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• Date of publication Oct 21, 2024 Category: Practice Insight

  Strategic planning and evaluation for effective public engagement

  by Xinnan Du , Karen Peterman , John C. Besley , Allison Black-Maier

  Assessing the impact of public engagement with science (PES) programs has been a long-standing challenge due to the lack of explicit, audience-specific goals and a related lack of evaluation against goal-relevant outcomes. In this practice insight, we present the strategic planning and evaluation process for PES at KIPAC, detailing the steps of setting and assessing long-term behavioral goals, short-term objectives, and tactics. We provide examples to demonstrate the implementation of the strategic plan, and make recommendations for practitioners at the individual, program, and institutional levels to strategize, conduct, and sustain their PES efforts with intention.

  Volume 23 • Issue 07 • 2024 • Special Issue: Communicating Discovery Science (Discovery Science)

• Date of publication Nov 08, 2021 Category: Practice Insight

  Boundary spanners and thinking partners: adapting and expanding the research-practice partnership literature for public engagement with science (PES)

  by Karen Peterman , Sarah Garlick , John Besley , Sue Allen , Kathy Fallon Lambert , Nalini M. Nadkarni , Mark S. Rosin , Caitlin Weber , Marissa Weiss , Jen Wong

  This paper is the culmination of several meaning-making activities between an external researcher, PES practitioners, and social scientist researchers who considered the unique contributions that can be made through RPPs on PES (that is, research-practice partnerships on public engagement with science). Based on the experiences from three RPP projects, the group noted that the PES context may be particularly suited to RPPs, and identified the importance of working as thinking-partners who support reciprocal decision-making. Recommendations are made in support of using these approaches to advance practical knowledge-building and reduce shared frustrations about the disconnect between research and practice in PES.

  Volume 20 • Issue 07 • 2021

• Date of publication Sep 21, 2016 Category: Article

  Using social network analysis to document science festival partnerships

  by Christine Bevc , Denise Young , Karen Peterman

  This study applies social network analysis to explore the role that one science festival has played in building the state's STEM learning ecosystem. It examines the breadth and extent of collaboration among STEM educators and their partners, reviewing past and present partnerships across 449 events during the 2015 festival. Three case studies provide in-depth illustrations of partnerships. These findings represent an important step towards (a) mapping a STEM learning ecosystem, and (b) trying to understand how a festival affects the ecosystem itself. Together, study results demonstrate how the festival has served to stimulate and foster STEM partnerships.

  Volume 15 • Issue 05 • 2016