Public Scientific Literacy Research Articles

Research on Digital Technology of Paleontological Skeletal Specimens and Its Application in Museum Display

Digital technology plays an increasingly important role in the display of paleontological skeletal specimens. Through technologies such as high-precision scanning and virtual reality, viewers can immerse themselves in the living environment of ancient organisms and experience unprecedented interaction. In this process, there are also technical challenges, such as the fragility of specimens, the balance between scientific and educational display content, and so on. In order to fully leverage the advantages of digital technology, museums need to strengthen technological research and innovation, enhance audience education and guidance, and focus on cross platform cooperation and intelligent management. In the future, with the continuous advancement of technology, personalized and customized display experiences will become possible, bringing audiences richer and more vivid knowledge of paleontology. The application of digital technology not only enhances the display effect of paleontological specimens, but also injects new vitality into paleontological research and knowledge dissemination. Thoroughly studying the digital technology of paleontological skeletal specimens and its application in museum exhibitions is of great significance for promoting the development of paleontological research and enhancing public scientific literacy.

Preventing deviant behaviours in the formulation and implementation of environmental health policies in the era of self-media

National health could significantly impact political, economic and social spheres, having a critical role in national development, social stability and sustainable economic growth. The Chinese government is prioritizing health in all policies and promoting environmental health work. However, deviations in the implementation of China’s environmental health policy, such as excessive or incomplete execution, could hinder progress. Studies have identified the main factors that are inhibiting effective policy implementation; these include incomplete grassroots policy mechanisms, cognitive biases amongst policy executors, varying acceptance of policy execution objects and environmental complexity. To mitigate these issues, several actions have been recommended including improving government mechanisms, enhancing technical support, developing talents, increasing public scientific literacy and considering the needs of policy executors and environmental complexity. The Internet, especially self-media platforms, can enhance policy communication, reduce information bias and foster a favourable environment for policy implementation. By using self-media’s dissemination mechanism effectively, we can strengthen public consensus and improve public scientific literacy in environmental health. This contributes to eliminating policy formulation and implementation deviations, fully leveraging the guiding role of policies and promoting the construction of a Healthy China.

Research ethics and integrity in the DACH region during the COVID-19 pandemic: balancing risks and benefits under pressure

This scoping review maps research ethics and integrity challenges and best practices encountered by research actors in the DACH countries (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), including researchers, funders, publishers, research ethics committees, and policymakers, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic brought research and, in turn, research ethics and integrity, into public focus. This review identified challenges related to changing research environments, diversity in research, publication and dissemination trends, scientific literacy and trust in science, recruitment, research redundancy and study termination, placebo and human challenge studies, data management, and informed consent. These challenges are linked to two crucial factors: first, actors in the DACH research ecosystem lacked a sound knowledge base to assess the risks and benefits of research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, researchers in the DACH region faced pressure from policymakers, funders, and the public to generate relevant, timely, and consistent findings to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this review highlights best practices to mitigate the effects of future crises on research ethics and integrity, including enhanced cooperation among actors, continuous ethics assessments, and support for public scientific literacy.

O.8.3 - Towards the empowerment of public scientific literacy: Presenter(s): Sara Rubinelli, University of Lucerne and Swiss Paraplegic Research, Switzerland

O.8.3 - Towards the empowerment of public scientific literacy: Presenter(s): Sara Rubinelli, University of Lucerne and Swiss Paraplegic Research, Switzerland

Learning to become ignorant: Improving the quality of epistemic knowledge in science education

