Food for thought: Immersive storyworlds as a way into scientific meaning‐making

Abstract

AbstractScience communication aims to equip the public to become critical consumers of, advocates for, and sometimes producers of science. However, many studies suggest that audiences participating in such programs already benefit from strong cultural messages and social resources that encourage their engagement with science. The field is thus seeking to develop new models of science communication that can engage those who do not already seek out science engagement opportunities. In this article, we share findings from a study of an emerging sector of science communication that stages events in non‐science settings, such as nightclubs or music festivals. In particular, we examine a science communication program that leverages the genre of immersive storyworlds to engage non‐science‐seeking audiences at an annual country fair. Leveraging Bakhtin's conceptualization of carnival as a theoretical lens, we ask the questions: How do immersive storyworlds operate to attract and engage non‐science seeking public audiences in science conversations? In what ways do immersive storyworlds afford opportunities for participants to see science in relationship to themselves? We find that the storyworld creates an aesthetically and emotionally saturated context, with improvisational roles and routines that accommodate diverse perspectives and position participants' prior experiences and interests as the means for productive participation. Jointly producing the storyworld affords opportunities for belonging, which in turn appear to support sustained science conversations among participants and science communicators. The study contributes to the nascent evidence base for how such approaches might serve as an inclusive form of science communication, in particular by proposing new ways to think about “belonging” in science.