Response to “Discourse over a contested technology on Twitter: A case study of hydraulic fracturing”—Word choice as political speech

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Grubert
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Word Choice ◽  
Political Speech ◽  
Public Speech ◽  
Fracturing Process ◽  
Understanding Of Science

Hopke and Simis ( Public Understanding of Science, online 4 October 2015) find that #fracking, the most popular of five shale-related hashtags analyzed from a 2013 period, is associated with pro-shale attitudes only 13% of the time and note that the dominant voice of the activist community, coupled with a lack of engagement from industry, is unexpected. This comment offers additional perspective on the sentiment- and actor-skewed result by noting that the term “fracking” is highly political, specifically because the spelling “frack” versus “frac” is associated with activism. Furthermore, in public speech, the industry tends to deemphasize the hydraulic fracturing process in favor of the product, consistent with the findings that #natgas is a relatively pro-industry hashtag.

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.

Virtual Science Centers

2011 ◽  
pp. 308-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Tan Wee Hin ◽  
R. Subramaniam
Keyword(s):  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Science Center ◽  
Science Centers ◽  
Web Based ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Learning ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Web Based Education

The opening of a virtual annex by science centers has given rise to a new genre of learning in Web-based education. Seeking to enhance the outreach effectiveness of nonformal science education initiatives among students and the public, these virtual science centers fulfill a useful role in promoting the public understanding of science. The example of the Singapore Science Center is used as a case study to explore the topic in significant depth. A commentary is also presented on some of the issues, controversies, and problems encountered in this new learning environment. Some possible solutions and recommendations are suggested in light of our experiences.

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.

scholarly journals Does the apple fall far from the tree?: reviewing the communication of scientific information about GMOs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Kirby
Keyword(s):  
Social Epistemology ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Online Content ◽  
The Public ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Textual Content ◽  
The Way

Online content is changing the way the public accesses and understands science. The staggering number of often conflicting online sources about science makes it difficult for the lay public to know where to turn in search of accurate scientific information. This project will examine how the nature of online content might be affecting how the public learns about science. Through textual content analyses, it will examine the chain of communication (scientists→online media→public) and document how scientific information evolves. Okanagan Specialty Fruits’ Arctic apple, a genetically modified organism (GMO) that has had the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) gene silenced, will be used as a case study. Three primary themes guide my research: the public understanding of science (PUS), the communication of risk and uncertainty, and social epistemology. The primacy of the PUS movement in public venues for science makes it an important theory for my project, while theories of risk/uncertainty and social epistemology will inform my analysis. My results suggest that: 1) stories about science often include over and understatements of uncertainties and risks; 2) online media stories apply rhetorical frames when reporting scientific information, but the way in which framing is used appears to be reflective of whether the author wishes to persuade their audience; and 3) the rhetorical frames used by online stories about science are not typically integrated into the public’s commentary in a meaningful way, supporting the notion that audiences are active rather than passive and that the public seeks out content that complements their pre-existing beliefs.

scholarly journals Diez años de investigación de la comunicación pública de la ciencia en y desde América Latina. Un estudio en tres revistas académicas (2008–2017)

2018 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. A02
Author(s):  
Carlos Enrique Orozco
Keyword(s):  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
America Latina ◽  
Medios De Comunicacion

Las revistas académicas son uno de los principales medios que utilizan los científicos para dar a conocer los resultados de sus investigaciones, por lo que también pueden usarse como un registro de lo que se está investigando en un campo de conocimiento en particular como lo es la comunicación pública de la ciencia. En este trabajo presentamos las tendencias de la investigación académica en la comunicación de la ciencia en y desde América Latina tomando como corpus los reportes de investigación publicados en las tres principales revistas académicas internacionales en el campo: “Science Communiation”, “Public Understanding of Science” y “Journal of Science Communicaton” entre 2008 y 2017. Los hallazgos muestran un incremento de la producción, una clara hegemonía de Brasil, México y Argentina, los países económicamente más importantes de la región y una fuerte tendencia a la investigación que relaciona la comunicación de la ciencia con los medios de comunicación, en particular con la comunicación del riesgo medio ambiental en la región.

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