andrea Geipel – Deutsches Museum, Germany

New technologies, such as Virtual Realitiy (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), not only point the way to science communication in the museum of the future, but also sharpen the view for everyday challenges in the analogue and digital realms. These are precisely the challenges that cultural institutions are facing in an equal measure. With the opening of the VRlab in August 2018, the Deutsches Museum created an experimental area in the exhibition space to test various scenarios of digital communication and education and to identify measures for their implementation.

As part of the national project museum4punkt0 the Deutsches Museum, together with seven other institutions, evaluates and documents questions on digital storytelling, usability and infrastructural requirements when implementing digital technologies. Within the VRlab the Deutsches Museum applied ethnographic fieldwork, 20 in-depth interviews as well as a questionnaire (n=367) to uncover how skilled visitors already are in using VR, how they perceive the virtual exhibits, the contextualization and the storytelling and how they evaluate usability and accessibility.

Our evaluation shows, that around 16% of the visitors have already experienced room scale VR before coming to the Deutsches Museum, around 92% want to learn more about how VR works and around 87% want to see and learn more about the real exhibits. Together with detailed documentation, the talk will give insights in the implementation, virtual storytelling and reception of VR and how therefore, it is more than another media station. In a next step, we will take a closer look at educational concepts and learning outcomes in VR.

In the talk I will highlight why VR should never be seen as a replacement for real exhibitions but rather as another promising tool to give context, add information and bring exhibits back to life.

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

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Technology

Author: Toss Gascoigne – Australian National University, Australia

Co-authors:

  • Margaret Kaseje – Professor & Director of Research and Programmes, Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development, Kenya
  • Joan Leach – Australian National University
  • Bernard Schiele – UQAM, Canada

The book collects accounts of how modern science communication has developed in 39 countries. Eleven rank outside the top hundred in per capita wealth, and five are Muslim-majority countries. Five are from Africa, seven from the Americas, 11 from Asia and the rest from Europe and Australasia. We have 39 reports from 115 authors.

Three principles emerge from these stories.

The first is that community knowledge is a powerful force. In rural Kenya, the number of babies delivered by unskilled people led to high mortality. Local science communication practices provided a solution. A baraza (community discussion) integrated the health problem with social solutions, and trained local motorcycle riders to transport mothers to hospitals. The baraza used role-plays to depict the arrival of a mother to a health facility, reactions from the health providers, eventual safe delivery of the baby, and mother and baby riding back home.

A second principle is how science communication can enhance the integration of science with other beliefs. Science and religion, for example, are not always at odds. The Malaysian chapter describes how Muslim concepts of halal (permitted) and haram (forbidden) determine the acceptability of biotechnology according to the principles of Islamic law. Does science pose any threat to the five purposes of maslahah (public interest): religion, life and health, progeny, intellect and property?

The third is an approach to pursuing and debating science for the public good. Science communication has made science more accessible, and public opinions and responses more likely to be sought. The “third mission”, an established principle across Europe, is an expectation that researchers will contribute to the growth, welfare and development of society.

Discussants: Toss Gascoigne (editor), Bernard Schiele (analyst), Margaret Kaseje (author) and Joan Leach (Editorial Board).

Chair Michelle Riedlinger (Editorial Board and chapter author).

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

Presentation type: Roundtable discussion
Theme: Transformation

Author: Helen Garrison – Vetenskap & Allmänhet, Sweden

Co-authors:

  • Maria Hagardt – Vetenskap & Allmänhet, VA (Public & Science), Sweden
  • Emma Martinez – Babraham Institute, United Kingdom
  • Pedro Russo – Leiden University, Netherlands

The drive towards Open Science means ensuring that citizens are involved in research, and that the views of different stakeholders are taken into consideration when shaping science agendas and research projects. But putting this into practice is not always as easy as it might appear in theory. So how can researchers, policy makers and research funding bodies successfully engage with the public, and ensure that citizens” values and interests are taken into account when shaping research agendas?

This session will showcase a range of innovative methods and activities for engaging the public in the research process through Open Science from around Europe. Examples include co-creation formats and methodologies, citizen science approaches, gamification, and public and multi-stakeholder dialogues on topics ranging from genome editing to sustainability. It will also draw upon insights from a number of studies across Europe investigating public attitudes towards research and public interest in getting involved in science. Discussion will focus on the challenges of widening participation in research and ways to overcome these plus how to adapt activities online to support virtual engagement. All participants will also be able to share their own views and experiences of putting open science into practice.

The session will start with short introductory presentations from each speaker on the different innovative public engagement activities performed and the conducted surveys. This will be followed by group discussions with the participants around the following questions:

– What are the challenges of public engagement with science?
– How can the public be involved in science; what methods/solutions can be used and which are the drivers?

All participants will be able to share their own views and experiences in the roundtable discussions providing a broad international perspective. Participants will first discuss each of the questions and the findings will be reported into Mentimeter, an online tool that enables the results to be displayed instantly. The results will then be discussed in plenary and can be incorporated into action plans on how public engagement activities can lead the way to make science and research more open and inclusive.

