scholarly journals Understanding “understanding” in Public Understanding of Science

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 756-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna K. Huxster ◽  
Matthew H. Slater ◽  
Jason Leddington ◽  
Victor LoPiccolo ◽  
Jeffrey Bergman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Text Analysis ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Digital Text ◽  
Epistemic States ◽  
Understanding Of Science

This study examines the conflation of terms such as “knowledge” and “understanding” in peer-reviewed literature, and tests the hypothesis that little current research clearly distinguishes between importantly distinct epistemic states. Two sets of data are presented from papers published in the journal Public Understanding of Science. In the first set, the digital text analysis tool, Voyant, is used to analyze all papers published in 2014 for the use of epistemic success terms. In the second set of data, all papers published in Public Understanding of Science from 2010–2015 are systematically analyzed to identify instances in which epistemic states are empirically measured. The results indicate that epistemic success terms are inconsistently defined, and that measurement of understanding, in particular, is rarely achieved in public understanding of science studies. We suggest that more diligent attention to measuring understanding, as opposed to mere knowledge, will increase efficacy of scientific outreach and communication efforts.

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.

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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