Promoting Science Understanding and Interest through Language Science

在美国，公众对科学的理解非常低，妇女和少数群体中的个人甚至更低。 在人一生的大部分时间里，接触科学材料的机会都是在学校环境之外，这使得科学博物馆等非正式的科学环境成为一种重要的资源，可以在一生中创造和保持对科学的兴趣和接触科学的机会。该研究项目的目标是研究语言科学如何促进对科学作为一个过程的更好理解，并在博物馆环境中激发对科学的兴趣和兴奋。语言科学预计将特别有效，因为它与非正式科学教学和学习的循证实践天然契合。 此外，我们预测，这将有助于为那些不认同经典科学领域的人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个桥梁，使更多的人进入科学界。这个项目的目标是研究如何有效的各种不同的语言科学外展活动（包括参与现场研究）的目的是培养（1）对科学内容的理解，（2）对科学本质的理解（例如，科学是一个过程），以及（3）对更多地了解科学的兴趣和兴奋。将在俄亥俄州哥伦布的科学与工业中心（COSI）进行观察性和基于调查的研究。 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活动中提取，包括一系列语言主题和与公众互动的类型。对这些活动的回应将与博物馆游客的广泛基线调查进行比较，以及对博物馆非语言科学活动进行平行观察和调查研究。调查项目将包括一系列人口统计学问题以及有关科学知识、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相媲美的程度。特别令人感兴趣的是科学背景和兴趣水平较低的个人的反应。我们预测，相对于这些人的非语言活动，语言科学活动的收益相对较大。此外，该项目还将包括一系列与开展语言科学活动的教师和学生的焦点小组讨论，以探索鼓励参与此类活动并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知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.