How Academic Biologists and Physicists View Science Outreach

Abstract

Scholars and pundits alike argue that U.S. scientists could do more to reach out to the general public. Yet, to date, there have been few systematic studies that examine how scientists understand the barriers that impede such outreach. Through analysis of 97 semi-structured interviews with academic biologists and physicists at top research universities in the United States, we classify the type and target audiences of scientists’ outreach activities. Finally, we explore the narratives academic scientists have about outreach and its reception in the academy, in particular what they perceive as impediments to these activities. We find that scientists’ outreach activities are stratified by gender and that university and disciplinary rewards as well as scientists’ perceptions of their own skills have an impact on science outreach. Research contributions and recommendations for university policy follow.

Meet the Scientist: The Value of Short Interactions Between Scientists and Students

“…Reports on scientists' participation in outreach activities indicate that often scientists do not have the necessary skills to engage in dialogic, interactive models of science communication (Ecklund et al, 2012;Royal Society, 2006). In our study, the scientists' views on the impact of interacting with the students focused on their awareness of their own communication skills, and the skills necessary for engaging students in discussion.…”

“…The scientists' perceived impact of the sessions on themselves emphasised the importance of interaction during the sessions. This led to most scientists structuring their sessions in a more interactive way than simply making a presentation, an approach generally used by scientists when taking part in public engagement events involving children (Ecklund et al, 2012).…”

“…Currently, studies focusing on scientists' perspectives on science communication mainly focus on the potential impact of such outreach activities on the scientists themselves (Ecklund et al, 2012;Royal Society, 2006). Prior to the scientist-student interactions, scientists' perceived impact of the Meet the Scientist sessions on the students was found to fit into four areas, as presented in Figure 1.…”

University physics students’ motivations and experiences in informal physics programs

“…On the other hand, some factors that did not predict participation were: career recognition, sustainability for their own research (even though scientists believe outreach is important, they still do not intend to participate themselves), what others think, and time and money constraints [6], [8]. From these studies, we have some idea of which scientists participate in informal programs and what influences their decisions.…”

Researchers: share your passion for science!

“…Being a good communicator, being mentioned in the media, and in some cases becoming the go-to specialist for media, can all impact positively on research and career enhancement [4,17,22]. However, this is balanced by many qualitative studies that suggest a negative impact of PE on career progression in institutions that lack recognition or reward of PE activities [5,21,23,24]. Nevertheless, researchers' participation will become increasingly rewarded by impacting either directly or indirectly on their scientific careers, since institutions and research funders are increasingly recognising the significance of PE.…”