AbstractIn considering goals for science education, it is conventional to make arguments for the utility of scientific knowledge for a variety of purposes. Less prominent are rationales based on the beauty or truth of science. In this paper, we examine how an approach to science education might be different if we shift the goals of communication to an appreciation of the ways in which our knowledge is limited, and how the practical boundaries of our knowledge can be closer than we think—in other words, how we are collectively ignorant. Key to this approach is a renewed understanding of the role of material investigations in providing partial knowledge. Instead of providing incontrovertible evidence, empirical investigations provide a form of “explanatory excess” whereby the appropriate choice of explanation is not necessarily one that can be simplistically determined. Although scientific practices provide techniques to minimize the possibility of error in making our conclusions, these practices are performed by fallible human communities, from which the notion of “tentative, yet durable” claims derives. We argue that public scientific literacy may be better served by more circumspect claims of validity, and crucially, an enhanced understanding of the ways in which materiality influences epistemic processes and limits our claims. We illustrate these proposals through the case of the International Young Physicists' Tournament, a contest that invites participants to play with interesting physical phenomena for over a year. We identify three factors prominent in these tournament problems that present possibilities for increasing the authenticity of practical investigations. These are (i) multiple physical interactions in phenomena leading to the openness of choice of explanatory theory; (ii) the qualitative, subjective nature of the explanatory utility of theories; and (iii) the material contingency of empirical investigations. We argue that a more open‐handed embrace of the limits of our knowledge may serve as a better epistemic orientation for science instruction.

New Insights Into the Social Rumor Characteristics During the COVID-19 Pandemic in China.

BackgroundIn the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, several social rumors in the form of false news, conspiracy theories, and magical cures had ever been shared and spread among the general public at an alarming rate, causing public panic and increasing the complexity and difficulty of social management. Therefore, this study aims to reveal the characteristics and the driving factors of the social rumors during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsBased on a sample of 1,537 rumors collected from Sina Weibo's debunking account, this paper first divided the sample into four categories and calculated the risk level of all kinds of rumors. Then, time evolution analysis and correlation analysis were adopted to study the time evolution characteristics and the spatial and temporal correlation characteristics of the rumors, and the four stages of development were also divided according to the number of rumors. Besides, to extract the key driving factors from 15 rumor-driving factors, the social network analysis method was used to investigate the driver-driver 1-mode network characteristics, the generation driver-rumor 2-mode network characteristics, and the spreading driver-rumor 2-mode characteristics.ResultsResearch findings showed that the number of rumors related to COVID-19 were gradually decreased as the outbreak was brought under control, which proved the importance of epidemic prevention and control to maintain social stability. Combining the number and risk perception levels of the four types of rumors, it could be concluded that the Creating Panic-type rumors were the most harmful to society. The results of rumor drivers indicated that panic psychology and the lag in releasing government information played an essential role in driving the generation and spread of rumors. The public's low scientific literacy and difficulty in discerning highly confusing rumors encouraged them to participate in spreading rumors.ConclusionThe study revealed the mechanism of rumors. In addition, studies involving rumors on different emergencies and social platforms are warranted to enrich the findings.

Public scientific literacy is the basis for the progress of social civilization

Within the context of China's current development and the goal of building an innovative country by 2035, the National Action Plan for Scientific Literacy (2021–2035) has emphasized that public scientific literacy is the basis for the progress of social civilization and oriented its systematic planning towards that end. The plan includes the following key statements. First, the basis for the progress of social civilization is a new starting point and direction for boosting public scientific literacy. Second, science and technology must take meeting people's growing needs for a better life as the basic starting point for the enhancement of public scientific literacy. Finally, establishing a more balanced and adequate form of development is the basic principle guiding the enhancement of public scientific literacy, and China is beginning to present itself as a global demonstration for the scientific literacy enhancement campaign.

Understanding scientific literacy through personal and civic engagement: A citizen science case study

ABSTRACT Citizen science programs, which engage volunteers in varied aspeicts of scientific research projects, have been widely touted as a promising avenue for enhancing public scientific literacy and scientific civic engagement. The meanings volunteers make of citizen science experiences can influence the ways that scientific information is translated into action. This paper develops a conceptual framework for understanding scientific literacy in terms of personal and civic engagement with science. The framework is explored through a case study of citizen scientists’ reflections on their experiences in an ecologically focused citizen science program. Findings describe ways that participants drew on their citizen science experiences to use and produce science in and for personal and civic contexts. Implications for enhancing connections between citizen science and personal and civic engagement are discussed.

