Latest ArticlesBy summarizing the current situation and problems in the development of museum-school cooperation curriculum resources, combining with the resources and practice of the Beijing Museum of Natural History, this paper probes into the development strategies of the museum-school cooperation resources: making reference to the concept of science, selecting topics according to the national curriculum standards, relying on exhibits for teaching resources, cooperating the role of teachers in the teaching process, leading by experts, flexibly using the new multimedia technology, developing the Project-based learning, paying attention to the study of the pre-middle and post-middle stages, etc. The strategies developed with the resources above are applied to practical courses and activities.
It is not clear whether residents’ cognition of climate change can effectively motivate them to carry out carbon emission reduction. Previous studies only focus on the impact of residents’ climate change cognition on single carbon emission reduction behavior and ignore the impact of environmental efficacy perception on this behavior. Different from that, using the data of CGSS 2010, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of both residents’ climate change cognition and environmental efficacy perception on different carbon emission reduction behaviors. The results show that residents’ cognition of the causes of climate change has a significant positive impact on three carbon emission reduction behaviors (waste classification, driving reduction and energy saving), while residents’ cognition of the hazards of climate change and environmental efficacy perception respectively have a significant positive impact on two carbon emission reduction behaviors (driving reduction and energy saving). Compared with the impact on waste classification, residents’ cognition of the causes and hazards of climate change, and environmental efficacy perception have a greater impact on driving reduction and energy saving. Environmental efficacy perception is an important variable that influencing residents’ carbon emission reduction behavior, and the impacts of residents’ climate change cognition and environmental efficacy perception on carbon emission reduction behavior are heterogeneous.
From the perspective of researchers, this paper described and analyzed the general situation and main findings of the survey of the 2020 national survey of civic scientific literacy, interpreted the development of civic scientific literacy levels in different regions and groups in China, and analyzed and compared the survey data of citizens’ access to scientific and technological information and participation in science popularization activities, citizens’ attitudes towards science and technology. This paper offered a full picture of survey results, which could provide basic data and decision-making reference for the evaluation of scientific literacy of citizens in the 13th Five Year Plan period and the researches in related fields.
Both the new era of human development and China’s development have put forward new requirements for the civic scientific literacy, which endows the national scientific literacy action plan with a new mission. Based on an in-depth analysis of the important characteristics of the new era and the new requirements for the civic scientific literacy, this paper makes a systematic review of this concept from three aspects, including the content expansion, the structural adjustment, and the focus shift. The concept of the civic scientific literacy in the new era should be moderately expanded from “science” to “science and technology”. The literacy of science culture and innovative culture should be included in the concept dimensions of the civic scientific literacy. The focus of improving civic scientific literacy should be further shifted to the “ability” that reflects the characteristics and requirements of the new era. Further, this paper discusses new ideas and new measures for improving the assessment system and service system of civic scientific literacy, proposing that a new “benchmark system” should be established to meet the requirements of the new era. In addition, the continuous advancement of incentives and the corresponding evaluation methods should also be improved. More importantly, a multi-level and multi-type “target-path” linkage service system and action system should be established.
Through establishing the meaning and the structure of the scientific spirit, and analyzing its relationship with scientific literacy and scientific ability, the paper incorporates the concept of the scientific spirit into the structure of scientific literacy to provide a theoretical reference for the transformation and upgrading of the measurement of civic scientific literacy. The deconstruction of the concept of the scientific spirit has also been made, it facilitates its measurement, and enables the formation of a new measurement of civic scientific literacy.
Based on the survey of Chinese civic scientific literacy from 2001 to 2020, this paper described the characteristics and trend of Chinese citizens’ attitudes towards science and technology. At this stage, Chinese citizens are optimistic, positive and rational towards science and technology, and professions in science and technology is highly respected and expected. Combined with the international comparison of citizens’ attitudes towards science and technology, this paper discusses the new demands of civic scientific literacy construction in China in the next 15 years from the perspective of attitude.
The benchmark of civic scientific literacy embodies great influence for improving the quality of civic scientific literacy, guiding the development of popular science activities, and building an innovation-oriented country. Currently, American scientific literacy benchmark has been studied by many scholars, while the reference value of Japanese scientific literacy benchmark has been neglected. Wisdom of Science and Technology Comprehensive Report is taken as the research object in this paper. It mainly using text analysis and inductive research methods. The results show that the Japanese civic scientific literacy benchmark includes such excellent ideas as integrating into the national cultural tradition, integrating knowledge across fields, and paying attention to the long-term implementation of the benchmark. Finally, it gives some advice on the construction of Chinese civic scientific literacy.
Plant blindness refers to the inability to see or notice plants in one’s environment, and inability to recognize the importance of plants to the whole biosphere and to human affairs. Plant blindness has become an obstacle of public understanding of plant-based science and engagement in biodiversity conservation. This article reviews the relevant literature regarding plant blindness to explore why this phenomenon occurs and how we can overcome it. It finds that plant blindness is shaped by physiological, educational and cultural features of human being, and the result of the loss of traditional culture as well. It is proved that promoting public’s involvement in building community gardens, innovating plant-based science pedagogy, implementing new techniques in communicating plants, and keeping plants as foreground in urban design are effective approaches to solve the issues caused by the plant blindness. In order to further enhance the plant-based science communication in China, we argue that more empirical studies on plant blindness are needed. Moreover, we should pay attention to the positive role of Chinese traditional culture in public’s understanding of plants, the role that botanical gardens played in science communication. Last but not least, plant blindness could be addressed by the increasing nature education trend, which needs more support from the government.
Based on the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of Social Identity, this study explores the main factors affecting the willingness of community residents to participate in community science popularization activities. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 500 Shenzhen residents. This study established a model of influencing factors on residents’ willingness to participate in community science popularization activities, and carried out statistical tests on the hypothesis model. The results of the study found that the perceived value of scientific knowledge, the perceived functional and entertaining value of community science popularization activities, social norms and community identity can positively and significantly predict residents’ behavioral intentions for participating in community science popularization activities. This research injects new empirical materials into the science communication research in Chinese cities, and also provides practical suggestions for science popularization in urban communities.
By phenomenography, three aspects of high school students’ understanding of scientists are obtained without presupposition, namely, their specific understanding of scientists themselves, their abstract understanding of the scientific spirit behind scientists and their understanding of scientists’ relationship with the country, society and human beings at the macro level. These three aspects can be divided into five levels: the appearance of scientists, the personal quality and ability of scientists, the work of scientists, the scientific spirit and the relationship between scientists and their country, society and human beings. Finally, this paper discussed the characteristics of the results, the similarities and differences between the results and the existing studies, the rationality and limitations of the results.