The Role of the High School Biology Teacher in Public Understanding of Science

1965 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 269-271
Author(s):  
N. R. Brewer
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
High School Biology ◽  
Biology Teacher ◽  
Understanding Of Science

Od publicznego rozumienia nauki do komunikacji naukowej. Uwarunkowania rozwoju komunikacji naukowej w Polsce

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (15) ◽  
pp. 33-50
Author(s):  
Sylwia Mrozowska
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Scientific Communication ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Scientific Policy ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Understanding Of Science

This article is devoted to selected aspects of scientific communication in Poland. Its aim is to draw attention to the role of scientific communication in public understanding of science and to indicate the most important determinants of the development of scientific communication in Poland. It is assumed in the article that scientific communication and the popularization of research results are activities undertaken by scientists, science units and entities acting for the benefit of science in specific systemic, financial, legal or political conditions. Therefore, in order to assess the determinants of the development of scientific communication in a given country it is necessary, first of all, to get know the conditions in which it takes place. An institutional-legal analysis was used to prove this thesis. In the first, descriptive part of the article the history of the development of public understanding of science and its relationship with the development of scientific communication are mentioned, the second, research part refers to the results of the analysis of basic legal acts and available data in the scope of: the place and role of scientific communication in Polish scientific policy, including the present state of the higher education system and the solutions proposed in the reform of higher education prepared by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education; the place and role of popularization of research results in the development strategy of a scientific unit on the example of the University of Gdańsk and university/researcher's obligations in the field of scientific communication towards research funding institutions.

scholarly journals The Croonian Lecture 2004 Risk: food, fact and fantasy

2005 ◽  
Vol 360 (1458) ◽  
pp. 1133-1144 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R Krebs
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Food Poisoning ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Spongiform Encephalopathy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The Individual

We all take risks, but most of the time we do not notice them. We are generally bad at judging the risks we take, and in the end, for some of us, this will prove fatal. Eating, like everything else in life, is not risk free. Is that next mouthful pure pleasure, or will it give you food poisoning? Will it clog your arteries as well as filling your stomach? This lecture weaves together three strands—the public understanding of science, the perception of risk and the role of science in informing government policy—as it explains how food risks are assessed and managed by government and explores the boundaries between the responsibilities of the individual and the regulator. In doing so, it draws upon the science of risk assessment as well as our attitudes to risk in relation to issues such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, dioxins in salmon and diet and obesity.

What do we know about “don't knows”? Or, contexts of “ignorance”

1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Turner ◽  
Mike Michael
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Late Modernity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Statement ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Don't Know Responses

This paper addresses the meanings of “ignorance” in the context of “don't know” responses to questionnaires. First, we consider some of the broader functions of questionnaires, suggesting that they reflect and mediate between particular types of institutions, respondents and society. We then unpack some of the meanings of “don't know” responses. Specifically, we argue that the “don't know” response is not merely a sign of deficit but, potentially, a potent political statement. Moreover, in relation to studies of the public understanding of science, it can be employed as a resource by people reflexively to express their identity through their relationship with science. Next we consider ignorance in the more expansive contexts of late modernity, which include concerns about the ambivalent role of science in general, the transgressive quality of biotechnology in particular and the impetus to narrate the self. Consideration of these factors, we argue, may be useful for further interrogation of the meanings of “don't know” responses.

The public understanding of science or the scientific understanding of the public? A review of the social context of the `new genetics'

1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Macintyre
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Scientific Understanding ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Understanding Of Science

The `new genetics' have great potential for improving human health. In order for this potential to be realized, attempts to improve the public understanding of science should be complemented by attempts to improve our scientific understanding of the public. It is important to investigate existing popular understandings and practices, in relation to the role of heredity in human disease, chance and calculation of cost benefit ratios in situations of uncertainty, the management of the role of being `at risk' for particular diseases, and the ways in which individual and collective interests are balanced in a variety of health and welfare fields. Above all, we need to study what individuals, families and social institutions actually know, feel and do in relation to the `new genetics', rather than basing policy on assumptions about what they might know, feel or do.

