Mapping variety in public understanding of science

1993 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Bauer ◽  
Ingrid Schoon
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Survey Question ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Understanding Of Science

We analyse around 15 000 responses from 11 countries to the open survey question `please tell me in your own words, what does it mean to study something scientifically' in order to show cultural diversity in public representations of science. In past studies this question has been coded on a five-point rating scale that is used to rank scientific literacy across different countries. We develop, apply and evaluate an alternative coding frame. We show that our coding is more adequate, more reliable and produces less noise than the frame used by others to analyse responses to the same question. Multiple coding on five dimensions allows us to characterize people's understanding of science in terms of methods, institutions, effects, examples and level of differentiation of the response. We use correspondence analysis to characterize distinct response patterns in ten European countries and the USA. The data shows that no simple cultural division such as Protestant versus Catholic, or north-south divide, or Latin versus Anglo-Saxon fits the variance in the data. The paper closes with an agenda for future research in the area of public understanding of science and technology.

Analyzing acceptance politics: Towards an epistemological shift in the public understanding of science and technology

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Barben
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Analytical Perspective ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Understanding Of Science

Reviewing the main research approaches on the acceptance of science and technology (S&T) developed in the last decades, I will (1) summarize advances achieved and persisting problems concerning the understanding of both the public and S&T. I will show that the acceptance-centered framework has, at least implicitly, been linked to practical efforts in acceptance politics, i.e., attempts to improve a lack of acceptance. In order to investigate conflicts relating to S&T in a more reflective way, I will (2) suggest an epistemological shift towards the analysis of acceptance politics. Building on the distinction between the relevance and resonance of S&T, the ways in which S&T are valuated and gain legitimacy are investigated from a regime analytical perspective. I will (3) exemplify the advantages of this approach by comparatively analyzing the acceptance politics of three biotechnology applications in the USA and Germany. I will (4) conclude with an outlook on future research.

Socio-demographic correlates of DK-responses in knowledge surveys: self-attributed ignorance of science

1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Regression Model ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Demographic Correlates ◽  
The Status ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Don't Know Responses

With the increasing specialization of the knowledge society, knowledge in some areas means ignorance in others, which amounts to the knowledge-ignorance paradox. In the debate on public understanding of science the status of “ignorance” is controversial. How is scientific ignorance distributed by age, education, religion, social category or gender? We attempt to answer this and other questions by analysing “Don't Know”-responses in a European-wide survey as a measure of self-attributed ignorance, using a regression model, and explore how different variables explain self-attributed ignorance in different countries. A pattern emerges which shows that various EU countries differ in their distribution of ignorance of science. The polysemy of ignorance of science across social settings remains a problem for future research.

scholarly journals Communicating Science and Technology. Gradiva’s Books of Popularization of Science and Technology and the Portuguese Public

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-118
Author(s):  
Inês N. Navalhas
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Portuguese Population ◽  
Popularization Of Science ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The One

Abstract By focusing on the books of popularization of science and technology published by Gradiva this research aims at understanding the mechanisms and strategies to bring science and technology to a broader audience in Portugal, after 1974, the year of the Carnation Revolution that put an end to a long half century dictatorship. I use a mix conceptual framework: on the one hand, I use the scientific literacy and public understanding of science and technology main references to explore the public’s behavior and opinion concerning scientific and technological knowledge; on the other hand, I analyze Gradiva’s choices concerning the collections aimed at popularizing science and technology. So, I hope to contribute to map the perception of the Portuguese public about techno-scientific themes that influence their life and decisions, to understand how scientists relate to scientific and technological popularization literature and to assess scientific literacy in the Portuguese population.

Theory and measurement in the public understanding of science: a rejoinder to Bauer and Schoon

1993 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon D. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Public Science ◽  
The Public ◽  
Dimensional Measure ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Open Question

In the paper `Mapping variety in public understanding of science' Bauer and Schoon apply a multi-dimensional coding to responses to the open question `Please tell me, in your own words, what does it mean to study something scientifically?', and draw some conclusions about cultural diversity from their results. I argue here that this study was inappropriate for two main reasons: first, because the open question was formulated and fielded not to elicit information which would reveal diversity but to assess public scientific literacy against a three-dimensional measure of understanding of three aspects of science which are relevant to the conduct and resolution of public science policy debates; and second, because the data set used by Bauer and Schoon was small and biased.

