Wetenschnapps XXL is organized by the Center for Science and Culture, the Science Communication Network of Utrecht University, and SciComNL. During the year, smaller sessions are also organized where knowledge exchange about public involvement and science communication forms the basis.
The event took place on January 21 in Utrecht, with the aim of a day of knowledge exchange between communication professionals and researchers, in depth, exploring what lessons from research researched for practice, and some questions and answers from practice resolved for investigations.
From PWN Vincent Jonker (chair of the Publicity Committee and researcher at the Freudenthal Institute) participated in the panel discussion on how to bridge research and practice in science education and mathematics. Nicos Starreveld (PR, publicity and science communication officer, teacher of mathematics at the UvA) participated in the panel on how scientists can connect with the right people from other fields to help them evaluate the impact of their science communication. Below a small overview.
Learning from our colleagues: how we bridge research and practice in science education and mathematics
Utrecht University’s Freudenthal Institute has been working across the gap between research and practice for decades, just in a different field: mathematics and science education. The four panel members (Kim Krijtenburg-Lewerissa, Michiel van Harskamp, Paul Alstein, Vincent Jonker) are bridging that gap in various ways, and will shared their experiences and advice in this session.
“At the moment you see in the Netherlands more emphasis on ‘basic skills’ (masterplan basisvaardigheden). Historically we observe this emphasis on basic skills in waves. Attention for basic skills is central in our educational system. Language and mathematics are priority subjects for a very long time in most educational systems, and this focus is still important. National and international comparative studies (like Peil, Pisa, Timss, Piaac) influence this focus, especially when ‘declining’ scores are reported. The discussion should be much deeper than “pupils are not good in mathematics”. To also add, other research sources show improvements or shifts in how our pupils perform. A critical attitude regarding all those research measurements is definitely necessary. Then, in public and political debate, it is not always possible to properly weigh all outcomes from research, as political ‘decisiveness’ is also required. This is not a Dutch phenomenon, there is an international and continuous discussion about the right balance between “understanding” and “practice” in mathematics education. For the Dutch situation, it would be good if all researchers/educators involved sought coordination regarding an optimal curriculum for all children where practice and understanding are in balance.” – Vincent Jonker
How do you find the right experts for studying (the impact of) science communication efforts?
In this workshop physicist Ivo van Vulpen and mathematician Nicos Starreveld share a question: Help! How do I connect with the right people to help me evaluate the impact of my science communication?
If you are a scientist who loves to do science communication, you want to do it well. This means you want to know what works, and that’s something you can research! But what if your own discipline limits you in performing the right evaluation of your scicom efforts? You then face the challenge of lacking connections in the branches of science where such expertise resides.
“Together with Marc van Mil and Jeroen Mulder who have experience with this interdisciplinary work, we discussed with the public about the various expertise that is needed in order to structurally do good science communication. It was very interesting to hear from colleagues how they have developed their science communication activities. Often when we develop an activity for pupils or a broad audience we think too much from our perspective, and not from the perspective of the target audience. A step further is also to measure the impact of those activities, a basic question is for example: does this science communication activity achieve the desired goals? To give a proper answer to this question we need expertise from statistics, experimental design, and social sciences.”