Public acceptance of vaccination and Genetically Modified (GM) food is low and opposition is stiff. During two science festivals in France, we discussed in small groups the scientific evidence and current consensus on the benefits of vaccination and GM food safety. Our interventions reinforced people's positive opinions on vaccination and produced a drastic positive shift of GM food opinions. Despite the controversial nature of the topics discussed, there were very few cases of backfire effects among the 175 participants who volunteered. These results should encourage scientists to engage more
Meaningful science engagement beyond one-way outreach is needed to encourage science-based decision making. This pilot study aimed to instigate dialogue and deliberation concerning climate change and public health. Feedback from science café participants was used to design a panel-based museum exhibit that asked visitors to make action plans concerning such issues. Using intercept interviews and visitor comment card data, we found that visitors developed general or highly individualistic action plans to address these issues. Results suggest that employing participatory design methods when
A report following the 2016 Environmental Health Summit recommended engaging citizens in creating their own knowledge and solutions, thus ensuring that their concerns are adequately addressed and promoting sustainability of community projects. Indeed, citizen science has the potential to initiate a cascade of events with a positive ripple effect that includes a more diverse future STEM and biomedical workforce. This SEPA proposal involves the establishment of WE ENGAGE – an informal, citizen science-based, environmental health experiential learning program designed in partnership with and for under resourced communities struggling with health and environmental health challenges. Its purpose is to actively engage and build the citizen science capacity of citizens living in a single cluster of three contiguous under resourced, minority Cincinnati neighborhoods where generational challenges continue to plague residents despite the presence of established academic-community partnerships. Our hypothesis is that community-informed, experiential learning opportunities outside of the classroom that are structured, multi-generational, and story-based will encourage a) the active asking, discussion about, and answering of relevant complex health and environmental questions so that individuals and communities can plan action steps to make better health choices and pursue healthier environments, and b) greater interest and confidence in pursuing formal biomedical/STEM education and STEM careers. Our program has three specific aims: 1) We will co-create tailored story- based (graphic novel style) STEM education materials with a community advisory board and offer informal STEM education and research training to our target communities; 2) we will facilitate the application of scientific inquiry skills to improve health via community-led health fairs that use an innovative electronic health passport platform to collect data and through facilitated community discussions of health fair data to generate motivating stories to share; and 3) we will facilitate the application of scientific inquiry skills to foster community pride and activism in promoting healthier/safer built environments via walking environmental assessments. As in aim 2, facilitated discussions will be held to spur future community based participatory research studies and interventions. Critical to our success is the concept of storytelling. Storytelling is a foundation of the human experience. A key purpose of storytelling is not just understanding the world, but positively transforming it. It is a common language. Bringing together STEM concepts in the form of a story increases their appeal and meaning. Later, the very process of community data collection gives individuals a voice. In a data story, hundreds to millions of voices can be distilled into a single narrative that can help community members probe important underlying associations and get to the root causes of complicated health issues relevant to their communities. Through place based, understandable, motivating data stories, the community’s collective voice is clearer—leading to relevant and viable actions that can be decided and taken together. From preventing chronic disease, to nurturing healthier environments, to encouraging STEM education — stories have unlimited potential.
Public Health Relevance Statement:
Narrative WE ENGAGE is an informal citizen science-based, experiential learning program designed in partnership with and for middle schoolers to adults living in under resourced minority communities. Using the power of data collection and storytelling, its purpose is to actively engage citizens in STEM/research education and training to encourage a more diverse future workforce and to sustainably build local capacity to ask and answer complex health and environmental questions relevant to their communities. Further, by engaging citizens and giving them a more equitable stake in the research process, they are better able to discover their own solutions.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Melinda Sue ButschkovacicSusan Ann Hershberger
Students can present their classroom work in a number of ways. One popular approach is an open house at the school. Such events often feature booths where parents and students can participate in various learning activities. Because these open houses usually only cater to the students and families associated with that particular school, the impact is limited to those people, and the wider local community is not engaged in students’ learning. Additionally, in rural areas, these types of events are sometimes difficult for families to attend during weekdays or weeknights, due to distance and work
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Robin CooperKim ZeidlerDiane JohnsonJennifer Wilson
As part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) funding for the In Defense of Food project directed by Kikim Media, the independent evaluation firm Knight Williams Inc.1 conducted a summative evaluation of the project’s key deliverables, which included: a PBS television broadcast program, an outreach effort, and an educational curriculum. This report (Study 2 of 3) focuses on the outreach effort.
Rapid and significant developments in the science of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) have provoked serious social and ethical concerns as well as positive influences worldwide. This study created a social agenda containing 21 important issues regarding the relationship between ASDs and society and the development of the science of ASDs. The agenda was constructed with the input of a variety of Japanese people who were provided with scientific ASD information and engaged in discussions regarding ASDs. First, opinions were sought via a questionnaire from the attendees of six science café
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jin HigashijimaYui MiuraChie NakagawaYasunori YamanouchiKae TakahashiMasaki Nakamura
Basing mainly on author's direct involvement in some science communication efforts in India, and other reports, this contribution depicts and analyses the present science communication/ popularization scenario in India. It tries to dispel a myth that rural people don't require or don’t crave for S&T information. It discusses need for science and technology communication, sustaining curiosity and creating role models. Citing cases of some natural, 'unnatural' and organized events, it recounts how S&T popularization efforts have fared during the past decade and a half. It's made possible using
Nowadays, India is experiencing a widespread diffusion of science communication activities. Public institutions, non-governmental organisations and a number of associations are busy spreading scientific knowledge not only via traditional media but also through specific forms of interaction with a varied public. This report aims to provide a historical overview of the diffusion of science communication in India, illustrating its current development and its future prospects.
