Scientists and Public Engagement – STAGE (UNIBO)
Abschnittsübersicht
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The course consists of 3 units that demonstrate and approach scientific work through various activities and experiments and through which the public, pre-service and in-service teachers can understand the issue and lead their pupils to enlightenment as well.
The course is developed in a mixed format. In particular, the target group must explore in advance several selected resources related to the topics under investigation (based on the resources that can be found in the Toolkit and the developed infographic, participate in online teaching based on independent work and experiments. Participants must also work with materials available on http://project-stage.eu/.
At the same time, the whole unit is supplemented with asynchronous teaching. The whole module aims at a deeper final online discussion and reflection, while working with the active participation in the topic.
Duration of course: 4 hours
Target group: students of a master degree in Didactics and History of Physics (pre-service teachers) or in Science Communication
Expertise needed per target group: basic understanding of Earth system Physics, Thermodynamics, complex systems
Objectives:- Learning of climate change concepts
- Acquiring of analysis skills on resources and complex situation
The course consists of 3 basic activities:
1. Introduction to climate change
2. Coping with an emergency
3. Presentations and conclusions
For more information, please, click here.
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Core ideas – Content:
- Introduction to the theme of climate change as a border interdisciplinary theme, which is placed among multiple disciplines and as a topic at the centre of the debate between science and society.
Duration: 60-90 minutes
Objectives:
- Acquisition of content skills related to climate change and in part to complex systems
- Acquisition of teaching and communication skills on climate change
The lesson will be structured in such a way as to touch upon the following points:
- Climate variability as a complex system
- What are climate change and climate crisis
- Global warming
- The causes of climate change
- The consequences of climate change
- Difficulties in communicating climate change to the general public and difficulties in the understanding of the multiple factors concerning climate change.
- Presentation of the project STAGE
The lecture will focus in particular on the last two points, since the target is made up of students of master degree who are pre-service teachers or communicators. They are therefore supposed to have basic knowledge of complex systems and climate change, and that they want to deepen their knowledge of how to communicate complex issues to a group of students or to a particular audience.
The analysis will show that climate change is a complex, multidisciplinary and multidimensional theme, since, in addition to the scientific dimension, it also concerns political, economic, social, psychological-behavioural, ethical and emotional-affective aspects. In particular, it is a future-oriented and future-relevant issue, as it represents a widely debated social challenge for its implications in the future. Therefore, it represents a stimulus to imagine ourselves in the future and to think about different types of future (probable, possible, desirable).
Sources:
Key facts about climate change
What are the environmental consequences of climate change?
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Core ideas - Content:
- Structured activity in the form of a group role-play
Objectives:
- Acquisition of teamwork skills
- Application of content skills in a practical activity
- Acquisition of citizenship and citizen science skills
Students are divided into four groups and each group is assigned a different role: one group is composed of researchers/scientific advisors, one by politicians and stakeholders, one by army and civil protection and another by communicators of science. Each group has the STAGE toolkit as a tool to consult and take inspiration for the development of the activity.
Imagining themselves in an emergency situation in their city due to the climate crisis, groups will have to think about how to react to the crisis, based on their social role, and find effective ways to communicate the problem and resolution strategies to citizens.
The emergency situation may be established by the professors or chosen by the students, but it must be the same for all groups. Groups can discuss with each other the elaboration of a strategic plan, but will then have to prepare individual presentations (per group) explaining their role in the attempt to tackle the emergency.
The aim of the proposed activity is to allow students to get involved and think about how to act effectively in an emergency situation.
The presence of different roles is aimed at highlighting the fact that this is a complex situation that requires the action of several people with different expertise and that touches the different dimensions of science. The game is also aimed at the development of some knowledge of citizen science and allows students to reflect on the different concepts of the future.
Sources:
Public Engagement with Science Toolkit
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Core ideas – Content:
- Final discussion and brainstorming
Objectives:
- Acquisition of oral skills, collection of ideas and student feedback
Each group presents its work and discusses it. The work can be exposed in a multimedia presentation, in a poster or in another format.
A final discussion will follow the group presentations: students will be asked their feedback and opinions about the activities, positive and negative impressions and suggestions. This will be useful both for students, in order to collect ideas, elaborate the acquired skills and discuss with their classmates, and to professors for the assessment of the activities.
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