Science as Experience: A Deweyan Model of Science Communication

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-50
Author(s):  
Megan K. Halpern ◽  
Kevin C. Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Shared Experiences ◽  
Pragmatist Philosophy

Abstract The field of science communication is plagued by challenges. Communicators face the difficulty of responding to unjustified public skepticism over issues like climate change and COVID-19 while also acknowledging the fallibility and limitations of scientific knowledge. Our goal in this paper is to suggest a new model for science communication that can help foster more productive, respectful relationships among all those involved in science communication. Inspired by the pragmatist philosophy of John Dewey, we develop an experience model, according to which science communication consists in people’s experiences with science and the meanings they develop from those experiences. Three principles are central to the model: experience is cumulative, context matters, and audiences have agency. We argue that this model has significant implications both for communication research and practice, which we illustrate by applying it to the phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy. We show how science communicators can help to identify and alleviate structural factors that contribute to skepticism as well as fostering opportunities for meaning making around shared experiences.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Health and Risk Message Design and Processing

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Partial Information ◽  
Message Design ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Integrated Approaches ◽  
Programs Of Study

134 scholarly articlesThis Encyclopedia has been compiled as an up-to-date and comprehensive theoretically guided work in health and risk communication. Research and practice dedicated to communicating about health and risk to lay audiences grows exponentially with the availability of scientific knowledge on the subject. This work seeks to ensure that what is communicated is not only scientifically accurate but also avoids any partial information or overemphasis of particular features that result in beliefs or actions that may result in personal or societal harms.The Encyclopedia examines, among others: • message exposure and reach • message recipient sociodemographics • normative and integrated approaches • cognitive- and affect-based motivational processes • social determinants of health and riskMore than 150 scholars from around the globe examined the overarching topic from the lens of multiple disciplines and eras of thought. Novel insights emerge from systematic case studies used to illustrate some of these principles in practice, while gaps in existing research generate recommendations for future programs of study and practice.

scholarly journals Feminist standpoint theory and science communication

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (04) ◽  
pp. C02
Author(s):  
Megan Halpern
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Standpoint Theory ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Feminist Standpoint Theory ◽  
Feminist Standpoint ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Potential Value ◽  
Marginalized Groups

This commentary introduces feminist standpoint theory and discusses its potential value in science communication. It offers two ways in which feminist standpoints can help in both research and practice. First, science communicators should aim to understand the perspective from which they understand and share scientific knowledge. Second, practitioners and researchers alike should seek insights from marginalized groups to help inform the ways the dominant view of science reflects hegemonic social and cultural norms.

Breaking Negative Stereotypes of Climate Activists: A Conjoint Experiment

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Stenhouse ◽  
Richard Heinrich
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Factorial Experiment ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Complex Stimuli ◽  
Conjoint Experiment

We tested 44 variations in profiles of climate change activists to see what affected willingness to associate with them. The largest effects were from activists’ perspectives on climate change, how often they pressure others, gun control views, and party affiliation. If implemented as a traditional factorial experiment, this experiment would require 648,000 conditions and an infeasibly large sample. We obtained our results much more efficiently via an experimental design rare in communication research. Conjoint experiments will be useful to science communication researchers who wish to simultaneously test many factors of complex stimuli, such as individuals, organizations, technologies, or policies.

scholarly journals Accommodating Climate Change Science: James Hansen and the Rhetorical/Political Emergence of Global Warming

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard D. Besel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
The United States ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Public Policy Issue ◽  
History Of

ArgumentDr. James Hansen's 1988 testimony before the U.S. Senate was an important turning point in the history of global climate change. However, no studies have explained why Hansen's scientific communication in this deliberative setting was more successful than his testimonies of 1986 and 1987. This article turns to Hansen as an important case study in the rhetoric of accommodated science, illustrating how Hansen successfully accommodated his rhetoric to his non-scientist audience given his historical conditions and rhetorical constraints. This article (1) provides a richer explanation for the rhetorical/political emergence of global warming as an important public policy issue in the United States during the late 1980s and (2) contributes to scholarly understanding of the rhetoric of accommodated science in deliberative settings, an often overlooked area of science communication research.

scholarly journals An Empirical and Conceptual Note on Science Communication’s Role in Society

2020 ◽  
pp. 107554702097164
Author(s):  
Sarah R. Davies
Keyword(s):  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Qualitative Interview ◽  
Interview Study ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
Using Data

This research note explores the nature of science communication’s role in modern societies, using data from a qualitative interview study with scholars and teachers of science communication and discussing this in light of science communication literature. Six types of roles for science communication within society are identified: It is said to ensure the accountability and legitimacy of publicly funded science, have practical functions, enhance democracy, serve a cultural role, fulfil particular economic purposes, and act as promotion or marketing. These arguments are examined and their implications for science communication research and practice discussed.

Science communication and mediatised environmental conflict: A cautionary tale

2021 ◽  
pp. 096366252098513
Author(s):  
Claire Konkes ◽  
Kerrie Foxwell-Norton
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Environmental Conflict ◽  
Cautionary Tale ◽  
James Cook ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
Tenured Position

When Australian physicist, Peter Ridd, lost his tenured position with James Cook University, he was called a ‘whistleblower’, ‘contrarian academic’ and ‘hero of climate science denial’. In this article, we examine the events surrounding his dismissal to better understand the role of science communication in organised climate change scepticism. We discuss the sophistry of his complaint to locate where and through what processes science communication becomes political communication. We argue that the prominence of scientists and scientific knowledge in debates about climate change locates science, as a social sphere or fifth pillar in Hutchins and Lester’s theory of mediatised environmental conflict. In doing so, we provide a model to better understand how science communication can be deployed during politicised debates.

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