Saila Puranen/Heureka
Science Engagement in Action
An international expert panel on the future of science centres was held at Heureka. March 20, 2009. Please find photos of the panel and the panellists at Heureka´s image bank.
See the video of the seminar here: SEA_VIDEO
Panellists and moderators at Heureka from left to right:
Rosalia Vargas, Charlie Trautman, John Falk, Ford W. Bell, Claudie Haigneré, Per-Edvin Persson, Stig Gustavson, Alan Leshner, Leslie Lewis, Anthony Townsend, Marja Makarow.
Photo: Saila Puranen/Heureka
SUMMARY of the seminar
Speakers and participants
Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre, and the Association of Science-Technology Centers organised jointly an international expert seminar in Heureka on March 20, 2009.
The speakers were:
- Dr. Ford W. Bell, President & CEO, American Association of Museums
- Professor John Falk, Oregon State University
- Dr. Stig Gustavson, Chairman of the Board, Konecranes Plc
- Dr. Claudie Haigneré, Senior Adviser to the DG, European Space Agency
- Dr. Alan Leshner, CEO, American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Professor Marja Makarow, Chief Executive, European Science Foundation
- Dr. Anthony Townsend, Research Director, Institute for the Future.
Professor José Mariano Gago, Minister of Science of Portugal, had to cancel his participation at the last moment.
The seminar was moderated by Lesley Lewis, Per-Edvin Persson, Charlie Trautmann and Rosalia Vargas, and it was webcast live. In Heureka, about 100 persons participated in the meeting.
Discussion
The panel debated the following questions:
1. What are the most challenging issues facing humanity today and into the future?
2. What is the role of science in helping to solve these challenges?
3. What can science centers do to engage citizens in the debate and action needed?
1. Greatest challenges facing humanity
The challenges mentioned by the experts covered a wide ground. On one hand, the speakers listed problems related to population growth and the disparity in distribution of wealth and life quality, on the other the lack of political will to implement solutions and the simultaneous ongoing change in social structures and behaviour. Among the first we have well known challenges such as food production, energy, climate change and other sustainability issues, poverty, urbanisation and diseases (cancer, cardiovascular, HIV). Among the second group we see challenges in education systems and social learning, the use of weapons, war and terrorism, fundamentalist ideologies hindering scientific advancement, and the effects of an aging population (social and medical).
Several speakers pointed out new ways of functioning in society. Education will to an increasing degree take place out of school, learning will become decentralised, science itself will to an increasing extent take place in distributed networks, enabled by existing and emerging communication technologies. The process of science may become more transparent than it is now. Changes towards a sustainable development will take place through individuals making informed choices, not organisations imposing them. New technologies need to be preceded by a debate in society, not succeeded by it.
2. Role of science in solving the challenges
Thus, society is changing, partly due to networking technologies, and these changes will fundamentally affect the ways in which people behave. Science centres need to be on top of these trends towards a decentralised, empowered, participatory and knowledgeable society (at least in the industrial world).
The role of science centres was seen in the following ways:
- to educate, i.e. help people learn science, and to attract and inspire them, in particular the young generation, which was seen as the most valuable target group;
- to network and function outside the walls of the institution (e.g. curate exhibitions on the web);
- to empower and engage citizens by providing a forum where the general public, scientists and policy makers can meet;
- to be an honest broker of information, but being provocative enough to start a conversation and encourage people to understand that they can be advocates;
- to forge alliances with relevant stakeholders, such as the formal education system, media, research facilities, universities and non-governmental organisations;
- to become laboratories of science communication.
In addition, it was said that science centres, now existing mainly in the industrial world, are largely in the wrong places: they are in particular needed in the developing world and in countries where fundamentalist ideologies impair scientific advancement.
3. How to engage citizens
There was a debate on the advocacy vs. information provider role. It was questioned when a debate on a particular scientific issue should be started, and to what extent science centres should take a stand. If science continues to become more transparent, the timing question may become obsolete in the future. The fear for scaring off sponsors or stakeholders needs to be balanced by the need to engage citizens in a debate on real issues when they occur.
The lack of understanding the scientific process by the general public was seen as an impediment. Exhibitions are not generally a good medium for describing processes, and thus they need to be supplemented by other programmes. Scientific controversies need to be handled as an integral part of the scientific process. Science centres need to pay attention to who their audience is – and that it may be changing continuously.
While science centres need to co-operate with schools, there was a consensus that they should not become like schools, but continue to be independent venues of experiential learning.
It was concluded that science centres play a role in building a sustainable knowledge base in our societies by providing forums for debate and dialogue while fostering a passion for science.
Updated 1.4.2009/KT
