Merryn McKinnon

Engagement as a Threshold Concept for Science Education and Science Communication

Science communication and science education have the same overarching aim—to engage their audiences in science—and both disciplines face similar challenges in achieving this aim. Knowing how to effectively engage their ‘audiences’ is fundamental to the success of both. Both disciplines have well-developed research fields identifying best practice. However, there seems to be an impediment in putting this knowledge into practice, or even much sharing of knowledge between the 2 disciplines. Threshold concepts refer to concepts that are fundamental to thinking and practice in a discipline. In this paper, we argue that engagement is a threshold concept for both science education and science communication. Considering the vast amount of literature on science education and science communication, the focus in this paper is on recent recommendations rather than longstanding, more general notions, providing a contemporary view. This paper illustrates how engagement fulfils the characteristics of a threshold concept for both disciplines and highlights how the 2 fields could assist each other. The purpose of this paper is to spark new conversations and sharing between the 2 disciplines, with the use of threshold concepts as a vehicle for enabling collaboration and progress.

Does citizen science have the capacity to transform population health science

ABSTRACT Citizen science engages members of the public in research design, data collection, and analysis – in asking and answering questions about the world around them. The United States, European Union, and Australia have placed citizen science at the forefront of national science policy. Journals such as Science, Nature and Bioscience regularly feature projects conducted by citizens. Citizen science engages millions of people worldwide. However, to date, population health science has not relied heavily on citizen contributions. Although community-based participatory action research remains a strong foundational method to engage those affected by public health problems, there is additional potential to mainstream population health through wider, less intensive opportunities to be involved in our science. If we are to tackle the complex challenges that face population health then new avenues are needed to capture the energy and attention of citizens who may not feel affected by public health problems, i.e. to engage the ‘by-standers’ in population health science. Particular types of citizen science methods have the potential to do this. But simply increasing the breadth and volume of scientific evidence will not be enough. Complex, intractable, macro-level problems in population health require change in how our journals and funding bodies respond to data generated by the public. Of course, democratisation of science and the potential decentralisation of scientific authority will bring deep challenges. But potentially it brings a future where population health science is better known, understood and respected, with benefits for the types of public policies that derive from this science.

Participatory Theater as a Science Communication Tool in Timor Leste

This article examines the trial of participatory theater for disseminating new agricultural knowledge among subsistence farmers in Timor Leste, a small underdeveloped country in the Asia-Pacific region. The aim of the trial was to provide information on improved seed varieties and appropriate agronomic practices to maximize their yield among rural communities where rates of adult illiteracy are high and the reach of mass media forms of communication is low. The findings highlight the potential for entertainment-education forms to provide effective science communication tools in contexts where approaches more typical in developed countries are severely constrained.

Academic Integrity and Oral Examination: An Arabian Gulf Perspective.

Academic dishonesty is a major challenge facing educational institutions worldwide. Within the context of undergraduate education in the Arabian Gulf, oral assessment can help validate the originality of student work, whilst simultaneously facilitating assessment in a mode highly resonant with the region’s own educational traditions and collectivist cultural norms. The present study aims to examine student perceptions of a group-based oral examination. This was introduced as an alternative to written examinations, and as an adjunctive assessment of a course essay. Three undergraduate sections (N = 75) of an introductory psychology course at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates sat the oral examination. Participants were later surveyed about their experience immediately after the exam (prior to knowing their grade). The dominant themes to emerge from the analysis were relief, satisfaction with the process and ecological relevance. Another theme was a perception of fairness and promotion of academic integrity. The group oral exam appears to provide a well-tolerated, culturally resonant means of assessment, which also promotes academic integrity within the present Arabian Gulf context.

Thirty Years of a Science Communication Course in Australia: Genesis and Evolution of a Degree

Since 1985, the Science Circus program has recruited science graduates Australia-wide and provided them with science communication training leading to a university degree. On qualifying these graduates demonstrate highly diverse career paths reflecting the relevance of science communication training to other disciplines. Graduates, by their activities, have contributed to the growth of science communication as an academic discipline and an “industry”—both in Australia and abroad. It suggests that science communication training can have impact far beyond narrowly defined disciplines and skill sets, and this impact is worthy of further exploration.

