Discussing dialogue: perspectives on the value of science dialogue events that do not inform policy

October 1st, 2008 | RESEARCH

While theoretical work and empirical research have examined science policy-informing “dialogue events,” dialogue events that do not seek to inform public policy are under-theorized and under-researched, even though they are common and growing in popularity in the UK. We describe how, from a critical perspective, it may initially appear that such events cannot be justified without returning to the deficit model. But with this paper, we seek to open up a discussion about these non policy-informing events by arguing that there are in fact further ways to understand and frame them. We deliberately draw on different literatures and seek to make use of practitioner expertise within our discussion, in order to display several perspectives on the value of non-policy dialogue on science as sites of symmetrical individual or small-scale learning —rather than institutional learning—through social processes .

Document

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Team Members

Sarah Davies, Author, Durham University
Ellen McCallie, Author, Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE)
Elin Simonsson, Author, Science Museum of London
Jane Lehr, Author, California Polytechnic State University
Sally Duensing, Author, King's College London

Citation

Publication: Public Understanding of Science
Volume: 18
Number: 3
Page(s): 338

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Audience: General Public | Museum | ISE Professionals | Scientists
Discipline: Education and learning science | General STEM
Resource Type: Peer-reviewed article | Research Products
Environment Type: Community Outreach Programs | Public Programs