<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Science communication is gaining importance in universities, as scientific findings are increasingly communicated in the context of educational outreach events. However, expectations and characteristics of the participants of university-led STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) outreach events remain insufficiently understood from a research perspective. This study examines the expectations of 180 students and ten teachers using questionnaires, and communication objectives with four lecturing scientists using interviews at a university-led STEM outreach event for students, the ‘Darwin Day’ at Kiel University. The results indicate a potential mismatch: While scientists’ primary aim is to inform about their research, students’ main point of interest lies in the everyday working life of scientists and in scientific reasoning. The results suggest that scientists might benefit from support from science communication facilitators to tailor communication objectives to the target group. The results also suggest incorporating Nature of Science approaches more explicitly into science outreach events.</p>
</abstract>

Science communication is gaining importance in universities, as scientific findings are increasingly communicated in the context of educational outreach events. However, expectations and characteristics of the participants of university-led STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) outreach events remain insufficiently understood from a research perspective. This study examines the expectations of 180 students and ten teachers using questionnaires, and communication objectives with four lecturing scientists using interviews at a university-led STEM outreach event for students, the ‘Darwin Day’ at Kiel University. The results indicate a potential mismatch: While scientists’ primary aim is to inform about their research, students’ main point of interest lies in the everyday working life of scientists and in scientific reasoning. The results suggest that scientists might benefit from support from science communication facilitators to tailor communication objectives to the target group. The results also suggest incorporating Nature of Science approaches more explicitly into science outreach events.

Developing science outreach events based on stakeholders’ objectives and expectations – A case study of a lecture day for schools

kerstin.kremer@didaktik.bio.uni-giessen.de

Justus‐Liebig‐University Gießen ‐ Institute for Biology Education

Department of Evolutionary Ecology and Genetics

Research in Subject-matter Teaching and Learning (RISTAL)

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Science communication is gaining importance in universities, as scientific findings are increasingly communicated in the context of educational outreach...

Developing science outreach events based on stakeholders’ objectives and expectations – A case study of a lecture day for schools

Published Online: Aug 10, 2023

Page range: 49 - 66

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23770/ristal-2023-3

Keywords
communication objectives, students’ expectations, teachers’ expectations, university‐led STEM outreach events, Darwin Day, science communication

© 2023 Christina Claussen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Developing science outreach events based on stakeholders’ objectives and expectations – A case study of a lecture day for schools

Published Online: Aug 10, 2023

Page range: 49 - 66

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23770/ristal-2023-3

Keywordscommunication objectives, students’ expectations, teachers’ expectations, university‐led STEM outreach events, Darwin Day, science communication

© 2023 Christina Claussen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Keywords
communication objectives, students’ expectations, teachers’ expectations, university‐led STEM outreach events, Darwin Day, science communication