Public understanding of science in Britain: the role of medicine in the popular representation of science

1992 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Durant ◽  
Geoffrey Evans ◽  
Geoffrey Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Medical Science ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Sample Survey ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
Understanding Of Science

This paper is based on the results of a random sample survey of the adult population of Britain. The survey was designed to explore public interest in, attitudes towards and understanding of science. The paper operationalizes the notion of scientific understanding, and applies the understanding measure in the analysis of social representations of science. The results suggest: first, that a so-called `deficit model' of public understanding of science is useful for certain well-defined analytical purposes; second, that there are significant differences between professional and popular representations of science, and third, that medical science may be paradigmatic for the popular representation of science in Britain.

‘Nullius in verba’ and ‘nihil in verbis’: public understanding of the role of language in science

1994 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
School Science ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Scientific Language ◽  
The Public ◽  
Understanding Of Science

This paper is about how the motto of the Royal Society has sometimes been misread, but it is also about how such a misreading could arise at all, and why it persists. I argue that the error is intimately associated with a traditional view of scientific language as a medium for descriptive reporting, a view which has been very influential in schools, and is consequently perpetuated in the public understanding of science. Much new scholarship confirms that this ‘straightforward’ view of what scientists do can no longer be accepted at face value, and that the role of language in science is more intimate and subtle in its interpretive and persuasive qualities. A renewed study of the motto is interesting in itself, but it will also serve to introduce these wider matters. Perhaps it may help some more teachers to escape from those received ideas about language which have restricted the range of learning activities in school science, and discouraged a full attention to the words in which scientists choose to express their ideas.

Understanding 'science and the public'

10.5912/jcb73 ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Gregory
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Public Acceptance ◽  
Ongoing Task ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Public ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The Public Sphere

Public acceptance of the products of biotechnology is an important issue for the industry. This paper looks at relevant academic and policy developments in the field of public understanding of science, which considers the role of science in the public sphere. It traces the interaction of scientists, social scientists and the public in the move from early 'deficit' conceptions of public understanding to more recent positions in which the public are seen as active participants in a variety of contexts for science. These newer conceptualisations could usefully contribute to the biotechnology industry's ongoing task of establishing constructive relations with its various publics.

Should You Be a Public Scientist?

2021 ◽  
pp. 375-380
Author(s):  
Dennis Meredith
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
The Public ◽  
It Impacts ◽  
Global Problems ◽  
The Media ◽  
Understanding Of Science

Deciding whether to be a “public scientist”—using the media spotlight to highlight important issues—means deciding whether one is a natural explainer. Also, it must be decided how much time and effort can be committed to such outreach and how it impacts research and other activities. Explaining research does offer satisfactions, in that the researcher is contributing to public understanding of science. One problem is that the coverage of science and technology is small and shrinking. That said, opportunities to reach the public directly through websites and social media are considerable. The role of public scientists and the importance of explaining research in general are becoming ever more critical because failure to bridge the information gulf between researchers and the public will hamper, perhaps tragically, our ability to solve the massive global problems we face—climate change, resource depletion, ecological damage, food security, and disease.

Vivent les differences: identifying audiences for a museum exhibition

1994 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Fitzgerald ◽  
Pauline Webb
Keyword(s):  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Civil Aviation ◽  
Audience Research ◽  
Museum Visitors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Visitor Survey

This paper describes the methodology and presents the main findings of a front-end exhibition evaluation carried out by staff at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, UK, in 1991. A visitor survey was used to evaluate ideas for a forthcoming exhibition on civil aviation and air travel. This research is placed in the context of the role of museums in the public understanding of science and of audience research in museums. The survey findings demonstrate the existence of divisions of interests among museum visitors, particularly according to gender. These differences must be recognized and accommodated by the definition of target audiences if exhibitions are to function as effective channels for developing public understanding of science and technology.

Industrial Influences on the Development of the Communication of Science in the UK

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 178-180
Author(s):  
Lynne Gornall ◽  
Brychan Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Technology Policy ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
The Public ◽  
Strategic Review ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Contemporary Context

The paper traces the role of industrial influences on the development of the ‘public understanding of science’, showing the initiatives as aspects of wider debates, articulated by key figures and groups in the field. In the contemporary context, this is related to the 1993 national strategic review of UK science and technology policy and the development in universities of the new field of ‘science communication’.

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