Sharing Science

A conversation with Prof. Ayelet Baram-Tsabari

 

Science communication and science education are two scholarly communities that had little contact with each other, but in recent years, some cross-pollination is beginning to emerge. In what ways can they contribute to each other? In this episode, we discuss this issue with Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and head of the Applied Science Communication research group.

 

Personal website: https://ayeletlab.net.technion.ac.il/

 

Further reading:

Baram-Tsabari, A., & Osborne, J. (2015). Bridging science education and science communication research. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(2), 135-144. doi: 10.1002/tea.21202

McKinnon, M., & Vos, J. (2014). Engagement as a threshold concept for science education and science communication. International Journal of Science Education, Part B, 5(4), 297-318. doi: 10.1080/21548455.2014.986770

A conversation with Prof. Massimiano Bucchi

 

With the advent of online media, science reporters are no longer one of the major gatekeepers of science news and analysis. In this episode, we discuss the greater responsibilities scientists need to take on to compensate for the decline of traditional media outlets. Our guest is Prof. Massimiano Bucchi, Professor of Science and Technology in Society and of Science Communication at the University of Trento, Italy. He serves as editor of the leading international journal, Public Understanding of Science.

 

Personal website: http://www.massimianobucchi.it/

 

Further reading:

Bucchi, M. (2017). Credibility, expertise and the challenges of science communication 2.0. Public Understanding of Science, 26(8), 890-893. doi: 10.1177/0963662517733368

Bucchi, M., & Trench, B. (2014). Science Communication Research: Themes and challenges. In M. Bucchi & B. Trench (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology (2nd ed., pp. 1–14). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203483794

A conversation with Prof. Jim Ryder

 

Policy documents often declare that science education can help individuals engage with science throughout their lives. What kind of school science education policy could help prepare people to do this? How would the implementation of such policy look like in practice? In this episode we explore this issue with Professor Jim Ryder, the Leader of the Curriculum, Pedagogy and Policy Research Centre at the University of Leeds.

 

Personal website: http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/people/academic/ryder

 

Further reading:

Feinstein, N. (2010). Salvaging science literacy. Science Education, 95(1), 168-185. doi: 10.1002/sce.20414

Hendriks, F., Kienhues, D., & Bromme, R. (2016). Trust in science and the science of trust. In B. Blöbaum (Ed.), Trust and communication in a digitalized world: Models and concepts of trust research (pp. 143–159). Springer. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28059-2

Ryder, J. (2001). Identifying Science Understanding for Functional Scientific Literacy. Studies in Science Education, 36(1), 1-44. doi: 10.1080/03057260108560166

A conversation with Prof. Noah Weeth Feinstein

 

How do people understand and use science as they engage with science in their personal lives? What is the rightful place of scientists in the public sphere? In this episode we’ll talk about these issues and more with Noah Weeth Feinstein, Associate Professor in the departments of Curriculum & Instruction, and Community & Environmental Sociology, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

 

Personal website: https://ci.education.wisc.edu/ci/people/faculty/noah-feinstein

 

Further reading:

Weeth Feinstein, N. (2015). Education, communication, and science in the public sphere. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(2), 145-163. doi: 10.1002/tea.21192

Collins, H. (2014). Are we all scientific experts now? Cambridge, England: Polity.

A conversation with Prof. Rainer Bromme

 

Science and scientists are mostly trusted by the public. This might change when science addresses topics that are socio-scientific in nature or when there are vested interests of private companies. We discuss the importance of promoting trust between scientists and the public by communicating disagreements and consensus honestly and clearly. In this episode, we host Prof. Rainer Bromme, a senior professor in educational psychology from the University of Münster.

 

Personal website: http://www.uni-muenster.de/PsyIFP/AEBromme/en/personen/bromme.html

 

Further reading:

Hendriks, F., Kienhues, D., & Bromme, R. (2016). Trust in science and the science of trust. In B. Blöbaum (Ed.), Trust and communication in a digitalized world: Models and concepts of trust research (pp. 143–159). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28059-2

A conversation with Prof. Ilan Chabay

Climate change is a complex problem at several levels. It pertains the natural world as well as individuals, communities and societies. How can the natural and social sciences help us understand it and solve it? In this episode, we explore this question with Prof. Ilan Chabay, head of Strategic Research Initiatives and International Fellowship Programs at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany, and chair of the KLASICA international knowledge, learning, and societal change research alliance, also at the Institute.

