Responsible research and innovation in science education: insights from evaluating the impact of using digital media and arts-based methods on RRI values

The European Commission policy approach of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is gaining momentum in European research planning and development as a strategy to align scientific and technological progress with socially desirable and acceptable ends. One of the RRI agendas is science education, aiming to foster future generations' acquisition of skills and values needed to engage in society responsibly. To this end, it is argued that RRI-based science education can benefit from more interdisciplinary methods such as those based on arts and digital technologies. However, the evidence existing on the impact of science education activities using digital media and arts-based methods on RRI values remains underexplored. This article comparatively reviews previous evidence on the evaluation of these activities, from primary to higher education, to examine whether and how RRI-related learning outcomes are evaluated and how these activities impact on students' learning. Forty academic publications were selected and its content analysed according to five RRI values: creative and critical thinking, engagement, inclusiveness, gender equality and integration of ethical issues. When evaluating the impact of digital and arts-based methods in science education activities, creative and critical thinking, engagement and partly inclusiveness are the RRI values mainly addressed. In contrast, gender equality and ethics integration are neglected. Digital-based methods seem to be more focused on students' questioning and inquiry skills, whereas those using arts often examine imagination, curiosity and autonomy. Differences in the evaluation focus between studies on digital media and those on arts partly explain differences in their impact on RRI values, but also result in non-documented outcomes and undermine their potential. Further developments in interdisciplinary approaches to science education following the RRI policy agenda should reinforce the design of the activities as well as procedural aspects of the evaluation research

Why Youth (heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life

Part of the Volume on Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Social network sites like MySpace and Facebook serve as "networked publics." As with unmediated publics like parks and malls, youth use networked publics to gather, socialize with their peers, and make sense of and help build the culture around them. This article examines American youth engagement in networked publics and considers how properties unique to such mediated environments (e.g., persistence, searchability, replicability, and invisible audiences) affect the ways in which youth interact with one another. Ethnographic data is used to analyze how youth recognize these structural properties and find innovative ways of making these systems serve their purposes. Issues like privacy and impression management are explored through the practices of teens and youth participation in social network sites is situated in a historical discussion of youth's freedom and mobility in the United States

Audit of Moving Image Education & Media Access Centres in Scotland

No abstract available

Developing a Pedagogy for Reducing ‘Plant Blindness’

Despite human dependence on them, inattention to plants or plant blindness is a well–known phenomenon in urban societies. This thesis investigates the efficacy of a suite of novel teaching approaches for botany with adults and children and considers how these published research–based resources can contribute to a pedagogy for reducing plant blindness, in conjunction with the existing literature. This research was based on a mixed methods design using knowledge tests, questionnaires and interviews. It focused on two themes: novel methods for learning taxonomy (digital keys, mnemonics, drawing and game–playing) and drama–based methods for learning reproduction and classification. The literature review examined the characteristics of plant blindness and its impacts on teaching and learning. The fundamental cause of plant blindness was shown to be diminished experience with plants in urban societies which leads to low interest in plants compared to animals. A majority of pedagogic studies were based on learning with live plants, many of which were inquiry-based learning. Half the studies included outdoor learning and half used digital learning approaches. A content analysis of published research using themes based on theories of embodied cognition, memory and positive affect found the textual data to be evenly distributed across all three themes. The pedagogic approaches promoted learning through elaborative techniques, instructional tools with high usability, multimedia experiences and emotional wellbeing. Drawing and keys favoured observation over other perceptual modes, whereas drama facilitated multisensory experience. The research identified physical and cognitive factors that may assist or impede learning. A theoretical contribution of the research was the application of memory theory to learning taxonomy, advancing our understanding of how the design of keys and mnemonics may assist retention. Drama studies enhanced our understanding of children’s attitudes to plants and how a brief intervention may address these

Radio and Audio Strategies for External Cultural Relations: conference report, Berlin, 24/25 October 2013

Radio and online audio-formats are valuable instruments for international cultural work, and for education and development programmes. However, political developments following the end of the Cold War and the rise of satellite TV and online media have brought with them far-reaching cuts in the radio programming of international broadcasters, and led to fundamental changes in the way radio and audio programmes are produced and distributed. Major western broadcasters, such as BBC World Service, BBG, RFI and DW, have limited their shortwave services to a small selection of countries, mainly in Africa and parts of Asia, where the infrastructure does not offer real alternatives for addressing the respective target groups. In these regions, radio still plays a vital role, not only for reasons related to infrastructure, but also because a great number of illiterate listeners can access information, knowledge and education best via audio. Traditional radio production and terrestrial transmission are also useful and efficient tools in media development work, as they can reach out into remote or rural areas and empower people to strengthen their community and cultural identity. But radio’s relevance goes beyond the local needs of regions that have not kept pace with the rate of recent technological change and media innovation. Radio has been at the core of international broadcasting right from the start, and now that it has become one element in a new mix of media, it turns out that there are some attractive core qualities of radio and audio that remain. These qualities are: 1. the direct and emotional impact of the human voice, 2. radio’s well-established culture of dialogue, 3. its potential to involve listeners as coproducers, 4. the flexibility, mobility and comparatively low production costs of audio, 5. its ability to subvert censorship

Roots Reloaded. Culture, Identity and Social Development in the Digital Age

This edited volume is designed to explore different perspectives of culture, identity and social development using the impact of the digital age as a common thread, aiming at interdisciplinary audiences. Cases of communities and individuals using new technology as a tool to preserve and explore their cultural heritage alongside new media as a source for social orientation ranging from language acquisition to health-related issues will be covered. Therefore, aspects such as Art and Cultural Studies, Media and Communication, Behavioral Science, Psychology, Philosophy and innovative approaches used by creative individuals are included. From the Aboriginal tribes of Australia, to the Maoris of New Zealand, to the mystical teachings of Sufi brotherhoods, the significance of the oral and written traditions and their current relation to online activities shall be discussed in the opening article. The book continues with a closer look at obesity awareness support groups and their impact on social media, Facebook usage in language learning context, smartphone addiction and internet dependency, as well as online media reporting of controversial ethical issues. The Digital progress has already left its dominating mark as the world entered the 21st century. Without a doubt, as technology continues its ascent, society will be faced with new and altering values in an effort to catch-up with this extraordinary Digitization, adapt satisfactorily in order to utilize these strong developments in everyday life

JuxtaLearn D3.2 Performance Framework

This deliverable, D3.2, for Work Package 3 incorporating the pedagogy from WP2 and orchestration factors mapped in D3.1 reviews aspects of performance in the context of participative video making. It reviews literature on curiosity and engagement characteristics of interaction mechanisms for public displays and anticipates requirements for social network analysis of relevant public videos from WP6 task 6.3. Thus, to support JuxtaLearn performance it proposes a reflective performance framework that encompasses the material environment and objects required, the participants, and the knowledge needed