Scientific Outreach: Toward Effective Public Engagement with Biological Science

Varner, Johanna

doi:10.1093/biosci/biu021

Cited by 135 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…It is regrettable that there is currently little incentive for those engaging in such activities to study the outcomes (Nadkarni and Stasch 2013b). However, pursuing evaluation and assessment, as well as iterative improvement based on that information, should occur in tandem with creating content (Varner 2014). Moreover, the peer-reviewed publication of that information represents an additional and tangible professional incentive for outreach that is not often mentioned.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the efficacy of web‐based educational outreach in ecology

Goldsmith

Fulton

Witherill³

et al. 2014

Ecosphere

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Abstract. Scientists are increasingly engaging the web to provide formal and informal science education opportunities. Despite the prolific growth of web-based resources, systematic evaluation and assessment of their efficacy remains limited. We used clickstream analytics, a widely available method for tracking website visitors and their behavior, to evaluate .60,000 visits over three years to an educational website focused on ecology. Visits originating from search engine queries were a small proportion of the traffic, suggesting the need to actively promote websites to drive visitation. However, the number of visits referred to the website per social media post varied depending on the social media platform and the quality of those visits (e.g., time on site and number of pages viewed) was significantly lower than visits originating from other referring websites. In particular, visitors referred to the website through targeted promotion (e.g., inclusion in a website listing classroom teaching resources) had higher quality visits. Once engaged in the site's core content, visitor retention was high; however, visitors rarely used the tutorial resources that serve to explain the site's use. Our results demonstrate that simple changes in website design, content and promotion are likely to increase the number of visitors and their engagement. While there is a growing emphasis on using the web to broaden the impacts of biological research, time and resources remain limited. Clickstream analytics provides an easily accessible, relatively fast and quantitative means by which those engaging in educational outreach can improve upon their efforts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the efficacy of web‐based educational outreach in ecology

Goldsmith

Fulton

Witherill³

et al. 2014

Ecosphere

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“…In addition, careful thought should be put into crafting opportunities to engage with local users about wetland restoration (Varner 2014). It is important to get more interested in our audience beyond treating them as 'recipients for expert knowledge' (Salmon et al 2015), as most people do not learn about science through formal education but through informal sources (Groffman et al 2010).…”

Section: Fostering Public Support For Wetland Restorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Support for Wetland Restoration: What is the Link With Ecosystem Service Values?

Scholte¹,

Todorova²,

Teeffelen³

et al. 2016

Wetlands

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Fostering public support for wetland restoration is essential for long-term sustainable management and use of wetland areas. This paper explores the socio-cultural dimension of wetland restoration, by looking at the importance of wetland ecosystem services for different user groups. We try to better comprehend such values by evaluating the awareness people have of ecosystem services and the direct benefits people obtain from the ecosystems in their surroundings. In addition, we study how the values people assign to ecosystem services are related to wetland restoration attitudes. We identified four perspectives towards wetland restoration, which could partially be explained by corresponding values for ecosystem services: an eco-centric, a cultural, an economic and a negative perspective. To gather public support for wetland restoration it is important to take into account the different motivations people have to support such initiatives.

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“…A child or adult with an interest in geoscience can watch videos, read descriptions, look at diagrams, and even ask questions of geoscientists, at their leisure from their homes [38]. And modern, online engagement hasn't replaced traditional outreach; school visits, public lectures, open days, etc., are not phased out when an institution starts putting information online, but instead can be enhanced and augmented by the online resources [39]. Research should be undertaken to explore geoscience outreach programs and public engagement policies in Ireland, with a view to identifying and sharing the most effective techniques for dialogue with interested publics.…”

Section: Study Of Informal Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geoscience Education in an Irish Context: A Need for Research

Neenan¹,

Roche²

2016

GEP

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Perception and understanding of geoscience in Ireland by non-geoscientists have not been studied in depth, and an improvement in understanding how geoscience is perceived and engaged with will have significant impact on Ireland's ability to meet a range of challenges, including hotly debated geoscience issues such as fossil fuel dependency, raw mineral management, water security, and shale gas extraction (particularly fracking). Geoscience plays an important role in society, and the understanding of geoscience of an average Irish person will be based on formal education (at primary and secondary level) and informal education through public outreach and news media. Geoscience is expanding in formal education and informal education is increasingly delivered online. Geoscience education in Ireland has not been studied in detail, and a better understanding of the state of geoscience education could improve connections between geoscientists and nongeoscientists. This paper discusses the scope of potential research into geoscience education in Ireland that could and should be undertaken in order to best understand and describe the state of geoscience education, and geoscience in society. Mixed-method research should be undertaken to study geoscience education at multiple levels and targeting multiple publics. This research into the state of geoscience education in Ireland would be valuable, to geoscientists and educators.

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Scientific Outreach: Toward Effective Public Engagement with Biological Science

Cited by 135 publications

References 46 publications

Improving the efficacy of web‐based educational outreach in ecology

Improving the efficacy of web‐based educational outreach in ecology

Public Support for Wetland Restoration: What is the Link With Ecosystem Service Values?

Geoscience Education in an Irish Context: A Need for Research

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