 

Personal website: http://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/people/prof-dr-ilan-chabay

 

Further reading:

Murdock, A. (2017, June 1). Scientists really aren't the best champions of climate science. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/5/24/15680542/scientists-climate-change-facts

Yariv, L. (2002). I’ll See It When I Believe It — A Simple Model of Cognitive Consistency. Cowles Foundation Discussion Paper No. 1352. Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University. Retrieved from https://cowles.yale.edu/publications/cfdp/cfdp-1352 .

A conversation with Prof. Hans Peter Peters

 

How often do scientists communicate with journalists? To what extent do they engage with the public directly through social media platforms? What factors shape their tendency to engage in these activities? Join us as we explore scientists' public communication patterns and compare them across different countries. In this episode we talk with Prof. Hans Peter Peters, a social scientist at the Research Center Jülich and Adjunct Professor of Science Journalism at the Free University of Berlin. Prof. Peters is a leading expert on scientists as media sources and public communicators.

 

Personal website: http://hpp-online.de/

 

Further reading:

Peters, H. P. (2013). Gap between science and media revisited: Scientists as public communicators. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(Supplement_3), 14102–14109. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1212745110

Peters, H. P., Dunwoody, S., Allgaier, J., Lo, Y.-Y., & Brossard, D. (2014). Public communication of science 2.0. EMBO Reports, 15(7), 749–753. https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.201438979

A conversation with Prof. Eric Jensen

Suppose you’ve started your own science festival, or launched a new exhibit at the local science museum. What are some reliable and valid ways to measure the impacts of these activities? How can tweets and other “digital traces” of participants be used when assessing impacts? We explore these topics with Prof. Eric Jensen from the University of Warwick, who is author of the book, Doing Real Research: A Practical Guide to Social Research.

 

Personal website: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/staff/jensen/

 

Further reading:

Jensen, E. (2017). Putting the methodological brakes on claims to measure national happiness through Twitter: Methodological limitations in social media analytics. PLOS ONE, 12(9), e0180080. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180080

Kahle, K., Sharon, A., & Baram-Tsabari, A. (2016). Footprints of Fascination: Digital Traces of Public Engagement with Particle Physics on CERN's Social Media Platforms. PLOS ONE, 11(5), e0156409. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0156409

Weeth Feinstein, N., & Meshoulam, D. (2013). Science for what public? Addressing equity in American science museums and science centers. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51(3), 368-394. doi: 10.1002/tea.21130

A conversation with Prof. Jonathan Osborne

Which aspects of science are most relevant to you, if you’re not planning to be a scientist? What knowledge is likely to be valuable and useful for day-to-day life? In this episode, we talk with Prof. Jonathan Osborne about useful and reliable knowledge, and about the importance of teaching and learning about procedural and epistemic aspects of scientific inquiry. Prof. Osborne is Kamalachari Professor of Science Education at Stanford University, and the Chair of the OECD PISA Science Expert Group.

 

Personal website: https://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/osbornej

 

Further reading:

Erduran, S., & Dagher, Z. (2014). Reconceptualizing the Nature of Science for Science Education. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

Kloser, M. (2016). Alternate text types and student outcomes: an experiment comparing traditional textbooks and more epistemologically considerate texts. International Journal of Science Education, 38(16), 2477-2499. doi: 10.1080/09500693.2016.1249532

Yarden, A., Norris, S., & Phillips, L. (2015). Adapted primary literature: The Use of Authentic Scientific Texts in Secondary Schools. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

A conversation with Prof. Lloyd Spencer Davis

 

Every minute there are thousands of new videos uploaded to the web. If the scientific community does not establish presence in this growing medium, it will miss the opportunity to engage with the majority of the public. We talk with Prof. Lloyd Spencer Davis about the importance of using storytelling tools and narrative to create high quality science videos and attract public attention. Lloyd Spencer Davis is Stuart Professor of Science Communication and the Director of The Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Lloyd is an internationally recognized scientist, as well as an award-winning author and filmmaker.

 

Personal website: http://www.sciencecommunication.info/staff/davis.html

 

Further reading:

Davis, L., & León, B. (2018). New and Old Narratives: Changing Narratives of Science Documentary in the Digital Environment. In B. León & M. Bourk, Communicating Science and Technology Through Online Video: Researching a New Media Phenomenon (pp. 55-63). New York, NY: Routledge.