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92 publications found

Apr 20, 2026 Practice Insight
Science communication as co-creation: insights from stakeholder engagement in the Philippine public sector

by Dave De Guzman Centeno and Framelia Viernes Anonas

This article reflects on #OneDOST4U, a unifying communication handle adopted by the Republic of the Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology (DOST) across multiple media vehicles. The campaign sought to strengthen a single institutional identity while inviting participation and feedback from diverse audiences, such as researchers, educators, local governments, industry partners, and communities. Through focus group discussions with stakeholders from 11 agency projects, we explored how publics interpreted and engaged with the campaign. Using qualitative thematic analysis, we identified recurring themes of value-in-use, dialogic engagement, and communal identity. Findings illustrate how institutional branding tools operate as boundary objects: recognisable symbols that different groups interpret in context while contributing to a shared sense of meaning. For science communication practice, #OneDOST4Udemonstrates that unifying institutional campaigns are most effective when treated as participatory boundary objects—tools that allow diverse stakeholders to negotiate meaning, build trust, and co-create the public value of science.

Feb 16, 2026 Practice Insight
It's (not) rocket science to think with gender: supporting students to develop confidence in talking about gender through outer space outreach activities

by Eleanor S Armstrong, Doris Erhard, Manuela Gallistl, Sarah Rosenbicher and Christian Klösch

“What might our lives in outer space look like in the future? And how will those lives be shaped by gender?” These were the questions that directed students in a science communication activity in the Vienna Museum of Science and Technology in 2024. This Practice Insight reflects on this project and demonstrates how an expansive focus on gender in the long-term engagement project allowed student participants to challenge and pluralize normative masculinities of outer space futures, instead envisaging cosmic lives that supported traditional women's crafts, or gender-inclusive third spaces and city design. Rather than framing “women” and “girls” as the only subject for gender-oriented activities, this project encouraged students and educators to recognize that gender is done many different ways by different groups in societies. The paper provides prompts to readers to support them implementing similar transformations in their own science communication practices.

Volume 25 • Issue 1 • 2026

Feb 11, 2026 Practice Insight
Glaciers as classrooms: designing an outdoor lab as a learning space on ice

by Philipp Spitzer, Jan Höper, Martin Gröger and Volker Heck

This article presents the development of a hybrid educational format that integrates an outdoor glacier laboratory with a virtual learning environment. Grounded in Educational Design Research, the project enables students to investigate glacial and climate-related phenomena through hands-on experiments conducted directly on the glacier, complemented by immersive digital tools. Insights from pilot implementations with school classes informed iterative refinement. The approach illustrates how glacier environments can be transformed into accessible and pedagogically coherent learning spaces, promoting climate literacy and student engagement with real-world environmental change.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Practice Insight
Three scientists walk into a bar... Approaching new audiences for informal science communication: the project “Plötzlich Wissen!” (Sudden Knowledge!)

by Julia Schnetzer, André Lampe, Inga Marie Ramcke, Kerstin Kremer and Philipp Schrögel

Sudden Knowledge! (Plötzlich Wissen!), a science communication format established through our own initiative as scientists, implemented science communication in a spontaneous conversational setting. It combined elements of guerilla science/street science, science busking and pub science events. Between 2017 and 2020 the project - centered on marine science - was presented in 16 major German cities. This novel approach, using puppetry and hands-on experiments sparked interest in science and reached non-academic audiences. During the COVID19-pandemic, the format transitioned to online livestreaming on the platform twitch.tv, using video games as entry points for conversations about marine sciences. Between 2020 and 2024 we performed 55 livestreams. Here we outline the development of the format, share evaluation data and our experiences. Our main goal is to provide practical recommendations for scientists who are interested in using informal, guerilla style approaches to reach audiences who might not be reached by traditional science communication strategies.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Practice Insight
From the laboratory to the kitchen table? An insight into theory-based game development practices for science communication

by Andreas Siess, Oliver Ruf and Aleksandra Vujadinovic

This practice report aims to outline the idea of science communication as a multidimensional practice that extends beyond the transmission of scientific facts to include the tacit, cultural, and experiential dimensions of science—with a focus on ‘the university’ as an embodiment of the culture of science. Drawing on the idea of ‘kitchen table science communication’, we present a board game designed to foster critical engagement with the implicit norms and structures of academic life among students, their families, and broader publics. Emphasizing science as a complex, adaptive, and culturally situated endeavor, the game serves both as an educational tool and as a medium for participatory meaning-making. Through iterative development and ethnographic testing across diverse academic and informal settings, we explore how playful, narrative-driven formats can open epistemic spaces and promote a more intuitive, affective, and accessible understanding of science. Our findings suggest that games—by embracing abstraction, indeterminacy, and co-creation—offer unique affordances for cultivating science literacy as lived experience rather than codified knowledge.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Practice Insight
Exploring science with children from under-represented groups through shared interests: Insights from a decade of practice