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

Presentation type: Roundtable discussion
Theme: Transformation

Author: Heidi Gardner – University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom

Common stereotypes of scientists are well known; a white male of a certain age spending all his time in the lab with vials of colourful bubbling liquids. In recent years significant efforts have been invested in breaking down these stereotypes, particularly with the younger generation. These efforts appear to be changing perceptions and having a positive impact on children’s perceptions. Between 1966 and 1977 a team of researchers asked 4,807 children to draw a scientist; predictably, these images regularly featured white coats, lab equipment and books (Chambers 1983). Overwhelmingly, children drew scientists as male. Just 28 of the 4,807 images (0.6%) depicted female scientists, and all of those were drawn by girls. Thankfully, recent data involving more than 20,000 children’s depictions of scientists shows that from the 1980s onwards, an average of 28% of children drew female scientists (Miller et al., 2018).

It is important to ensure that the younger generation recognise that anyone can be a scientist, but there are comparatively few initiatives to ensure that adults recognise that too. During the 2nd year of my PhD I was told that I didn’t ‘look like a scientist’. After my frustration had subsided, I set up my business, Science On A Postcard. My main aim is to increase representation of scientists within the wider community, so I have created a range of enamel pin badges to allow people to demonstrate that they are scientists in a subtle, non-verbal way. This presentation will include interviews with a variety of scientists (e.g. Biochemist, Physicist, Neuroscientist), discussing their experiences with communicating with the public before and after wearing one of these pin badges. I will demonstrate that something as simple as wearing a badge, can spark positive conversations between scientists and the public during day-to-day activities.

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

Presentation type: Visual presentation
Theme: Transformation

Author: Miguel Garcia-Guerrero – Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico

Co-authors:

  • Viridiana Esparza-Manrique – Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico
  • Bertha Michel-Sandoval – Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico

The Science Museum at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas has a long tradition, of 36 years, of public communication of science activities that include visits to its exhibits, lectures, temporal expositions, and science recreation workshops. At first, the efforts were intended for the local community in the city of Zacatecas but in the 1990’s we started working to reach communities on different towns in our state (Zacatecas has the size of Belgium and Netherlands combined). Soon we realized that our team, consisting of 3 hired science communication practitioners and 30 volunteers, was too small to reach 1.5 million people distributed in 77 thousand square kilometers. We had to try a new strategy, one designed to establish new science popularization programs all over the state, which could lead to further activities for the public.

Our goal was to start a chain reaction: train new teams to perform science communication activities in the inner state, which in turn could get more people -and sites- involved in these efforts to reach a growing number of places and people in Zacatecas and other states of Mexico. We used science recreation workshops, interactive activities where participants get to manipulate, discover things and discuss their ideas, as the main engine for this effort.

In order to develop the aforementioned chain reaction, we looked to collaborate with several organizations (schools, cultural centers, museums, public libraries, science councils, and volunteer groups), through different projects that include a traveling science museum, different science recreation kits, as well as our latest endeavor that will establish 30 permanent Science Clubs in our state (in addition to 8 in other sites in Mexico). This paper will address the mistakes, experiences, learnings, and challenges we have taken from our journey.

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

Presentation type: Visual presentation
Theme: Transformation

Author: Miguel Garcia-Guerrero – Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico

Co-authors:

  • Jordi Diaz – University of Barcelona, Spain
  • Curt Gabrielson – Community Science Workshops, United States
  • Luz Helena Oviedo – Parque Explora, Colombia

Science recreation workshops (SRW) are widely used as a means for public communication of science and technology (S&T) that promotes a three-level interaction for participants: physical, intellectual and emotional. People experience S&T first-hand as protagonists that explore their interests, discover amazing things, perform experiments, build devices, and discuss their ideas. In this sense, SRW serve as cornerstones for communities of practice around S&T, involving different kinds of fellows that help each other in their learning and understanding processes.

Other than will, commitment and proper training, SRW do not require many resources to develop. The use of cheap (or reusable) materials, versatility on the spaces where they can work (classrooms, museums, parks or even streets) and the ability to include all kinds of publics, help them reach places where other means cannot go.

So far the scholar discussion about SRW has been modest, but this has not stopped the development of networks of institutions working with this means for the public communication of science and technology. Such collaborations provide opportunities for interaction and discussion that foster larger communities of practice, where experienced members help the advancement of newcomers; who, in turn, provide fresh perspectives that help improve workshops. All of this strengthens professional development for SRW.

This roundtable involves experiences from Colombia, Spain, the United States, and Mexico, and explores the possibility of creating larger international collaboration networks for SRW practitioners.

Questions to guide the discussion:

What were the main challenges to start the SRW activities you perform?

What is the role of SRW in the process of building communities in your activities?

How did you achieve collaborations with relevant allies?

Do you feel a need for a theoretical foundation that supports the development of SRW?

Is there a need for international collaboration around SRW? What are the benefits that could be achieved from this?

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

Presentation type: Roundtable discussion
Theme: Transformation