Collaborative Research: A new model for producing science documentaries: Building collaborations between scientists and storytellers to test methods of communication in film

作为其整体战略的一部分，以加强在非正式环境中的学习，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划旨在推进新的方法，并以证据为基础的理解，在非正式环境中的STEM学习的设计和开发。这包括提供多种途径，以扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验，推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及发展参与者对深入学习的理解。该项目将研究科学纪录片制作的核心方法以及对观众参与和理解的影响。 这项研究的结果将用于制作一部关于CRISPR基因组编辑技术将如何塑造农业，生态和自然世界的电影。 将由科学传播工作者和研究人员合作制作研究报告和电影。 预期的成果是提高有效的科学电影制作和增加对观众的影响。 许多人在正规的学习环境之外依靠纪录片和录像获取科学信息。 研究表明，视频节目可以缩小高等教育和低等教育之间的知识差距。 但是很少有研究发现是什么让一种特定的讲故事风格对参与和学习效果有效。 美国国家科学院、工程院和医学院最近的一份报告指出，社会科学研究严重短缺，可为电影制片人提供直接适用的经验教训。 该项目通过提供新的研究框架和制作科学纪录片的方法来满足这一需求。 该项目的合作伙伴是iBiology，一个学习视频资源的制作者，以及威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的科学传播研究人员。该项目将研究两个关键问题：1）在一部科学纪录片中，科学家的多样性和叙述者的使用如何塑造观众对内容和科学家的看法？2）在科学电影制作中，什么是有效的方法来形象化不可见的东西（即解释不容易形象化的科学现象）？ 该项目首先测试了最近制作的一部电影《人性》，这部电影讲述了CRISPR（基因组编辑）的发现，由领导这项工作的科学家讲述。 第一阶段的测试将包括放映、焦点小组和通过Amazon Mechanical Turk进行的实验，以测试电影的哪些功能（编辑语音和可视化风格）对传达科学内容最有效。 在第2阶段，将结合叙述和可视化策略制作视频测试剪辑。 亚马逊土耳其人的一项实验设计将随机分配参与者使用不同的组合观看剪辑。 研究人员将使用这些数据来解析哪些效果似乎与特定的叙述和可视化选择有关。 这些定量实验数据将得到来自焦点小组的定性数据的补充，这些小组的参与者具有各种科学经验和人口背景。 研究人员将设计一个调查嵌入式实验与美国全国代表性的样本，看看如何以及研究结果转化和更广泛的人群中的变化。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. This project will research core methods of science documentary film production and impact on audience engagement and understanding. The findings from this study will be used to later produce a film on how the CRISPR genome editing technology will shape agriculture, ecology, and the natural world. The research study and film to be produced will be a collaboration of science communication practitioners and researchers. The intended outcomes are to improve effective science filmmaking and increase impact on audiences. Many people rely on documentary film and videos for science information outside of formal learning environments. Research has shown that video programming can reduce knowledge gaps between those of higher and lower levels of education. But there is little research with findings about what makes a particular style of storytelling effective for engagement and learning outcomes. A recent report of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine identified a significant shortage of social science research with directly applicable lessons for filmmakers. This project addresses this need by providing new frameworks for research and methods to produce science documentaries. Project partners are iBiology, a producer of video resources for learning, and science communication researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.This project will examine two key questions: 1) In a science documentary film, how does the diversity of the scientists profiled and the use of a narrator shape audiences’ perception of content and scientists? and 2) What are effective methods in science filmmaking to visualize the invisible (i.e. explain scientific phenomena that are not easily visualized)? The project begins by testing a recently produced film, Human Nature, that tells the story of the discovery of CRISPR (genome editing), told by the scientists who led the effort. Phase 1 testing will include screenings, focus groups, and experiments run through Amazon Mechanical Turk to test what features of the film (editorial voice and visualization styles) are most effective for communicating scientific content. In Phase 2 video test clips will be produced using a combination of narration and visualization strategies. An experimental design run through Amazon Turk will randomly assign participants to watch a clip using different combinations. Researchers will use this data to parse out what effect seems to be related to particular narration and visualization choices. This quantitative experimental data will be supplemented by qualitative data from focus groups with participants with a diverse range of science experience and demographic backgrounds. Researchers will design a survey-embedded experiment with a U.S. nationally representative sample to see how well the findings translate and change in a broader population.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.