What Factors Predict Scientists' Intentions to Participate in Public Engagement of Science Activities?

Poliakoff, Ellen; Webb, Thomas L.

doi:10.1177/1075547007308009

Cited by 285 publications

(413 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Having taken part in the sessions, scientists pointed out that these were of value to them, especially for developing their own communication skills and being able to disseminate their work to a wider, younger audience. Scientists seemed to have a positive stance towards public engagement, a factor found to be significant in motivating them to take part more systematically in such events (Poliakoff & Webb, 2007). The most effective ways to engage students with a wide range of abilities and interests emerged as a challenge for many of the participating scientists.…”

Section: Scientists' Perspectives On Interacting With Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although currently there are some studies that investigate scientists' perspectives on public engagement or science communication (Davies 2008;Poliakoff & Webb, 2007;Royal Society, 2006), these studies mainly focus on interactions with adults, leaving a gap in the literature about scientists' views on interactions with school-aged students, as well as how such interactions should be structured to allow maximum positive effect on students. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the nature of short but reflective, discussion-based sessions between scientists and school students.…”

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confidence: 99%

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

Woods-Townsend

Christodoulou

Rietdijk

et al. 2015

International Journal of Science Education, Part B

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Students have been reported to have stereotypical views of scientists as middle-aged white men in lab coats. We argue that a way to provide students with a more realistic view of scientists and their work is to provide them with the opportunity to interact with scientists during short, discussion-based sessions. For that reason, 20 scientists from 8 professional areas were asked to share their experiences of becoming and being a scientist, in short sessions with groups of 7 -8 students. The student sample consisted of 223 students between 13 and 15 years. Student and scientist questionnaires were used before and after the sessions to assess students' views of scientists and their work, and scientists' experiences of interacting with students. The pre-session questionnaires revealed that students considered scientists as 'boring' and 'nerdy' whereas after the sessions students focused extensively on how 'normal' the scientists appeared to be. The faceto-face interactions with scientists allowed students to view scientists as approachable and normal people, and to begin to understand the range of scientific areas and careers that exist. Scientists viewed the scientist-student interactions as a vehicle for science communication. Implications discussed include the need for future training courses to focus on developing science communicators' questioning and interaction skills for effective interactions with students.

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Section: Scientists' Perspectives On Interacting With Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Woods-Townsend

Christodoulou

Rietdijk

et al. 2015

International Journal of Science Education, Part B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…30,31 While the public communication of science, including the factors that influence scientists in terms of their communication with lay audiences, has attracted considerable research interest over the last few decades, local studies were mostly limited to explorations of public science literacy and attitudes to science. 32 Only two studies investigated interactions between South African scientists and journalists 33,34 and both highlighted gaps in understanding and skills deficits on the sides of both journalists and scientists.…”

Section: The South African Context For Public Science Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

In the footsteps of Einstein, Sagan and Barnard: Identifying South Africa’s most visible scientists

Joubert¹,

Guenther²

2017

S. Afr. J. Sci.

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ARTICLE INCLUDES:× Supplementary material × Data set FUNDING:National Research Foundation (South Africa) Highly visible scientists are increasingly recognised as influential leaders with a special role to play in making science part of mainstream society. Through consultation with a panel of 45 experts working at the science-media interface, we sought to identify the most visible scientists currently living and working in South Africa. In total, 211 scientists -less than 1% of the scientific workforce of the country -were identified as visible in the public sphere. The demographic profile and institutional spread of South Africa's visible scientists suggest that more should be done to increase the diversity of scientists who are publicly visible. Although only 8% of South Africans are white, 78% of the group of visible scientists were white, and 63% of the visible scientists were men. Only 17 black women were identified as publicly visible scientists. While visible scientists were identified at 42 different research institutions, more than half of the visible scientists were associated with just four universities. Recent controversies surrounding the two most visible South African scientists identified via this study, and the potential implications for fellow scientists' involvement in public engagement, are briefly discussed. Significance:• This is the first study to identify highly visible scientists in South Africa.• The study has meaningful policy implications for mobilising scientists towards public science engagement.• It is an important contribution towards the new public engagement framework of the Department of Science and Technology.

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“…''The other one that I do stay away from are policy issues'' (C1). Descriptive norms are important in predicting a scientists' intention to participate in public engagement of science activities (Poliakoff and Webb 2007), and may influence the climatologists' apprehension to connect science with policy.…”

Section: Idealized Roles Of Climatologistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatologists’ patterns of conveying climate science to the agricultural community

Wilke

Morton

2014

Agric Hum Values

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Climatologists have a unique role in providing various stakeholders and public data users with weather and climate information. In the north central region (NCR) of the United States, farmers, the agricultural sector, and policy makers are important audiences for climate science. As local and global climate conditions continue to shift and affect agricultural productivity, it is useful to understand how climatologists view their role as scientists, and how this influences their communication of climate science to agricultural stakeholders. In this study, data from interviews (N = 13) and surveys (N = 19) of state and extension climatologists in the NCR are analyzed to identify perceived roles and responsibilities as scientists and communicators. Pielke's (The honest broker: making sense of science in policy and politics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007) framework of the idealized roles of scientists and their communication patterns are used to develop a typology of climate science communication. Findings reveal that more than half of climatologists perceive their role to provide information as pure scientists, while some engage in an arbiter role when requested. Fewer climatologists view their role as not only producing new knowledge, but also relating it to society and providing an expanded variety of alternative applications. Climatologists who perceive their role as simply providing information and letting data users interpret its application are missing an opportunity to reduce the gap between what scientists know and farmers believe. This suggests that if climatologists would frame their climate science message in terms of agricultural impacts, hazard mitigation and risk management alternatives they could help the agricultural sector adapt to and mitigate environmental risks from a changing climate.

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What Factors Predict Scientists' Intentions to Participate in Public Engagement of Science Activities?

Cited by 285 publications

References 61 publications

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

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

In the footsteps of Einstein, Sagan and Barnard: Identifying South Africa’s most visible scientists

Climatologists’ patterns of conveying climate science to the agricultural community

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