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A Study of Scientific Literacy Communicating astrobiology in public: A study of scientific literacy PhD thesis submitted for the requirements of Doctor of Philosophy, Science Communication AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR ASTROBIOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOMOLECULAR SCIENCES Carol Ann Oliver Master of Science Communication Supervisors: Professor Malcolm Walter and Professor Paul Davies Associate supervisor: Professor Richard Dawkins June, 2008 i | Page Abstract The majority of adults in the US and in Europe appear to be scientifically illiterate. This has not changed in more than half a century. It is unknown whether the Australian public is also scientifically illiterate because no similar testing is done here. Public scientific illiteracy remains in spite of improvements in science education, innovative approaches to public outreach, the encouraging of science communication via the mass media, and the advent of the Internet. Why is it that there has been so little change? Is school science education inadequate? Does something happen between leaving high school education and becoming an adult? Does Australia suffer from the same apparent malady? The pilot study at the heart of this thesis tests a total of 692 Year Ten (16-year-old) Australian students across ten high schools and a first year university class in 2005 and 2006, using measures applied to adults. Twenty-six percent of those tested participated in a related scientific literacy project utilising in-person visits to Macquarie University in both years. A small group of the students (64) tested in 2005 were considered the best science students in seven of the ten high schools. Results indicate that no more than 20% of even the best high school science students - on the point of being able to end their formal science education - are scientifically literate if measured by adult standards. Another pilot test among 150 first year university students supports that indication. This compares to a scientific literacy rate of 28% for the US public. This thesis finds that the scientific literacy enterprise – in all its forms – fails scrutiny. Either we believe our best science students are leaving high school scientifically illiterate or there is something fundamentally wrong in our perceptions of public scientific illiteracy. This pilot study – probably the first of its kind – indicates we cannot rely on our current perceptions of a scientifically illiterate public. It demonstrates that a paradigm shift in our thinking is required about what scientific literacy is and in our expectations of a scientifically literate adult public. In the worst case scenario, governments are pouring millions of dollars into science education and public outreach with little or no basis for understanding whether either is effective. That is illogical, even irresponsible. It also impacts on the way astrobiology – or any science – is communicated in public. ii | Page Acknowledgements This work has been part of a longer personal journey, encouraged by my family, friends and colleagues who supported my desire to reach this goal and beyond. I would specifically like to thank my supervisors, Professor Malcolm Walter of the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at the University of New South Wales and Professor Paul Davies of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. They gracefully faced the challenge of a multiple relationship as student, colleague and friend. My thanks, too, to Professor Richard Dawkins of Oxford University who has maintained an open door whenever I visited the UK. Unless one lives on a desert island to undertake a PhD, the other stalwarts constantly there are family. My adult son James and adult daughter Gemma, my ex-husband Barry, my sister Shirley, her husband Sam, and my Mother have provided support throughout. Thank you does not seem enough to say. I wish my Father had survived to see me undertake this work. I know he would have been thrilled. I would also like to thank all my friends and colleagues for their advice and support. There are too many to mention, but I would like to make specific mention of Dr Seth Shostak and Edna DeVore of the SETI Institute in California, Jennifer Fergusson, Mikayla Keen, Eric Dalgliesh, and fellow students and colleagues at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, in particular Associate Professor Simon George and Associate Professor Jeremy Bailey. I would like to thank, too, my friends and colleagues in NASA, at Arizona State University, and at the University of Glamorgan in Wales. Finally, and especially, I would like to thank Richard Dartt, who came into my life in 2008. He reminded me of why, at the age of 58, I wanted to complete this doctorate, and encouraged me to do so. Carol Oliver June, 2008 iii | Page iv | Page TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION....................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT............................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS......................................................................................... v FRONT: “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us”.................. ix CHAPTER 1: THESIS OVERVIEW 1.1 Science and the public................................................................................... 1 1.2 Language of science...................................................................................... 7 1.3 Scientific literacy............................................................................................ 8 1.3.1 Scientific literacy and the public understanding of science.............. 10 1.3.2 What is meant by ‘general public audience’?................................... 12 1.3.3 Models in science communication.................................................... 13 1.3.4 Scientists communicating science.................................................... 14 1.3.5 Paucity of evidence.......................................................................... 18 1.3.6 Expectations and testing.................................................................. 20 1.4 Project aims and data collection..................................................................... 21 1.5 Project hypothesis.......................................................................................... 24 1.6 Alternative hypotheses................................................................................... 25 1.7 Related research questions............................................................................ 26 1.8 Title of the thesis............................................................................................ 27 CHAPTER 2: SCIENCE COMMUNICATION 2.1 Overview......................................................................................................... 31 2.2 Scientific literacy............................................................................................. 35 2.3 Communication within science communication.............................................. 45 2.4 Lessons from history...................................................................................... 50 2.5 Knowledge transfer........................................................................................ 52 2.6 The Internet: Moving goalposts or another game entirely?............................ 55 2.7 Courting disaster in a science-based society?............................................... 59 2.8 The 20% solution............................................................................................ 60 2.9 Summary........................................................................................................ 60 CHAPTER 3: SCIENTIFIC LITERACY AND SCIENCE EDUCATION 3.1 Overview........................................................................................................ 65 3.2 Correlations of education and adult scientific literacy.................................... 66 v | Page 3.3 International testing for student scientific literacy.......................................... 68 3.3.1 Differences between surveys........................................................... 68 3.3.2 TIMSS results................................................................................... 69 3.3.3 PISA 2006 results............................................................................. 70 3.3.4 Surveys vs. thesis hypothesis........................................................... 72 3.4 Summary........................................................................................................ 73 CHAPTER 4: THE PILBARA PROJECT 4.1 Overview........................................................................................................ 75 4.2 Relevance to the thesis.................................................................................. 79 4.3 Partnerships................................................................................................... 80 4.4 Design............................................................................................................ 81 4.5 Creating the Pilbara Virtual Field Trip............................................................ 81 4.6 Virtual environments in the classroom........................................................... 83 4.7 Testing and results........................................................................................
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