Public awareness of science
Encyclopedia
Public awareness of science (PAwS), also public understanding of science (PUS), is a term relating to the attitudes, behaviours, opinions and activities that comprise the relations between the general public or lay society as a whole to scientific knowledge and organisation.

It is a comparatively new approach to the task of promoting science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

, technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 and innovation
Innovation
Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...

 among the public and provides an integrated and results-oriented view, integrating under a single framework a series of other fields, such as:
  • science communication
    Science communication
    Science communication generally refers to public media aiming to talk about science with non-scientists. This often involves professional scientists but has evolved into a professional field in its own right...

     in the mass media
    Mass media
    Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

    , internet
    Internet
    The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

    , radio
    Radio
    Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

     and television
    Television
    Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

     programmes;
  • science museums, aquaria
    Aquarium
    An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

    , planetaria
    Planetarium
    A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...

    , zoological parks
    Zoo
    A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....

    , botanical garden
    Botanical garden
    A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...

    s, etc.;
  • fixed and mobile science exhibits;
  • science festival
    Science festival
    A science festival is a public event featuring a variety of science- and technology-related activities—from lectures, exhibitions, workshops, live demonstrations of experiments, guided tours and panel discussions to cultural events such as theater plays, readings and musical productions, all with...

    s
  • science fair
    Science fair
    A science fair is generally a competition where contestants present their science project results in the form of a report, display board, and models that they have created. Science fairs allow students in grade schools and high schools to compete in science and/or technology activities...

    s in schools and social groups;
  • science education
    Science education
    Science education is the field concerned with sharing science content and process with individuals not traditionally considered part of the scientific community. The target individuals may be children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education comprises...

     for adults;
  • consumer education
    Consumer education
    Consumer education is the preparation of an individual through skills, concepts and understanding that are required for everyday living to achieve maximum satisfaction and utilization of his resources....

    ;
  • public tours of research and development
    Research and development
    The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...

     (R&D) parks, manufacturing companies, etc.


How to raise public awareness and public understanding of science and technology, and how the public feels and knows about science in general, and specific subjects, such as genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...

, bioethics
Bioethics
Bioethics is the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy....

, etc., are important lines of research in this area.

The Bodmer Report

The publication of the Royal Society's
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

' report The Public Understanding of Science (or Bodmer Report) in 1985 is widely held to be the birth of the Public Understanding of Science movement in Britain.. You can download a PDF from the Royal Society website. The report led to the foundation of the Committee on the Public Understanding of Science
Committee on the Public Understanding of Science
The Committee on the Public Understanding of Science or Copus was founded in 1985 by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Institution and the Royal Society...

 and a cultural change in the attitude of scientists to outreach activities.

Project examples

Government- and private-led campaigns and events, such as Dana Foundation
Dana Foundation
The Dana Foundation is a private philanthropic organization based in New York dedicated to the support of grants and outreach in science, health, and education, particularly in the neurosciences...

's "Brain Awareness Week," are becoming a strong focus of programmes which try to promote public awareness of science.

The UK PAWS Foundation dramatically went as far as establishing a Drama Fund with the BBC in 1994. The purpose was to encourage and support the creation of new drama for television, drawing on the world of science and technology.

The Vega Science Trust was set up in 1994 to promote science through the media of television and the internet with the aim of giving scientists a platform from which to communicate to the general public.

The Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science
Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science
The Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science is a chair in the University of Oxford. The chair was established in 1995 for the ethologist Richard Dawkins by an endowment from Charles Simonyi....

 chair at The University of Oxford was established in 1995 for the ethologist
Ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....

 Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...

 by an endowment from Charles Simonyi
Charles Simonyi
Charles Simonyi is a Hungarian-American computer software executive who, as head of Microsoft's application software group, oversaw the creation of Microsoft's flagship Office suite of applications. He now heads his own company, Intentional Software, with the aim of developing and marketing his...

. Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy
Marcus du Sautoy
Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College...

 has held the chair since Dawkins' retirement in 2008.

Further reading


See also

  • Science outreach
    Science outreach
    Science outreach, also called Education and Public Outreach or simply Public outreach, is an umbrella term for a variety of activities by research institutes, universities, and institutions such as science museums, aimed at promoting public awareness of science and making informal contributions...

  • Science festival
    Science festival
    A science festival is a public event featuring a variety of science- and technology-related activities—from lectures, exhibitions, workshops, live demonstrations of experiments, guided tours and panel discussions to cultural events such as theater plays, readings and musical productions, all with...

  • Science journalism
    Science journalism
    Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists and the public, and is still evolving.-Aim of science journalism:...

  • Science museum
    Science museum
    A science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...

  • This Week in Science
    This Week in Science
    This Week in Science is a science radio talk show broadcasting from KDVS 90.3FM on the UC Davis campus. Each week, TWIS founder/host Kirsten Sanford and co-host Justin Jackson review current research in technology...

     popular science podcast developed around improving public awareness in science
  • British Association for the Advancement of Science
    British Association for the Advancement of Science
    frame|right|"The BA" logoThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between...

  • Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science
    Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science
    The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science is a United States grassroots effort linking universities, scientific societies, science advocacy groups, science media, science educators, businesses, and industry in a consortium having as its goal a greater public understanding of the nature...


External links

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