by Laura Hobbs, Sarah Behenna, Carly Stevens and Calum Hartley

Through a series of projects dating back to 2015, the Science Hunters programme has delivered eight ‘Minecraft Clubs’ to engage children with Special Educational Needs, care-experienced children, and children in low socioeconomic status areas with science, technology, engineering, and maths. Science concepts are used as themes to build around, rather than the key focus of the activity, which is communal gameplay and having fun. Delivery has been developed through reflective practice, insights from which are drawn upon to extract key takeaways for engaging children with science outside of traditional settings through community-based activities and existing interests. These include drawing on the experiences of those with relevant backgrounds in design and delivery approaches, embedding STEM content rather than making it a primary feature of the activity, seeking and incorporating participants’ input, and having alternative approaches and resources available to facilitate accommodation of different needs and circumstances.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Feb 11, 2026 Practice Insight
Climate science on the farm: connecting community to research through movement and creative action

by Geoffrey Hunt, Christina Catanese, Jamē McCray and Cassie Meador

Effectively addressing the climate crisis at scale in a timely manner will require novel engagement strategies that move beyond laboratory findings and policy dictates. In this practice insight, we present the Moving Farm Tour, a movement-based, farm- and community-centered exploration of the intersection of art and culture with agriculture and climate change. Through this model, we highlight the use of dance and creative engagement as tangible mechanisms for learning about, sharing, understanding and creating new perspectives. Additionally, we demonstrate the value of not only bringing science (and scientists) out of the lab, but of establishing a visceral, physical connection with place and community. Our collaborative efforts have resulted in a scalable, replicable model that demonstrates how live, interactive experiences are useful for cross-sector learning, broadening perspectives, fostering community building, and inspiring novel approaches to collaboration that can lead to better outcomes for researchers, industries, communities, and the planet.

Volume 25 • Issue 2 • 2026 • Science communication in Unexpected Places (Unexpected places)

Jan 28, 2026 Practice Insight
Translating research into play: design insights for evidence-based science games in museum settings

by Lisa Bailey, Daniel Lawrance, Allan James, Sarah Azad, Kristin Alford and Brooke Ferguson

Digital games in museums face the challenge of translating complex scientific concepts into engaging experiences that facilitate both individual learning and peer discussion. This practice insight examines Symbiosville, a touchscreen learning game designed using an event $\rightarrow$ choice $\rightarrow$ consequence pedagogical model to increase visitor understanding of the human microbiome's role in health. Through visitor observations and survey data, this case study demonstrates how evidence-based game mechanics can effectively communicate microbiome science, with players successfully understanding relationships between personal choices and microbiome health. However, the study revealed limitations in encouraging peer-to-peer learning in museum environments, where individual screen-based interactions can inhibit social engagement despite networked game features. The analysis identifies key design considerations for science communication practitioners developing digital learning games for informal settings, including the tension between personalised experiences and collaborative learning.

Volume 25 • Issue 1 • 2026

Dec 16, 2025 Practice Insight
Strengthening practice-research connections to improve evaluation: perspectives of science communication practitioners

by Ana Godinho, Sophia Charlotte Volk and Mike S. Schäfer

Researchers and practitioners have emphasised the importance of evaluating science communication, but agree that, on the one hand, much research on evaluation does not find its way into practice, and on the other, researchers do not fully benefit from the wealth of data that practitioners produce. Using semi-structured interviews with heads of communications at different research organisations in four countries we show that practitioners agree on the importance of evaluation, but that obstacles to evaluation cut across organisational characteristics and countries. Our interviews suggest that communications leaders have a strong interest in working with researchers, and we discuss their proposals for practice-research interfaces that could improve evaluation practice.

Volume 24 • Issue 07 • 2025

Dec 11, 2025 Practice Insight
Scaffolding in science mediation: a superhero-based educational initiative to explore how mediators support students' knowledge appropriation

by Florence Vigneron, Cecile de Hosson and Muriel Guedj

This practice insight examines how science mediators facilitate students' appropriation of scientific knowledge. It focuses on the Science of Superheroes initiative, which is an informal education curriculum activity designed to engage middle school students in exploring environmental challenges through the creation of a superhero. Using Bruner's scaffolding framework, we analyze how mediators' interventions shift between scaffolding functions, depending on the task. While the appropriation of scientific knowledge is supported by questioning and information-sharing strategies, the creative phase sees an increase in proposal-based scaffolding, which struggles to counterbalance students' reliance on magical thinking. This cognitive tension highlights the challenges of integrating scientific knowledge into a fictional narrative. Our findings highlight the need for science mediators to refine their questioning techniques, foster greater self-regulation among students, and enhance their ability to meaningfully incorporate scientific concepts into their superhero designs. Our study contributes to ongoing discussions on the professionalization of science mediation and offers new insights for mediator training.

Volume 24 • Issue 07 • 2025