Science Communication in Education: Mapping the Field to Foster the Impact and Sustainability of Education Sciences

Dear Colleagues,

Science communication can be understood as an umbrella term (Mellor and Webster, 2017), which includes science communication as an interdisciplinary field and, in practice, covers a great variety of activities aimed at lay audiences. More recently, science communication was defined as a social conversation around science, emphasising, for instance, a long-term continuity that prioritizes, among other things, ethics, equity and inclusion (Bucchi and Trench, 2021).

Accordingly, it is also important to stress that science communication plays a role in the correct functioning of democratic societies, namely, on promoting participation, deliberation and dialogue (Davies, 2021), and, therefore, it emerges as an important opportunity for the education field to maximize its societal impact, as well as to enhance its sustainability (Fecher et al., 2021).

In recent decades, researchers have been increasingly required to engage in science communication and public engagement efforts (Besley et al., 2021). However, social sciences do not have a tradition in science communication, and the education field is no exception, with educational researchers not devoting much of their time to communicating their science or promoting science communication initiatives (Cassidy, 2021; Entradas and Bauer, 2016). Moreover, as in other scientific fields, the majority of educational researchers do not have specific training in science communication, meaning that they are not proficient in defining science communication learning goals (Baram-Tsabari and Lewenstein, 2017) and, in turn, became strategic science communicators (Besley and Dudo, 2022). Consequently, this lack caused them to be less willing to participate in science communication (Newman, 2020).

The main purpose of this Special Issue is to map out currently available research and practices regarding science communication developed within the education sciences community. Mapping the field could highlight the main role of science communication in the promotion of the societal impacts and sustainability of educational research. Moreover, the Special Issue aims to recognise the pioneers in the field, to promote a cohesive and articulated community of researchers and practitioners in science communication in education.

Nevertheless, education researchers could also potentially learn from author contributions from other fields, having the knowledge and scientific culture developed around science communication, particularly with regard to training researchers in science communication.

We warmly invite researchers to submit their contributions to this Special Issue. Research areas may include:

• Science communication in education: challenges and opportunities;
• The role of partnerships and stakeholders in the implementation of science communication initiatives in the field of education;
• Science communication training in education: do’s and don'ts;
• Societal impacts and sustainability of education sciences: contributions of science communication;
• The relation between science communication and open science, namely, citizen science;
• The role of science communication in education in the promotion of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, namely, Sustainable Development Goal four—quality education;
• Evaluation and assessment in science communication in education;
• Education sciences and the media: relations within science communication;
• Science communication and education management;
• Science communication and transversal skills;
• Science communication in education and scientific accuracy;
• Practicing science communication to lay audiences: does it improve communication to peers?;
• Rethinking science communication, education and training;
• Science communication and educational organizations.

References

Baram-Tsabari, A. and Lewenstein, B. V. (2017). Science communication training: what are we trying to teach? International Journal of Science Education, Part B: Communication and Public Engagement, 7(3), 285–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/21548455.2017.1303756.

Besley, J. C. and Dudo, A. (2022). Strategic Science Communication: A Guide to Setting the Right Objectives for More Effective Public Engagement. JHU Press.

Besley, J. C., Lee, N. M. and Pressgrove, G. (2021). Reassessing the Variables Used to Measure Public Perceptions of Scientists. Science Communication, 43(1), 3–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547020949547.

Bucchi, M. and Trench, B. (Eds.). (2021). Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003039242.

Cassidy, A. (2021). Communicating the social sciences and humanities: Challenges and insights for research communication. Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology, 198–213. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003039242-12.

Davies, S. R. (2021). An Empirical and Conceptual Note on Science Communication’s Role in Society. Science Communication, 43(1), 116–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547020971642.

Entradas, M. and Bauer, M. W. (2016). Mobilisation for public engagement: benchmarking the practices of research institutes Article (Accepted version) (Refereed). https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662516633834.

Fecher, B., Kuper, F., Sokolovska, N., Fenton, A., Hornbostel, S. and Wagner, G. G. (2021). Understanding the Societal Impact of the Social Sciences and Humanities: Remarks on Roles, Challenges, and Expectations. Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/FRMA.2021.696804/BIBTEX.

Mellor, F. and Webster, S. (2017). Written evidence submitted by the Science Communication Unit, Imperial College London (COM0014) to Science communication and engagement Eleventh Report of Session 2016–17. http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/science-and-technology-committee/science-communication/written/32372.pdf.

Newman, T. P. (2020). Theory and Best Practices in Science Communication Training. Routledge.

Dr. Susana Ambrósio
Prof. Dr. Maria Helena Araújo e Sá
Dr. Margarida M. Pinheiro
Guest Editors

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• science communication
• education
• training
• societal impact and sustainability
• open science
• citizen science
• partnerships
• practices
• research
• evaluation
• sustainable development goals
• public engagement
• science and research engagement
• education management
• media