A Planning Workshop for Engaging the Scientific Community in Improving the Public Understanding of Science

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This award provides funding for support of a two-day planning workshop that will bring together a small working group of influential people concerned about improving the public understanding of science. The primary goal of the workshop will be to discuss how the scientific community should respond to the growing mistrust of science and to develop a set of recommendations on how to create a sustained national effort that will ultimately result in a greater public understanding of science. There are growing concerns from all sectors business, academia, educators, Congress that the United States is falling behind in both science and technology. At the same time, there appears to be broad consensus that the entire scientific ethos is under assault by uninformed or intentional forces. Science is poorly understood and often misrepresented to the public, the news media, and to political decision-makers. Informed understanding of the nature and value of science is necessary if the public is going to support efforts to restore Americas scientific leadership. This workshop will identify strategies that will address these issues in a coordinated and sustained manner. This workshop will be an important first step in identifying the sources of misinformation and public confusion about science and determining actions to correct that misinformation and confusion, identifying products and programs that exist or should be developed that could improve the public understanding of science, and developing a network that can build on existing programs to create a sustained national effort that will ultimately result in a greater public understanding of science.