Crossing a Threshold

Anyone with a message they wish to convey to others has a desire to engage their audience. The means and ways by which we can engage our audiences are many and varied; indeed they vary for each identified audience, creating a highly diverse landscape of communication activities and realms (Bucchi & Trench, 2008).

Science, Twitter and election campaigns: tracking #auspol in the Australian federal elections

Social media is increasingly being used by science communicators, journalists and government agencies to engage in discourse with a range of publics. Despite a growing body of literature on Twitter use, the communication of science via Twitter is comparatively under explored. This paper examines the prominence of scientific issues in political debate occurring on Twitter during the 2013 and 2016 Australian federal election campaigns. Hashtracking of the umbrella political hashtag auspol was used to capture tweets during the two campaign periods. The 2013 campaign was particularly relevant as a major issue for both parties was climate change mitigation, a controversial and partisan issue. Therefore, climate change discussion on Twitter during the 2013 election was used as a focal case study in this research. Subsamples of the 2013 data were used to identify public sentiment and major contributors to the online conversation, specifically seeking to see if scientific, governmental, media or ‘public’ sources were the more dominant instigators. We compare the prominence of issues on Twitter to mainstream media polls over the two campaign periods and argue that the potential of Twitter as an effective public engagement tool for science, and for politicised scientific issues in particular, is not being realised.

How can university sexual health promotion events reach those most at risk? A cross-sectional study

Background The rate of notifications of sexually transmissible infections (STIs) in Australians has increased dramatically, especially in those aged 16-30 years. This age bracket, typical of university students, is the most likely to report multiple sexual partners in the previous year. Individuals who have sex with multiple partners in a year have a significantly increased chance of contracting an STI, making them an important audience for sexual health promotion. This study aimed to determine how university sexual health promotion events can better reach this higher-risk subset of the population. METHODS Two anonymous cross-sectional surveys were used to understand current and ideal sexual health promotion events through the perspectives of student leaders (n=62) and general university students (n=502). RESULTS Students who had more than one sexual partner in the previous year (the higher-risk group) made up 22.7% of the students sampled. Higher-risk students differed substantially from lower-risk students in terms of preferred event types, incentives and topics to be covered, often prioritising those rarely used in current university sexual health events. CONCLUSION While current university sexual health events include some features that align with student priorities, elements beyond sexual health information, such as social activity, alcohol incentives and on-site sexual health testing, can be helpful tools to attract students with higher numbers of sexual partners.

‘Human’ or ‘objective’ faces of science? Gender stereotypes and the representation of scientists in the media:

This article examines contemporary representations of female and male scientists in The New York Times with a particular emphasis on stereotypes related to gender and science as a profession. The selected series of profiles is approximately proportional in its representation of women in science and generally gives a rounded and diverse picture of their subjects. Traditionally ‘masculine’ characteristics (e.g. individual drive and brilliance) as well as ‘feminine’ communal skills (e.g. collaboration, communication and teamwork) are attributed to both male and female scientists. Nevertheless, textual and image analyses reveal that some differences remain in the treatment of male and female subjects, particularly in the unequal focus on combining family and career. This research identifies progress in media representations of scientists in comparison to previous studies. However, there is still room for improvement, especially in the representation of scientists from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Perils and positives of science journalism in Australia

Scientists, science communicators and science journalists interact to deliver science news to the public. Yet the value of interactions between the groups in delivering high-quality science stories is poorly understood within Australia. A recent study in New Zealand on the perspectives of the three groups on the challenges facing science journalism is replicated here in the context of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. While all three groups perceived the quality of science journalism as generally high, the limitations of non-specialists and public relation materials were causes for concern. The results indicate that science communicators are considered to play a valuable role as facilitators of information flow to journalists and support for scientists. Future studies on the influence and implications of interactions between these three groups are required.