Don’t Trust the Scientists! Rejecting the Scientific Consensus “Conspiracy”

2018 ◽  
pp. 201-213
Author(s):  
Josh Pasek
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
The Public ◽  
Scientific Consensus ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Scientific Facts

Scholars assessing the public understanding of science have long regarded informing Americans about scientific facts as key to raising Americans’ scientific literacy. But many Americans appear to be aware of the scientific consensus and nonetheless reject it. The individuals who are aware of the scientific consensus and reject its tenets tend to distrust scientists. They also focus their rejection on particular issues for which they may be otherwise motivated. This rejection may be driven by elites, who argue against the scientific consensus on issues like climate change by asserting either that the science is unsettled or by contending that the scientific consensus is itself a conspiratorial ploy. Individuals’ patterns of beliefs seem to imply that they view scientific evidence they dislike as the result of a conspiracy.

Between citizen and consumer: multiplying the meanings of the “public understanding of science”

1998 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Michael
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Culture ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Status ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Sociological Studies

This paper explores how the “public understanding of science” might be reconceptualized in light of the recent sociological treatments of consumption. I consider the implications that the rise of consumer culture and the increasing aesthetisization of everyday life have for micro-and macro-sociological studies in the public understanding of science. In particular, I examine how consumer culture impacts upon the status of the “lay local” and the nature of citizenship as they relate to the public understanding of science and scientific literacy. Further, I explore how the discourses and techniques of public understanding of science studies might contribute to the formulation of the lay person as consumer. Finally; in light of these points, I formulate a number of research questions that might enable the development of the “public understanding of science.”

Understanding understanding: a model for the public learning of radioactivity

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 267-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Alsop
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Background Radiation ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Change Model ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Conceptual Change Model

While much of the work in the public understanding of science has focused on the public's appreciation of science and their familiarity with key scientific concepts, understanding the processes involved in learning science has largely been ignored. This article documents a study of how particular members of the public learn about radiation and radioactivity, and proposes a model to describe their learning—the Informal Conceptual Change Model [ICCM]. ICCM is a multidimensional framework that incorporates three theoretical dimensions—the cognitive, conative, and affective. The paper documents each of these dimensions, and then illustrates the model by drawing upon data collected in a case study. The emphasis of the analysis is on understanding how the members of the public living in an area with high levels of background radiation learn about the science of this potential health threat. The summarizing comments examine the need for a greater awareness of the complexities of informal learning.

The roles of rhetoric in the public understanding of science

1994 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan G. Gross
Keyword(s):  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Contextual Model ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Rhetoric ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Social Scientific

In the public understanding of science, rhetoric has two distinct roles: it is both a theory capable of analysing public understanding and an activity capable of creating it. In its analytical role, rhetoric reveals two dominant models of public understanding: the deficit model and the contextual model. In the deficit model, rhetoric acts in the minor role of creating public understanding by accommodating the facts and methods of science to public needs and limitations. In the contextual model, rhetoric and rhetorical analysis play major roles. Rhetorical analysis provides an independent source of evidence to secure social scientific claims; in addition, it supplies the grounds for a rhetoric of reconstruction, one that reconstitutes the fact and facts of science in the public interest.

scholarly journals Training in Astronomy

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 910-911
Author(s):  
M. Gerbaldi
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Primary Science ◽  
University Colleges ◽  
University Level ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Physical Laws ◽  
The University

Astronomy offers a unique opportunity for promoting the science teaching in its present crisis. Astronomy can be introduced at various levels and become the medium by which both primary science education and public understanding of science are stimulated.At the University level, astronomy can be introduced in the curricula of university colleges and be a subject for M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees. Astronomy, can give students the opportunity to work scientifically from observations and known physical laws in order to derive knowledge in another field of science. Astronomy can be taught with less formalism and more experimentation, giving students a feel for the link between a phenomenon and its theoretical representation, and how and why a given observation can be represented by different theoretical models.

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