Visitors to public science events (PSEs) often report gains in scientific knowledge, improved attitudes toward science, and a greater awareness of science in everyday life (Jensen & Buckley, 2012; Adhikari et al., 2019; Boyette & Ramsey, 2019). However, these visitors disproportionately come from white, well-educated backgrounds (Bultitude, 2014; Kennedy et al., 2018; Adhikari et al., 2019; Nielsen et al., 2019). This paper utilizes a science capital framework to analyze the differential patterns of participation among PSE audiences. Quantitative analysis approaches are used to explore the kinds of science capital that visitors bring to PSEs, how the science capital of audiences differs between events, and how science capital might predict future participation in PSEs. Results reveal that PSE visitors typically have high pre-existing levels of science capital and that those with high levels of science capital are more likely to express interest in attending future PSEs. Directions for future research and practice are discussed.

The modern science festival movement has grown significantly since the Edinburgh International Science Festival launched in 1989. Hundreds of science festivals now occur annually and vary widely. This article examines how the term “science festival” is used within research and practice. We find that most research articles fail to describe the science festivals they study. A subsequent analysis of festival websites and other publicly available information confirms the wide variability of science festival formats, which suggests the need for descriptive information about science festivals in scholarly work.

Over the past decade, science festival expos have emerged as popular opportunities for practicing scientists to engage in education outreach with public audiences. In this paper, a partial proportional odds model was used to analyze 5,498 surveys collected from attendees at 14 science expos around the United States. Respondents who report that they interacted with a scientist rated their experiences more positively than those who reported no such interaction on five categories: overall experience, learning, inspiration, fun, and awareness of STEM careers. The results indicate that scientists can positively affect audience perception of their experience at these large-scale public events.