{"id":2122,"date":"2012-06-01T13:00:52","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T13:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/?p=2122"},"modified":"2012-09-04T11:22:15","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T10:22:15","slug":"reaching-out-explorer-dome-science-education-for-all-ages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/2012\/06\/01\/reaching-out-explorer-dome-science-education-for-all-ages","title":{"rendered":"Reaching Out: Explorer Dome – Science Education For All Ages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Science Online New York (SoNYC) encourages audience participation in the discussion of how science is carried out and communicated online. To tie in with\u00a0June\u2019s event\u00a0<\/span><\/a>which looks at how scientists reach out of the ivory tower, communicating science to the public, we\u2019re hosting a series of guest posts on Soapbox Science. We will hear from a range of contributors: scientists, writers, enthusiasts, communicators, events organizers, policy makers and teachers, each sharing details about how they engage and reach out to the public.<\/em><\/span>
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Shaaron Leverment (FRAS) and Ben Brown established Explorer Dome (www.explorerdome.co.uk) in 1998 with an aim to make science exciting for all ages and abilities.\u00a0 It is currently one of the best known and most respected science outreach companies in the UK, visiting 60 000 school children every year.<\/em><\/p>\n

Shaaron is the past president of the British Association of Planetaria (www.planetaria.org.uk) and is the current international chair of a professional services committee which strives for quality and excellence in science education in planetaria across the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

Science communication has been our business for the past 15 years – predominantly working with planetarium domes, from the larger static domes that seat hundreds, to smaller mobile domes for audiences of 30 at a time.<\/p>\n

Why a planetarium? For us it\u2019s a unique space, inside this little bubble you can be transported away from the every-day world and it provides a truly immersive and flexible environment which focuses thought. Plus projecting the stars attempts to mirrors the natural wonder of the night sky – and it is perhaps for this very reason, that the unveiling of the stars in a planetarium never fails to get a \u2018wow’… it’s interesting that very few \u2018special effects\u2019 consistently reach so many people in this way.\u00a0 And that’s what you\u2019re looking for \u2013 the key to good science communication and education is to reach towards someone, just where they are, and seed that inspiration.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n


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Although we cover many science topics with Explorer Dome, space is a brilliant hook and inspires most people.\u00a0 Space sciences are beautifully cross curricular with many fingers embedded in many pies – mathematics, chemistry, biology, geology, humanities \u2013 the list goes on… and, let\u2019s be honest, it\u2019s not just a hook for children. Space is, quite simply, really cool for all ages.<\/p>\n

So the motivation for setting up a science outreach business didn’t just come from a fascination in the subject matter we cover, but more from a firm belief in the value of science education for all ages.\u00a0 Although an individual may choose a path in life that doesn\u2019t lead out of poverty, at least with education that person is given a choice.<\/p>\n

Reaching out to people where they are is a very important part of what we do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Explorer Dome is a mobile, inflatable planetarium.\u00a0 As science outreach we travel to school halls and village halls, scout huts, museums and marquees around the country.\u00a0 In this way we can reach different and new audiences, many of whom may not choose to go to visit a larger planetarium.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Science outreach therefore helps to side-step the self selection that may occur in larger science centres.\u00a0 And with Explorer Dome we also believe that not just where but the way in which we communicate is important. We try to include with hands-on activities to truly engage all those involved \u2013 especially the kinaesthetic learners –<\/p>\n

\u201cI hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.\u201d (Confucius)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/em>For this reason, although science related TV programmes like \u2018Wonders\u2019 are fantastic, it’s important to have people on the coal face – good communicators keen to talk face to face – allowing for more debate and dialogue, questions and random asides –\u00a0 to really empower the ‘non scientific’ community to discover more for themselves.<\/p>\n

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So science communication at my heart involves instilling an active understanding – a sense of awe and wonder that you can\u2019t switch off from after an hour\u2019s evening viewing.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Why is science communication important?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There really is a persisting view that scientists are an isolated group – working in secret, in lofty white towers in floaty white coats, experimenting on animals and building nuclear weapons for the good of the government and against the wishes of the common person.<\/p>\n

The mistrust of the work that scientists do comes from a lack of understanding.\u00a0 Perhaps people don\u2019t really want to understand, perhaps they feel it\u2019s \u2018them and us\u2019 or perhaps they haven\u2019t been given the opportunity to understand.\u00a0 Most people hear about the work of scientists through the press.\u00a0 But they are well known for hype and not respecting the science behind a story.\u00a0 If there is an increased awareness of the scientific method, the damage caused by scares (the classic example being the 1998 MMR vaccine paper by Andrew Wakefield et al) can be avoided.\u00a0 This was a national scare, but we forget that people can be scared individually by flippant remarks – probabilities that earth will be hit by a meteorite, likelihood that CERN will create a black hole – these things can have a real impact on someone\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

In addition, a better understanding of science as a whole could kick start action in a sluggish community unwilling to accept the real problems facing our world \u2013 population growth, limited resources, climate change. Science communication has never been more important if we are going to implement real change.<\/p>\n

There is a notable decline in uptake of physical\/chemical science & engineering as degrees and as subjects for a career.\u00a0 Boosting a general scientific culture can only be a good thing and we find, every day, that children are natural born scientists \u2013 keen to experiment, explore and ask questions.\u00a0 This can be encouraged or squashed very early on, depending on the answers and confidence of parents, carers and teachers.<\/p>\n

Moreover, children learn and adapt quickly to new information \u2013 adults take a long time to change behaviour.\u00a0 Science education and communication for the younger generation is crucial \u2013 not just for the future but for promoting change now.\u00a0 If a child tells their parent not to smoke, to buy FSC certified products or that they want to recycle \u2013 this has a far more personal impact than an expensive national campaign.<\/p>\n

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Better relationships between scientists and communicators:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Of course, for public funded research, there is a responsibility to communicate that science, and people do have a right to know where their money is spent.\u00a0 And the more science is communicated to the public, the greater the public interest in that science, which can only be good news for the researcher.<\/p>\n

But a professional scientist is not necessarily a professional communicator.\u00a0 It’s important to know where skills lie and not force those unwilling or unable to engage an audience into an uncomfortable situation.\u00a0 Science communication is now a professional career, so when developing a project which requires an element of communication, it\u2019s worth bearing in mind that there is a growing number of professional individuals and organisations with tried and tested skills, experience and contacts to achieve the required outcome. There should be more collaboration \u2013 science communicators and educators should work alongside research scientists and vice versa.<\/p>\n

Many research scientists are in a privileged position to be able to do something they are interested in \u2013 even something that they love \u2013 and this passion should be passed on and can make a real difference to others.<\/p>\n

You can follow the online conversation on Twitter with the\u00a0#reachingoutsci\u00a0<\/a>hashtag and you can also read the other posts in the series\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Science Online New York (SoNYC) encourages audience participation in the discussion of how science is carried out and communicated online. To tie in with\u00a0June\u2019s event\u00a0which looks at how scientists reach out of the ivory tower, communicating science to the public, we\u2019re hosting a series of guest posts on Soapbox Science. We will hear from a range of contributors: scientists, writers, enthusiasts, communicators, events organizers, policy makers and teachers, each sharing details about how they engage and reach out to the public.  Read more<\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,193],"tags":[173],"class_list":["post-2122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-communication-and-outreach","category-science-online-nyc","tag-reachingoutsci"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}