Reviewing Science Education in Trinidad and Tobago through the Lens of the COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper explores how the COVID-19 pandemic can act as a lens for educators and scholars to more clearly define some of the issues hampering effective science education in one Caribbean territory. The pandemic clearly revealed certain phenomena in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) including: the poor state of public scientific literacy; limited public understanding of the nature of science; an antagonistic dynamic with respect to public trust in science; and the lack of comprehensive remote/online pedagogical options for science. These issues have implications for the teaching and learning of science in T&T. In particular, science educators are encouraged to consider: a border crossing approach to teaching science; explicitly teaching the nature of science; adopting a science in context approach to science education; and working on developing digital pedagogies for teaching science that honour inquiry and concrete hands-on experience with phenomena. While the article is primarily about Trinidad and Tobago, it may be relevant to those interested in the development of small island states, including other Caribbean territories.

Teaching History of Science in General Education Classrooms

Teaching History of Science can help students comprehend the concepts, impact students’ attitude towards science and improve public scientific literacy. However, due to curriculum and teaching load restrictions, teaching history of science did not efficiently link concept learning in general education classrooms. In this study, we applied history of science teaching in two courses from different fields: Biology and Psychology and reported how to connect history of science in students’ learning.

Using SimulATe to model the effects of antibiotic selective pressure on the dynamics of pathogenic bacterial populations.

Antibiotics are notable weapons in fighting bacteria. Nowadays, however, the effectiveness of antibiotics is severely hindered by the increasing levels of antibiotic resistances in pathogenic bacterial populations, which can persist due to the selective pressure caused by antibiotic exposure. Arguably, the main cause of antibiotic resistances endurance in nature is antibiotic misuse, such as via overusing, inappropriate prescribing as well as the uncontrolled use in agriculture and livestock. There is also a lack of knowledge on appropriate antibiotic usage by the general public. Public scientific literacy and more research on therapeutic practices are fundamental to tackle this problem. Here, we present SimulATe a software which allows the simulation of the effects of antibiotic therapies on bacterial populations during human infections. This software can be used to develop students’ scientific literacy, using infections and antibiotic treatments as context to engage students in scientific practices, and discussions on antibiotic treatment onset and duration or on its use in immunosuppressed or critically ill individuals. SimulATe’s features also allow it to be used for research purposes allowing the simulation of real scenarios and exploration of their outcomes across the parameters’ landscape.

Spatial differences in the influence of science popularization resources development on the energy consumption carbon footprint in provincial regions of China

BackgroundScience popularization resources development is an important means to improve public scientific literacy and has a crucial influence on the formation of public consumption habits, patterns and concepts, and ultimately on the energy consumption carbon footprint.MethodsBased on panel data from the provincial regions in China from 2010 to 2014, this paper measures the energy consumption carbon footprint in provincial regions using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methods and builds a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model to evaluate the levels of science popularization resources development in provincial regions by using the global entropy method. Then, the mechanisms of influence on the energy consumption carbon footprint and the levels of science popularization resources development in the provincial regions of China are analyzed and measured.ResultsThe results showed that science popularization resources development could significantly lower the energy consumption carbon footprint; from 2010 to 2014, the lowering effect of science popularization resources development on the energy consumption carbon footprint in the major east, middle, and west provincial regions showed a weakening trend, with a greater lowering amplitude in the east than in the middle and west regions and narrowing spatial differences among them; at present, this influence works best in the west region followed by the middle and east regions.ConclusionsThe results imply that we should give full attention to science popularization resources development to lower the energy consumption carbon footprint in China. In addition, focus should be given to the west region of China and construction mechanisms for science popularization resources that are built with flexible adoptions of means such as a combination of government guidance and market mechanisms, as well as joint construction by government and society.

