Developing Effective Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering

制定有效的信息以提高公众对工程的理解

• 批准号: 0550368
• 负责人: Greg Pearson
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: National Academy of Sciences
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-11-01 至 2008-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0550368&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Developing; Effective; Messages; Improving; Public

Developing Effective Messages for ImprovingPublic Understanding of EngineeringThis proposal is being submitted to the Division of Engineering Education & Centers within the NSF Directorate for Engineering. The goal of the project, to be carried out by the National Academy of Engineering, is to encourage coordinated, consistent, and effective communication by the engineering community about the role, importance, and career potential of engineering to a variety of audiences, including school children, their parents, teachers, and counselors; policy makers at the local, state, and federal level; and the public at large.Intellectual MeritEfforts to promote greater public understanding of engineering (PUE) in the United States consume hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Despite these expenditures, the impact of engineering on our daily lives, the nature of what engineers do, and the opportunities made available through an engineering education remain largely unrecognized by most Americans. Polling and other research over the past decade has consistently shown that adults and children have a limited understanding of what engineers do, perceive engineering to be a boring or "nerdy" profession, and view engineering as having less prestige than other professions, such as medicine, science, and teaching. Poor understanding of engineering has potentially serious consequences related to attracting young Americans-particularly women and under-represented minorities-into engineering-related careers and supporting the nation's ability to maintain its capacity for technological innovation. As documented in the 2002 report, Raising Public Awareness of Engineering (National Academies Press), one important cause of the current situation is the failure of the engineering community to use consistent and empirically derived messages for communicating with the variety of audiences it attempts to reach.This project has the following objectives:1. Identify a small number of messages that appear likely to encourage greater public understanding of engineering,2. Test the effectiveness of these messages in different audiences, and3. Disseminate the results of the message testing to the engineering community.In meeting the objectives, the project will convene a group of advertising professionals to help identify a set of potentially effective PUE messages; conduct eight separate focus group discussions with audiences of interest (such as middle and high school students, their parents, teachers, and guidance counselors; and business and community leaders) to refine the messages; and determine the relative effectiveness of the refined messages by conducting a survey of a large group of randomly selected Americans. A steering committee comprised of experts in fields relevant to the topic and appointed by the NAE President will oversee the project.Broader ImpactsThe primary product of the project will be a steering committee report, which will describe the purpose and method of the study, include a summary of the research findings, and present the committee's findings and recommendations. The report will be distributed to some 600 organizations identified in a 2002 NAE PUE survey project as well as to other individuals and groups that request it. In addition, members of the steering committee will present the report at selected professional meetings. By identifying a set of empirically tested PUE messages, the project will provide a common foundation upon which the engineering community can build effective communications strategies, ultimately leading to gains in public understanding of engineering.1 In this proposal, the engineering community includes professional engineering societies, industry and industry associations, design and contracting firms, many colleges and universities, education associations, national R&D laboratories, a number of federal agencies, certain media sectors, and many museums.

开发有效的信息，以促进公众对工程的理解这一建议正在提交给NSF工程理事会工程教育中心分部。该项目的目标，将由国家工程学院进行，是鼓励协调，一致和有效的沟通，由工程界的作用，重要性和工程的职业潜力，以各种观众，包括学生，他们的父母，教师和辅导员;决策者在地方，州和联邦一级;和广大公众。知识分子的功绩努力，以促进更多的公众了解工程（PUE）在美国消耗数亿美元，每年。尽管有这些支出，工程对我们日常生活的影响，工程师所做的事情的性质，以及通过工程教育提供的机会仍然在很大程度上不被大多数美国人所认识。过去十年的民意调查和其他研究一直表明，成年人和儿童对工程师做什么的理解有限，认为工程师是一个无聊或“书呆子”的职业，并认为工程师比其他职业（如医学，科学和教学）声望低。对工程学的不了解可能会产生严重的后果，影响到吸引年轻的美国人，特别是妇女和代表性不足的少数民族，进入工程学相关的职业，并支持国家保持技术创新能力的能力。正如2002年的报告《提高公众对工程的认识》（美国国家科学院出版社）中所记载的那样，造成目前状况的一个重要原因是工程界未能使用一致的和经验性的信息来与它试图达到的各种受众进行沟通。找出一些可能鼓励公众更好地理解工程学的信息。在不同的受众中测试这些信息的有效性。向工程界传播信息测试的结果。为了实现目标，该项目将召集一组广告专业人员，帮助确定一套可能有效的PUE信息;与感兴趣的受众进行八次单独的焦点小组讨论（如初中和高中学生、他们的父母、教师和指导顾问;以及商业和社区领袖）来细化信息;并通过对随机选择的一大群美国人进行调查，确定精炼信息的相对有效性。由NAE主席任命的指导委员会将监督该项目。更广泛的影响该项目的主要成果将是指导委员会的报告，其中将描述研究的目的和方法，包括研究结果的摘要，并提出委员会的调查结果和建议。该报告将分发给2002年NAE PUE调查项目中确定的约600个组织以及提出要求的其他个人和团体，此外，指导委员会成员将在选定的专业会议上介绍该报告。通过确定一套经过经验检验的PUE信息，该项目将提供一个共同的基础，工程界可以在此基础上建立有效的沟通战略，最终提高公众对工程的理解。1在本提案中，工程界包括专业工程学会、行业和行业协会、设计和承包公司、许多学院和大学、教育协会、国家研发&实验室、一些联邦机构、某些媒体部门和许多博物馆。