Stimulating authentic community involvement in biotechnology policy in Australia

This paper analyzes community involvement in biotechnology policy in Australia. Specifically, we examine the Gene Technology Act 2000 that governs gene technology in Australia and the roles of the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator and the Gene Technology Community Consultative Committee. We contend that the institutions that underpin biotechnology policy serve to hamper community involvement and reinforce a cognitive deficit model of community involvement. Finally, we propose how the situation could be turned around so that interested citizens can participate in authentic community involvement in biotechnology policy in Australia

Public perceptions of, and responses to, desalination in Australia : a report on findings

Desalination as a method of ensuring a rainfall independent source of potable water has become an increasingly favourable option for Australian governments, particularly over the last decade or so. This is especially true for metropolitan areas. The social acceptability of new sources of water, however, impacts on the readiness with which publics accept changed or augmented water supplies. Researchers at Deakin University, Victoria University and Murdoch University, with funding from the National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia (NCEDA), have conducted a study of public attitudes to desalination in Australia. This report outlines the results of the 18 month project, which comprises three sections. The cornerstone of the project is a national survey (n=3077), conducted by Datacol Research. The second component of the study consists of focus groups in the vicinity of three existing or developing desalination plants: Wonthaggi (Victoria), Port Stanvac (South Australia), and Kwinana (Western Australia). The third component of the study presented in this report involves interviews with desalination scientists and other technical experts, in relation to their attitudes to communication with lay publics

The desulphurisation of thiocarbonyl compounds

The desulphurisation of thioesters by mercury (II) carboxylate salts was shown to give aliphatic acid anhydrides in high yield. The reaction is rapid at room temperature, giving a mixture of mercuric sulphide, ester and anhydride. The mercuric sulphide is removed by filtration and the ester by distillation. An intramolecular mechanism involving two cyclic transition states was proposed for this desulphurisation reaction, and attempts were made to gather evidence for this mechanism. The desulphurisation of thioesters by active W-2 Raney nickel was shown to give saturated ethers in good yields. Thiobenzoates gave alcohols, due to hydrogenolysis of the intermediate benzyl ether. The desulphurisation of thiopheny1 acetates by deactivated W-2 Raney nickel gave enol ethers in moderate yields. The enol ethers were identified by their mass spectra, and by their methanolysis in the presence of an acid catalyst. Thioesters other than thiophenylacetates gave a mixture of products

Attitudes to science: A study of variables linked to high school student attitudes to science

The major purpose of the study reported in this thesis was to investigate the influence of the home, school and peer group environments on high school student attitudes to science. The study was carried out in three main stages. First, a model was developed to guide the investigation. The model, which hypothesised interrelationships among the three educational environments (the home, the school and the peer group) and student attainment, was derived from a conceptual framework developed by Keeves (1972). Second, a number of preliminary investigations were conducted. These were designed to: (a) gather data on science teachers' perceptions of the objectives, especially the attitudinal objectives, of the high school science curriculum; (b) establish the reliability and validity of the affective instruments to be used in the final stage. Third, the model developed for the study was tested using the year 8 cohorts in two different high schools in the Perth metropolitan area. The generalisability of the model to the two different samples was assessed. A number of conclusions may be drawn from this investigation of the influence of educational environments on student outcomes: (1) The influence of background variables is generally not very strong. Typically, values for path coefficients from environmental variables to other variables are low. (2) There is a strong causal chain among the cognitive variables of the study: "general ability" directly influences "initial achievement", which in turn directly influences "final achievement". (3) There is a strong causal chain among the affective variables: "initial science-related attitude" directly influences "general attitude", which in turn directly influences "final science-related attitude". (4) There are links between these two sets of variables (the cognitive set of variables and the affective set of variables), but these links are not as strong as those within the sets. For example, "general ability" influences "initial science-related attitude", but the link is not as strong as those within each set. (5) There are links between the background (independent) variables and the dependent variables, which have path values which are of the same order of magnitude as the 'within' values in (4). The influence of background variables appears to be different for the two schools. This provides limited support for the notion that local influences should be further investigated. Home influences appeared, in general, not to influence science-related attitudes or achievement in any direct, substantial way. Keeves (1972) had arrived at a similar conclusion. However, one variable which appeared to be an important variable was the mother's expectations for the length of the child's secondary schooling; this appeared to be an important influence on the cognitive outcome variables in both samples. Of the peer group variables, the amount of homework reported by the three best friends appeared to be important at both schools. The implications of the results of the study are discussed

Community Participation in Australian Science and Technology Policy: The Case of Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is widely considered to offer enormous competitive advantages to those countries that possess the knowledge and capacity to harness its potential. As in many other countries, Australia's nanotechnology policy is in its infancy and lags international research in the field. We examine the role of community engagement in the development of nanotechnology in Australia, and argue that if Australia is to establish a sustainable nanotechnology policy, then it must broaden its perspective and more carefully consider the social, ethical and environmental aspects of nanotechnology. We support the goal of shared economic growth through technological advancement; however, this seems unlikely as long as the Australian government persists with what is essentially a technical and socially exclusive approach to stimulating innovation in nanotechnology. While opposition to nanotechnology is still 'thin on the ground', it is starting to emerge and the Commonwealth and State governments would do well to treat it with respect.community engagement, nanotechnology, science policy,

Science engagement and literacy: A retrospective analysis for students in Canada and Australia

Given international concerns about students' pursuit (or more correctly, non-pursuit) of courses and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, this study is about achieving a better understanding of factors related to high school students' engagement in science. The study builds on previous secondary analyses of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) datasets for New Zealand and Australia. For the current study, we compared patterns of science engagement and science literacy for male and female students in Canada and Australia. The study's secondary analysis revealed that for all PISA measures included under the conceptual umbrella of engagement in science (i.e. interest, enjoyment, valuing, self-efficacy, self-concept and motivation), 15-year-old students in Australia lagged their Canadian counterparts to varying, albeit modest, degrees. Our retrospective analysis further shows, however, that gender equity in science engagement and science literacy is evident in both Canadian and Australian contexts. Additionally, and consistent with our previous findings for indigenous and non-indigenous students in New Zealand and Australia, we found that for male and female students in both countries, the factor most strongly associated with variations in engagement in science was the extent to which students participate in science activities outside of school. In contrast, and again for both Canadian and Australian students, the factors most strongly associated with science literacy were students' socioeconomic backgrounds, and the amount of formal time spent doing science. The implications of these results for science educators and researchers are discussed

Are students prepared to communicate? A case study of an Australian degree Course in biotechnology

Public concerns about biotechnology have resulted in greater attention being paid to the mechanisms by which biotechnology is communicated with non-scientists, including the provision of science communication training. As undergraduate and postgraduate courses form the foundation of the biotechnology sector by providing a pipeline of university graduates entering into the profession, it has been proposed that formal science communication training be introduced at this early stage of career development. Using an Australian biotechnology degree course as a case study, this paper examines science communication training within this course and the views of past and present students towards this training. Interviews were undertaken with 22 stakeholders in the case, including undergraduate lecturers (who also supervise postgraduate research students), doctoral candidates and biotechnologists recently graduated from the course. Few of the students felt the course provided them with any form of science communication training, let alone training in how to engage non-scientists. Many were unaware of the training available to them and few of the lecturers were able to identify where communication skills are taught within the course. A previous study of this case has also shown that biotechnology undergraduates taking this course do not value communication with non-scientists. Clearly, the current state of science communication training for these students needs to be improved if they are to enter the biotechnology workforce as able civic scientists. The findings of this study may be useful for other university biotechnology courses which have yet to integrate science communication training into their curriculum