Promoting Science Understanding and Interest through Language Science

通过语言科学促进科学理解和兴趣

• 批准号: 1823381
• 负责人: Laura Wagner
• 金额: $ 35.39万
• 依托单位: Ohio State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2025-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1823381&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Promoting; Science; Understanding; Interest; through

Public understanding of science in the United States is notably low, and even lower among women and individuals in minority groups. Through most of an individual's life, access to science material will happen outside of a school setting, making informal science environments such as science museums an important resource for creating and maintaining interest and access to science throughout the lifespan. The goal of this research project is to examine how Language Science can promote better understanding of science as a process and can spark interest and excitement for science in a museum setting. Language Science is predicted to be especially effective because of its natural fit with evidence-based practices of informal science teaching and learning. Moreover, we predict that it will help create an entry point for science among individuals who do not identify with classic scientific fields. This project will help us better understand how different kinds of activities and topic areas influence the public's understanding of and attitudes towards science, and it will potentially help us identify a bridge to bring more people into the scientific community.The goal of this project is to examine how effective a variety of different Language Science outreach activities (including participation in live research) are at fostering (1) understanding of scientific content, (2) understanding of the nature of science (e.g. science as a process), and (3) interest and excitement to learn more about science. Observational and survey-based studies will be conducted at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus, Ohio. The Language Science activities will be drawn from the set of those currently in use at the Language Sciences Research Lab at the museum and include a range of language topics and types of interactivity with the public. Responses to these activities will be compared to a broad base-line survey of museum visitors, as well as parallel observational and survey-based studies examining non-language science activities at the museum. Survey items will include a range of demographic questions and questions about scientific knowledge, training, and interest. These studies will allow us to determine which approaches and topics are most effective at promoting positive science understanding and interest, and especially the extent to which Language Science is comparable to other scientific domains. Of particular interest will be the responses of individuals with lower levels of science background and interest. We predict comparatively greater gains with the Language Science activities relative to the non-language activities for such individuals. In addition, the project will include a set of focus group discussions with the faculty and students who conduct the Language Science activities to explore factors that encourage participation in such activities and would promote sustainability.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在美国，公众对科学的了解非常低，女性和少数群体中的公众对科学的了解甚至更低。在个人一生的大部分时间里，获取科学材料的途径都是在学校以外的环境中进行的，这使得科学博物馆等非正式科学环境成为在一生中创造和保持对科学的兴趣和获取途径的重要资源。这一研究项目的目的是考察语言科学如何促进对科学作为一个过程的更好理解，以及如何在博物馆环境中激发人们对科学的兴趣和兴奋。预计语言科学将特别有效，因为它与非正式科学教学和学习的循证实践自然契合。此外，我们预测，这将有助于在不认同经典科学领域的个人中创造一个科学的切入点。这个项目将帮助我们更好地了解不同类型的活动和主题领域如何影响公众对科学的理解和态度，它将潜在地帮助我们找到一座桥梁，让更多的人进入科学界。这个项目的目标是检验各种不同的语言科学外展活动(包括参与现场研究)在促进(1)理解科学内容，(2)理解科学的本质(例如，科学是一个过程)和(3)对了解更多科学的兴趣和兴奋方面是如何有效的。观测和基于调查的研究将在俄亥俄州哥伦布市的科学与工业中心(COSI)进行。语言科学活动将从博物馆语言科学研究实验室目前使用的一套活动中挑选出来，包括一系列语言主题和与公众互动的类型。对这些活动的反应将与对博物馆参观者的广泛基线调查以及对博物馆非语言科学活动的平行观察性和基于调查的研究进行比较。调查项目将包括一系列人口统计问题，以及关于科学知识、培训和兴趣的问题。这些研究将使我们能够确定哪些方法和主题在促进积极的科学理解和兴趣方面最有效，特别是语言科学与其他科学领域的可比性。特别令人感兴趣的将是科学背景和兴趣水平较低的个人的反应。我们预测，对于这些人来说，与非语言活动相比，语言科学活动的收益相对更大。此外，该项目将包括与进行语言科学活动的教职员工和学生进行一系列焦点小组讨论，以探索鼓励参与此类活动并将促进可持续发展的因素。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

What does the public think about language science?

公众对语言科学有何看法？

• DOI: 10.1353/lan.2022.0029
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Language
• 影响因子: 2.1
• 作者: Wagner, Laura;Patson, Nikole D.;Awani, Sumurye
• 通讯作者: Awani, Sumurye

To what extent does the general public endorse language myths?

公众在多大程度上认可语言神话？

• DOI: 10.1111/lnc3.12486
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Language and Linguistics Compass
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Wagner, Laura;Awani, Sumurye;Patson, Nikole D.;Stanhope, Rebekah
• 通讯作者: Stanhope, Rebekah