Research on Information Dissemination Model of Science Museum Based on Coupling Network

Science museum is an important means of disseminating science information, improving public scientific literacy and developing innovative culture. This paper analyzes the characteristics of science and technology information dissemination in science museum, establishes a coupling network model on line of the museum, studies the coupling relationship between offline individuals and online users, and describes the propagation process of science information of science museum. The research of this paper lays a foundation for further research on the impact analysis of science and technology information dissemination of science museum

“Science Fiesta!” Combining student-led community outreach with local culture

Science outreach improves science literacy among the public and communication skills of scientists. However, despite the array of well-documented benefits, robust outreach efforts are often absent from communities which stand to benefit the most from these initiatives. Here, we introduce “Science Fiesta,” a graduate student-led outreach initiative which utilizes cultural traditions of South Texas as a vehicle to establish self-sustaining interactions between scientists and their local community. Event assessment surveys indicated that attendees found the event both fun and educational. At the same time, graduate students who organized the event and participated in outreach reported that they strengthened a variety of professional skills important for their future careers. More importantly, the event had a substantial positive impact on enthusiasm for science outreach. Both public attendees and graduate students reported that they were likely to participate in future science outreach events, even though a majority of both groups had not been previously involved in outreach efforts. Science Fiesta is a model for a highly effective graduate student-led outreach initiative that is capable of 1) improving public scientific literacy, 2) reinforcing graduate education and career development and 3) creating a culture of science engagement within local communities.

“Science Fiesta!” Combining student-led community outreach with local culture

Science outreach improves science literacy among the public and communication skills of scientists. However, despite the array of well-documented benefits, robust outreach efforts are often absent from communities which stand to benefit the most from these initiatives. Here, we introduce “Science Fiesta,” a graduate student-led outreach initiative which utilizes cultural traditions of South Texas as a vehicle to establish self-sustaining interactions between scientists and their local community. Event assessment surveys indicated that attendees found the event both fun and educational. At the same time, graduate students who organized the event and participated in outreach reported that they strengthened a variety of professional skills important for their future careers. More importantly, the event had a substantial positive impact on enthusiasm for science outreach. Both public attendees and graduate students reported that they were likely to participate in future science outreach events, even though a majority of both groups had not been previously involved in outreach efforts. Science Fiesta is a model for a highly effective graduate student-led outreach initiative that is capable of 1) improving public scientific literacy, 2) reinforcing graduate education and career development and 3) creating a culture of science engagement within local communities.

Enhancing endorsement of scientific inquiry increases support for pro-environment policies.

Pro-environment policies require public support and engagement, but in countries such as the USA, public support for pro-environment policies remains low. Increasing public scientific literacy is unlikely to solve this, because increased scientific literacy does not guarantee increased acceptance of critical environmental issues (e.g. that climate change is occurring). We distinguish between scientific literacy (basic scientific knowledge) and endorsement of scientific inquiry (perceiving science as a valuable way of accumulating knowledge), and examine the relationship between people's endorsement of scientific inquiry and their support for pro-environment policy. Analysis of a large, publicly available dataset shows that support for pro-environment policies is more strongly related to endorsement of scientific inquiry than to scientific literacy among adolescents. An experiment demonstrates that a brief intervention can increase support for pro-environment policies via increased endorsement of scientific inquiry among adults. Public education about the merits of scientific inquiry may facilitate increased support for pro-environment policies.

Measuring Networking as an Outcome Variable in Undergraduate Research Experiences.

The aim of this paper is to propose, present, and validate a simple survey instrument to measure student conversational networking. The tool consists of five items that cover personal and professional social networks, and its basic principle is the self-reporting of degrees of conversation, with a range of specific discussion partners. The networking instrument was validated in three studies. The basic psychometric characteristics of the scales were established by conducting a factor analysis and evaluating internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha. The second study used a known-groups comparison and involved comparing outcomes for networking scales between two different undergraduate laboratory courses (one involving a specific effort to enhance networking). The final study looked at potential relationships between specific networking items and the established psychosocial variable of project ownership through a series of binary logistic regressions. Overall, the data from the three studies indicate that the networking scales have high internal consistency (α = 0.88), consist of a unitary dimension, can significantly differentiate between research experiences with low and high networking designs, and are related to project ownership scales. The ramifications of the networking instrument for student retention, the enhancement of public scientific literacy, and the differentiation of laboratory courses are discussed.

