Abstract
The fields of science education and science communication are said to have developed as disparate fields of research and practice, operating based on somewhat different logics and premises about their audiences. As the two fields share many of the same goals, arguments have been made for a rapprochement between the two. Drawing inspiration from a historical debate between the scholars John Dewey and Walter Lippmann, the present article is a case-oriented theoretical contribution applying models from science education and science communication in relation to a current socio-scientific issue (SSI), the COVID-19 pandemic. The main question of interest is how selected didactic (didaktik) models from science education and science communication can contribute to shed light on the present situation of an ongoing pandemic specifically and socio-scientific issues in general. Three models are synthesised to give a new composite model that may help communicators and educators understand, discuss, and analyse complex socio-scientific issues. The model is subsequently applied on the apparently contradictory issue of Norwegian and Swedish governments’ very different responses to the pandemic, despite grounding their decisions on largely the same scientific evidence and advice. Contrast is made by comparison with another SSI, anthropogenic global warming (AGW). It is argued that the exchange and combination of didactic models from the two fields may open new spaces for cross-pollination and cross-fertilisation to the mutual benefit of both science education and science communication.
Highlights
The fields of science education and science communication share many common goals, they have traditionally operated based on somewhat different logics and premises aboutE
The fields of science education and science communication are said to have developed as disparate fields of research and practice, operating based on somewhat different logics and premises about their audiences
It is argued that the exchange and combination of didactic models from the two fields may open new spaces for cross-pollination and cross-fertilisation to the mutual benefit of both science education and science communication
Summary
The fields of science education and science communication share many common goals, they have traditionally operated based on somewhat different logics and premises about. While the actors of science education (broadly understood as educators and students) share an arena with its own social mechanisms and discourses, they are at the same time part of a broader public and actors on the playground of science communication Taken together, this can be conceptualised as a division of labour between the two fields. In the present case-oriented theoretical contribution, I seek to explore intersections and modes of interplay between science education and science communication by invoking selected didactic models from the two and applying them to the current socio-scientific (SSI) issue of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The main question of interest for the present inquiry is how selected didactic models from science education and science communication can contribute to shed light on the present situation of an ongoing pandemic in particular, and socio-scientific issues in general, to the mutual benefit of both fields. Comparison is made with another SSI, anthropogenic global warming (AGW)
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