Search

Search results

• Date of publication Sep 20, 2007 Category: Article

  CNRS researchers' popularization activities: a progress report

  by Pablo Jensen , Yves Croissant

  We have analyzed the popularization activities undertaken by ten thousand CNRS researchers by means of their annual reports for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006. This is the first time that such an extensive statistical study on science popularization practices is carried out. Our main findings are : - the majority of researchers is not involved in popularization (51% has not done any popularization over the three-year period, two thirds have been involved in no more than one popularization action). - popularization practices are extremely diverse, both at the individual level (we have identified three subpopulations that feature distinctive attitudes towards popularization), and at the level of scientific disciplines (researchers in Humanities are twice as active as the average), as well as in laboratories or geographical regions. - the number of actions reported in 2005 greatly increased compared to 2004 (+ 26%), while they slightly diminished in 2006.

  Volume 6 • Issue 03 • 2007

• Date of publication Sep 20, 2007 Category: Commentary

  Science popularization and European citizenship in Poland

  by Jacek Piotr Szubiakowski

  The idea to link European citizenship and science education is surely new and uncommon in Poland, but we think, as SEDEC project, that can enrich both the panorama of science popularization outside and inside school system. I checked carefully curricula for every stage of school education looking for the topics concerning the developing of the European citizenship. I found that they are usually connected to the history, geography and some activities developing of the knowledge about generally defined citizenship. The spare topics connected directly to the science are present especially in grammar school curriculum. They may be divided into three groups: exploiting the common heritage, common object of interest and scientific community respectively. In that paper I would like to show how the activities in each of the group may influence the EU citizenship developing process. I am going to emphasize the good choice of science as a context or a medium for EU citizenship education. It may be an important point especially in Central Europe. Additionally I would like to present some auxiliary events that are enable through the external educational resources such as museum and planetarium.

  Volume 6 • Issue 03 • 2007

• Date of publication Sep 20, 2007 Category: Commentary

  Debating as an educational method to science and citizenship

  by Sara Calcagnini

  If one of aims of science today is to respond to the real needs of society, it must find a new way to communicate with people and to be acquainted with their opinions and knowledge. Many science museums in Europe are adopting new ways to actively engage the public in the debate on topical scientific issues. The Museum of Science and Technology "Leonardo da Vinci" in Milan (partner of the SEDEC project) has thus experimented some formats for dialogue with teachers and with the public in general. Our experience shows that museums can be places where science and the public on the one hand and democracy on the other meet.

  Volume 6 • Issue 03 • 2007

• Date of publication Sep 20, 2007 Category: Editorial

  Vatican-branded science communication

  by Nico Pitrelli

  The summer now gone has reported two episodes we would like to bring to the attention of the JCOM readers. Two minor pieces of news, unlikely to be in the limelight over the summer, when the media understandably focus on gossips and crime news. Even the experts – especially outside the Italian territory – would probably dismiss these events as minor, wouldn’t it be for the people involved. But let’s see the facts.

  Volume 6 • Issue 03 • 2007

• Date of publication Sep 20, 2007 Category: Book Review

  Science and society of knowledge

  by Pietro Greco

  Probably among the first to deal with it, nearly sixty years ago, Norbert Wiener, the founding father of cybernetics (The human use of human beings. Cybernetics and Society, Houghton Mifflin Company, London, 1950), prefigured its opportunities, as well as its limitations. Today, it is a quite common belief. We have entered (are entering) a new, great era in the history of human society: the age of information and knowledge.

  Volume 6 • Issue 03 • 2007

• Date of publication Sep 20, 2007 Category: Commentary

  From the perception of science to the design of teaching materials

  by Laura Dumbrăveanu

  To design teaching materials starting from the subject matter in Science field, from the contents of textbooks or by studying the syllabuses are regular practices within schools. The SEDEC project proposes concrete and innovative modalities of conceiving teaching materials starting from teachers perception of science and by talking with them about their ideas and needs regarding teaching Science. A deep discussion of the relationships between science education and European citizenship has been another important ingredient of this new process of didactic design.

  Volume 6 • Issue 03 • 2007

• Date of publication Sep 20, 2007 Category: Article

  Science on the net: an analysis of the websites of the European public research institutions

  by Laura Massoli

  This article introduces a study on the websites of several European public research institutions that aims at identifying the science communication model chosen and implemented online with the purpose of reaching different target publics. The analytical approach takes into account a number of indicators: from the institutional identity to the scientific features, from the interactive services to the internationalisation level, in order to evaluate whether the web provides an added value in the adopted communication model and in building a relation with the users. Lights and shades emerge from this study in which good practices side examples of a much weaker science communication approach, outlining a general context where a public research institution website has been still used as a presentation tool and its interactive opportunities have not been capitalised.

  Volume 6 • Issue 03 • 2007

• Date of publication Sep 20, 2007 Category: Commentary

  School staff training: the opportunities offered by National Agencies in European countries

  by Chris Souvlis

  In 2007 the Life Long Learning Programme (previously Socrates) of the European Commission has started. The programme offers to teachers, educators and policy-makers of the education sector the opportunity to be funded for participating at various training courses organized in all EU countries by international networks and projects. The SEDEC course will be included in that list in 2008. The article shortly present how to ask for a grant.

  Volume 6 • Issue 03 • 2007

• Date of publication Jun 21, 2007 Category: Commentary

  The role of science centres and museums in the dialogue between science and society

  by Paola Rodari , Matteo Merzagora

  In a meta-analysis carried out in 2002, the two main associations of science centres and museums (ASTC, mainly US-centered, and ECSITE, mainly European) gathered all studies analysing the impact of science centres and museums on their local communities1. Four types of impact were identified: personal, social, political and economical. It was noticed that the vast majority of studies concentrated on the personal impact (that is, learning outcome, visitor satisfaction, etc.), while the latter three were largely neglected. The very fact of pointing this out, and many recent experiences - some of which are included in this commentary - show that there is now a shift of attention.

  Science museums in a knowledge-based society

  by Pietro Greco

  The first kiss of science - From interactivity to dialogue

  by Juan Nepote

  Education, facilitation and inclusion - The tunisinian experience

  by Adel Zouaoui

  The science and society movement and the MUSE project

  by Michele Lanzinger

  The Lisbon post-its: how science-in-society issues were reflected in the last ECSITE meetings

  by Paola Rodari and Matteo Merzagora

  Volume 6 • Issue 02 • 2007

• Date of publication Jun 21, 2007 Category: Article

  Museums for Science Education: can we make the difference? The case of the EST project

  by Maria Xanthoudaki , Brunella Tirelli , Patrizia Cerutti , Sara Calcagnini

  This paper addresses the role of museums in education in science and technology through the discussion of a specific project entitled EST “Educate in Science and Technology”. The Project puts together methodologies and activities through which museums can be used as resources for long-term project work. In-service training for teachers, work in class with learning kits or with materials brought in by a Science Van, and visits to the museum are planned and developed jointly by museum experts and teachers. The Project proposes a teaching and learning model which sees the museum experience as central and integral part of a teaching and learning process with more effective outcomes. The analysis of the Project activities and methodologies is based on the work carried out at the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci, which perceives the learner (the visitor) at the heart of its educational methodologies and provision.

  Volume 6 • Issue 02 • 2007