The AMS DataStreme Earth's Climate System Teacher Professional Development Course: Results from a Three-Year Study

ABSTRACTThe DataStreme Earth's Climate System (DataStreme ECS) course implementation has been built on 20 years of American Meteorological Society (AMS) in-service K–12 teacher professional development experience, and is supported by educational research. Using the Targeting Outcomes of Programs model, DataStreme ECS was evaluated over a three-year, six-semester (spring 2011–fall 2013) study period through content and pedagogical focused pre- and posttests, a postcourse assessment, and an environmental literacy evaluation. During the NASA and NSF-supported study period the course prepared 1,027 teachers, via 25 Local Implementation Teams serving 35 states, to lead and assist their students and peers in understanding climate and global change issues. Notable evaluation results include an average 28% grade increase for teacher participants from pre- to posttest, as well as an average of 98% of participants reporting that their environmental literacy had increased (some or much) as a result of the course. There was a 99% completion rate for registered participants, demonstrating the value teachers placed on the course. Additionally, in a spring 2011 evaluation of peer-training workshops given by a specialized group of DataStreme ECS-trained teachers, 94% of attendees gave the highest possible response when assessing workshop content, and 98% recommended that the workshop be offered to others. DataStreme ECS can serve as a curriculum and instruction model for those designing long-duration teacher professional development courses to work with a network of educators and scientists to increase program reach and build public scientific literacy.

Norms and Values in UK Science Engagement Practice

In recent years, there has been a rhetorical shift from ‘deficit’ to ‘dialogue’ and ‘engagement’ in UK policy and institutional discourse about science communication. Past efforts to reduce public scientific literacy deficits have been overshadowed by calls for dialogue between scientists, science communicators and non-scientists. However, it is unclear how this rhetorical shift has translated into a real change in the guiding principles and practices of UK science engagement. This study investigates reported practices and discourse of UK science engagement practitioners from a variety of professional backgrounds. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered using questionnaires and focus groups. The analysis employed a theoretical lens informed by Bourdieu's theory of practice, Irwin's taxonomy of first (deficit), second (dialogue) and third (contextual) ‘orders’ of engagement and theoretical conceptualizations of social change from cultural psychology and sociology. Results suggest that participating practitioners’ reported experience was predominately first order, although current definitions and discussions of engagement by a small number of practitioners indicate some limited acceptance of dialogue-oriented thinking. Such potential movement from past practice to current thinking is highly contingent however, not least because so few practitioners had experienced second- or third-order engagement. The implications of these findings are explored both in terms of understanding patterns in UK science engagement and what they portend for Bourdieu's theory of practice and social change.

Ecologists, educators, and writers collaborate with the public to assess backyard diversity in The School of Ants Project

Citizen science can generate data that would not exist otherwise while increasing public scientific literacy. However, the quality and use of citizen science data have been criticized in the recent ecological literature. We need an approach that advances eco‐evolutionary understanding, achieves education goals and incorporates public participation into as many aspects of the scientific process as possible. We collaborated with public participants to make new discoveries about the distribution and ecology of ants while informing the next studies that participants and scientists might perform together. We implemented the School of Ants (SoA) program in which participants sample ants that are identified by taxonomic experts. Using a comprehensive framework that meets the needs of multiple agents, we also developed outreach materials about ant biology, collaborated with educators to incorporate SoA into classroom science, and launched an international SoA module in Italy. In the first 17 months, SoA volunteers collected ants at 500 unique sites across the USA‐including all 50 states and Washington, D.C. To address concerns about the validity of citizen scientist‐derived data, we conducted a ground truthing trial that confirmed that trained and untrained volunteers were equally effective at collecting ants. Data from SoA samples indicate that ant diversity varies across wide geographic scales and that there can be high levels of native ant diversity where people live. SoA volunteers collected 7 exotic and 107 native ant species. Although exotic ants were common, ants native to North America occurred in ∼70% of all sites. Many of the ants common in backyards were species that tend to be very poorly studied. For example, citizen scientists documented a range extension of more than 2000 miles for the Asian Needle Ant, Pachycondyla chinensis. Using SoA data as a starting point, we collaborated with a science writer to produce a free, interactive iBook about the common ants in North America; the book included distribution maps such as that for P. chinensis informed by participant collections. Moving forward, we plan to leverage this existing framework to address more complex ecological and evolutionary questions in partnership with our public participants.