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• Date of publication Sep 20, 2007 Category: Commentary

  European citizenship and active citizenship: an ever open debate

  by Lauretta D'Angelo

  In the course of the last decade the European debate on the concept of citizenship has shown that a definition of this concept in strictly legal and jurisprudence terms is reductive. Indeed a behavioral element is present, which goes beyond the defence and request for defence of rights and duties, but actually stresses the importance of acting within a community (or within several communities). A citizenship belonging to a given space/time context which, to be authentic, requires know-how and know-how-to-be that can be gained in different training opportunities (formal, informal etc.) with various active learning methodologies and through experience. The SEDEC project aims to investigate which teaching methodologies and activities specifically developed for the teaching of sciences can be applied in other learning contexts, in order to sustain actions for developing an active citizenship.

  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

  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: 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

  Scientific education and European citizenship. Suggestions and results from the European project SEDEC

  by Roberto Ceriani

  Two concepts seemingly distant from each other, scientific education and European citizenship, have been the basis for "SEDEC - Science Education for the Development of European Citizenship", a European project funded by the European Commission in the framework of the Socrates/Comenius programme, aiming at producing training material addressed to European teachers. Started in autumn 2005, the project will end in 2008 with an in-service training course for European teachers and educators.

  European citizenship and active citizenship: an ever open debate

  by Lauretta D'Angelo

  Science popularization and European citizenship in Poland

  by Jacek Piotr Szubiakowski

  Science and scientists in the drawings of European children

  by Paola Rodari

  What is a scientist’s job? From the drawings to the citizenship

  by Etienne Bolmont

  Teachers' perception of the European scientists

  by Daniele Gouthier

  From the perception of science to the design of teaching materials

  by Laura Dumbrăveanu

  Debating as an educational method to science and citizenship

  by Sara Calcagnini

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

  by Chris Souvlis

  Volume 6 • Issue 03 • 2007

• 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

  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 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 Jun 21, 2007 Category: Book Review

  History, science and society. Research on science in Italy in the modern and contemporary world

  by Francesca Riccioni

  The digitalization process of historical archives, which has been taking place over the past few years, shows that the study of history of science is undergoing major changes. Easier access to online resources (manuscripts, catalogues of scientific machinery and tools that would otherwise be virtually impossible to consult) has spurred and created the preconditions for the development of new quantitative methodologies in the study of history of science as well as the creation of international research groups.

  Volume 6 • Issue 02 • 2007

• Date of publication Jun 21, 2007 Category: Commentary

  The science and society movement and the MUSE project

  by Michele Lanzinger

  For the purpose of this article, Science & Society (S&S) is referred to as that current of thoughts and those cultural initiatives aimed at fostering dialogue between research, scientific and technical output on the one hand and society on the other, so as to allow people to make conscious decisions about science and the sustainability of its developments. This concept underlies the elaboration of the MUSE cultural concept, the new Science Museum in Trent, Northern Italy.

  Volume 6 • Issue 02 • 2007