The objective of the present paper is an attempt to measure the public understanding of science in the area of health and hygiene and test the efficacy of "cultural distance model". A pre-tested open-ended questionnaire was used for administering cross-sectional surveys at a religio-cultural festival in India. 3484 individuals were interviewed and responses were coded and entered to construct computer database. The data was used for determining the cultural distance of five scientific concepts from the quotidian life of the target population. In developing countries, the formal system of
Northampton Community College, RenewLV, and their four community-based partners will implement programming aimed at increasing the participation of new and underrepresented populations in community discussions focused on the examination of the human relationship with food and how we can ensure an adequate, safe, and appropriate food supply for the Lehigh Valley. This community discussion will be explored through three public forum events and supporting public programs including community-based workshops, cooking demonstrations, common writing projects in college classrooms and film screenings. The programming will connect the subject to participants’ experiences and will invite participants to use the humanities to think critically about their personal role and the role of their community in the food system.
WGBH is producing the fifth and sixth seasons of NOVA scienceNOW, a multimedia project that addresses a wide array of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects via multiple platforms. They include national PBS broadcast, the PBS web site, and innovative outreach activities such as an expanded Science Café initiative. Hosted by astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Season Five will air in 2010; Season Six in 2011. The focus is "stories of transformative research," e.g., nanotechnology, stem cells, quantum computing, as well as clean energy, and climate change. Project goals are to "produce a lasting impact on Americans' appreciation for and understanding of current scientific research," and to encourage an interest in STEM careers among younger viewers. Building upon solid prior work, the proposed project is finding new ways to interweave the television show, web materials, and Science Cafés to provide multiple entry points and pathways for the audience. For example, they will produce 32 web-only scientist profiles supported by a blog and social media tools, and then train these scientists as presenters for the Science Cafés. NOVA is planning a new strategy to maximize carriage and increase audience for the six new programs per year; the programs will run consecutively in the NOVA Wednesday evening primetime slot during the summer. During Season Three, over 2.7 million television viewers per week tuned in NOVA scienceNow, with 62,000 unique visitors to the web site per month and 75 active Science Cafés across the country. The expanded Science Café initiative is designed to become self-sustaining beyond the grant period through new partnerships with groups such as the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the American Chemical Society, and the Coalition for the Public Understanding of Science. The project will also collaborate with the Association of Science-Technology Centers and science centers around the country to host Science Cafés featuring scientists profiled on the web. Goodman Research Group will assess the reach and effectiveness of Seasons Five and Six. The focal/primary evaluation activity is a viewing and engagement study on the influence of viewing the series along with accessing and participating actively with the increased web and outreach offerings. This study will comprise web-based surveys with adaptive branching patterns, which will include data collection from a variety of participants and will focus on participants? use of the series, website, and outreach. The summative evaluation will measure how the project is reaching these audience segments, while also meeting the overall goals of increasing public understanding of science and engagement in science-related activities.
The Genome Radio Project, through the Pacifica Foundation, will produce nine one-hour radio documentaries and a live two-hour Town Hall on current genome research. The goals of the project are: o to provide background information on the theories and techniques of human genetic science, o to raise the social, ethical, and legal issues and concerns associated with human genetic research, and o to provide an opportunity for the public to interact with the scientific experts and policy makers. The specific programs include: o DNA and Behavior: Is Our Fate in Our Genes? o Prenatal Genetic Testing: Better Babies Through Science? o Gene Testing; Do You Really Want to Know Your Future? o Gene Therapy: Medicine For Your Genes. o DNA and the Law o The Commercialization of Genetic Information o Eugenics, Past and Present o Race, Evolution, and Philosophy in the Age of Genetics o The Human Genome Project: Roadmap to the Human Body The radio programs will be supplemented by a variety of printed and electronic ancillary materials exploring the science, ethics, and social impact of human genetic research. The project will be under the Bari Scott who will serve as PI. She has most recently been Executive Producer for The Telecommunication Radio Project. The Co-PI's will be Mat Binder, an Independent radio producer and instructor at the University of California, and Jude Thilman, the Project Director/Host of The communications Revolution, the nationally syndicated, live series on new telecommunications technologies. The principal consultants responsible for the science content of the project will be Sylvia Spengler, Deputy Director of The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Human Genome Center and Lane Conn, Coordinator of the Human Genome Education program at the Stanford University Human Genome Center. The science consultants and production staff will work closely with approximately thirty genome scientists nationwide who have formally agreed to advise the project.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Barinetta ScottJudith ThilmanMatt Binder