In recent years, transmedia has come into the spotlight among those creating and using media and technology for children. We believe that transmedia has the potential to be a valuable tool for expanded learning that addresses some of the challenges facing children growing up in the digital age. Produced by the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, this paper provides a much-needed guidebook to transmedia in the lives of children age 5-11 and its applications to storytelling, play, and learning. Building off of a review of the existing popular and scholarly literature
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Becky Herr-StephensonMeryl AlperErin Reilly
This paper analyses the adoption of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) by Spanish journalists specialising in science. Applying an ethnographic research model, this study was based on a wide sample of professionals, aiming to evaluate the extent by which science journalists have adopted the new media and changed the way they use information sources. In addition, interviewees were asked whether in their opinion the Web 2.0 has had an impact on the quality of the news. The integration of formats certainly implies a few issues for today’s newsrooms. Finally, with the purpose of
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Carles Pont-SorribesSergi Cortinas RoviraIlaria Di Bonito
Scientists intermittently appear on television news as experts to inform and comment on current events. This study explores whether their appearance adds a critical measure of substantiated arguments and balanced judgements to public affairs reporting. An explorative analysis of a representative sample of news broadcasts from five public broadcasters in Western Europe in 2006 and 2007 suggests that this is to some extent the case. The implications of these findings for the deliberative quality of TV news are discussed, and a typology of scientific experts in the general news items is proposed.
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Richard van der WurffPiet VerhoevenMaite Gadellaa
For lay people, mass media are the main source of scientific information; that is why science journalists’ selection and depiction of scientific issues is an important field to study. This paper investigates science journalists’ general issue selection and additionally focuses on science journalists’ depiction of nanoscale science and technology and its related scientific evidence (certainty/uncertainty of research findings). Face-to-face interviews with science journalists (n = 21) from different German media channels were conducted. The results show that the professional role conception
The explosion at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant highlighted serious social concerns about risk communications; the public found it difficult to take preventive actions based on scientific information of radioactive fallout. We investigated public perception of the risks from low dose radiation and the role of information providers through the Internet survey focusing on parents in four Japanese regional groups. Mothers felt more anxious than fathers in Fukushima but not in further groups, and that the furthest group felt the most ambiguous anxiety. Their anxiety derived from distrust of the
Scientific journalism ought to pay attention not only to the “products” of science, but also to the ways in which it operates in any given historical and political context. A critical analysis of the presently dominant rhetoric of innovation and unlimited growth is necessary to shed light on the relationship between science and democracy. Equally profitable would be a thorough investigation of past and present controversies on the role of scientists in decision-making.
In an experimental study, gender differences were found in how middle schoolers identified with scientists on popular TV shows. Male students identified most strongly with male scientists whom they perceived as respected, while female students identified most strongly with female scientists whom they perceived as dominant. The study also analyzed students’ identification with scientists as an effect of the genre of the TV shows.
Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG), a Cambridge-based research firm specializing in the evaluation of educational programs, conducted the summative evaluation of StarTalk. The overall focus was to examine how well the joint presentation of science and humor reaches a public audience, including an audience not typically exposed to informal science learning, and how well it engages and informs them, such that they are motivated to continue learning more. Primary evaluation research questions included: 1. To what extent does exposure to StarTalk lead to increased interest in and knowledge of
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded a number of informal STEM programs that provide funding for media producers, including public television (TV) stations, to provide children’s STEM programming in out-of-school-time (OST) settings. These projects typically include a children's TV series (animated or not) aired on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), plus resources such as hands-on activity guides, educator toolkits, and other materials that can be used to support STEM learning in OST settings. This paper explores the lessons learned from seven such programs and their respective
Many adolescents develop ideas about and attitudes toward engineering through their exposure to out-of-school representations of science and technology. Yet few studies have investigated the nature of these representations and found ways to use them in formal engineering learning. This article explores media representations of science and technology that today's adolescents are familiar with. It analyzes how the embedded representations compare with those found in academic engineering and examines how these representations influence students' knowledge of and dispositions toward engineering
Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF),The STEM Pathways project focused on exploring strategies through which at-risk and incarcerated Hispanic youth could be engaged around STEM careers, understand the education, training, and skills they would need to attain them, and think that such a path was a future possibility. To this end, the project and evaluation teams collaborated on a literature review, the development of a logic model, and the design, implementation, and evaluation of a diverse set of program activities that included media, art, and flash mentoring with STEM role models
Funded by NSF, Earth: The Operators’ Manual (ETOM) is a users’ guide to the present and future energy resources of our planet, providing “users” with the information, attitudes and tools to make wiser choices about powering homes, schools, businesses and communities. ETOM uses a hybrid model of science communication including video + in-person presentations + Web 2.0 social networking. Rockman et al evaluated project impact, working from front-end to summative stages to understand the reactions of media, online and on-site audiences using both qualitative and quantitative measures to look at