The UK has numerous institutions devoted to communicating science. Some are old and well established, such as the Royal Institution, the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA), the great museums with their historical collections, and the national festival of science organised by the BA at a different venue each year. The growing number of regional science festivals and science centres are more recent arrivals. Science centres have developed from earlier exhibitions with mechanical models in historic museums building on the ‘hands-on’ philosophy developed in North America through the 1960s. Both festivals and centres aim to do more than promote public understanding and simply give information. They aim to engage the public in dialogue: What could – and should – science be doing? What are the implications of scientific developments? This seminar will be led by experts from some of the UK’s foremost institutions to set out the 21st century agenda in science education: an agenda not just for public understanding of science but for public engagement with science.
Topics include:
- The political agenda underpinning science learning
- the role and reality of modern science centres and museums
- learning theory: how can people learn enough to engage in debate
- festival audiences and programmes
- travelling exhibitions: sowing a seed for a new science centre
- planning and evaluating ‘public engagement’ events.
All participants are encouraged and expected to present their own perspectives and learn from each other, so that the seminar becomes a forum for sharing expertise and generating useful and applicable ideas to help meet participants’ own challenges.
This seminar is timed to follow the BA Festival of Science 2004, in Exeter from 6-10 September, showcasing many facets of UK science and offering an opportunity to debate many aspects of science in society (www.the-ba.net).
This seminar is directly relevant to members of staff of existing and developing science museums and science centres. It is of particular interest to education policy makers, science ministries, professional teaching bodies, and to practising scientists interested in interaction with the public, to science writers and TV/radio journalists.
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