As the largest conference in the field of science communication, the 15th annual conference of Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) was held in Dunedin, New Zealand during April 3-6, 2018. The conference gathered global researchers and practitioners from the field of science communication, even scientists to discuss topics with wide concern, some of which are new emerging topics. Hence, it represented research trend of science communication. The title of the conference, entitled “Science, Stories and Society takes us to the core of the worldwide science communication endeavor”, is composed of 3 sub-thesis. The conference collected 344 proposals from 44 countries, including 12 proposals from research institutions or universities in China. Among them, authors of 6 proposals from China participated in report and discussion in the conference. In order to keep abreast of new trend of science communication at home and abroad, the paper analyzed proposal distribution of different sub-topics, most popular sub-thesis, and the topic and content of Chinese proposals.

Science competition is an important part of science education. This paper followed up 70 finalists of International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) from 2003—2013. The research team sent questionnaires to the targeted students through e-mails with 70 valid questionnaires obtained finally, the purpose of such move was designed to address the following issues: obtain the information of their future learning and work, and the major which they want to learn during different periods, etc. The results show that most of finalists are male, more projects belong to engineering subjects, computer science subjects and environments subjects, finalists show high enthusiasm in the learning, and 85% of finalists select STEM field as their major, and high school is the best period to encourage students to pursue science as their major. Finally, the paper puts forward some suggestions for cultivating young scientists.

Low-carbon popular science education serves as an important way to build a low-carbon and sustainable society engaged by the public. The paper explores the current situation, the daily low-carbon behaviors and the expectations about the low-carbon popular science education of primary and middle school students in counties of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The results found in the paper reveal that: Firstly, due to a lack of the low-carbon popular science education in counties, the students rarely take part in the low-carbon popular science education. The students in primary and middle schools don't understand most of the low-carbon vocabulary. The low-carbon popular science education is mostly carried out in schools and networks. The most popular ways of the low-carbon popular science education are teachers' lecturing and reference books reading, while the least popular way is visiting the low-carbon popular science education venues. The most impeding factors for low-carbon popular science education are that there no activities about popular science and that the students are burdened with busy and heavy study tasks and homework. Secondly, the judgment of the low-carbon behaviors of primary school students is not high. The low-carbon behavior of junior high school students is better than that of the primary school students. The low-carbon behavior of high school students is the best among them. Thirdly, the students in primary and middle schools expect that low-carbon popular science education should be conducted more frequently. The most expected ways are the popular science games and the visits to the popular science venues. The countermeasures and suggestions of low-carbon popular science education in counties have been proposed in the last part, which provides the empirical evidence and reference to the low-carbon popular science education conducted in the counties.

Biographies of scientists of modern China are encountering multiple dilemmas largely due to the conflicts between realities and dramas of biographical literature, the differences between natural science and humanities and social science, and the checks and balances of scientific popularization, historical research, ideological propaganda and the like. This paper analyzes the afore-mentioned multiple dilemmas. Biographies of scientists of modern China can combine science with drama, history and literature only when scientists and biography authors have good cooperation. Researchers of history of science and technology bear important responsibility in this process. Moreover, the development and improvement of biographies of scientists of modern China hinges on the enhancement of scientific literacy of all citizens in China.

Science popularization industry is a collection of all kinds of operating entities, which provides resources, products and services for the science popularization system. This study analyzes the dominant formats related to science and technology communication abroad. Based on statistical data and a survey by the research team, this paper gives a brief overview of the new development trend of the science popularization industry in China, and summarizes the problems in China's policy, institutional mechanism and market demand during the development of science popularization industry, and puts forward suggestions for the further development of China's science popularization industry.

The construction of a scientific educational material platform based on the digital interactive service model mainly solves two problems in science education: one is to solve the problem of quantity and quality of teaching materials; the other is to construct the cognitive-involvement-inquiry learning process of scientific knowledge and help learners gain “meta-cognitive abilities” for the ontology of science education. The design of this platform adopts the form of new media, based on internet thinking, cloud storage, big data technology, and integrated terminal equipment applications, with a view to establishing a nationwide non-differentiated teaching material platform. The science education teaching material is essentially digitally oriented. Therefore, this paper designs the function and application model of the platform based on the digital interactive service model and constructivism learning theory. The platform design includes two paths and six modules. The two paths are “content chain” and “information transmission chain”; the six modules are: collection of teaching materials, content planning of teaching materials, brand packaging of teaching materials, platform software development, cloud storage services, and terminal equipment integration. The application of the platform, the use of digital technology, co-construction and sharing of ideas, across the time and space constraints, scientific education for science education, art, visualization of digital teaching materials, stimulate students' thirst for knowledge, enhance the expressiveness of knowledge, and improve the overall effect of science education.

With the rapid development of science and technology, the characteristics of science as a kind of culture has become increasingly evident. In order to investigate Chinese rural residents' attitude towards science, the research team conducted a survey through questionnaires in Xiachen village of Taizhou in Zhejiang Province, for which a series of face to face interviews were also carried out. The findings of the study are unfolded as follows: 1. almost all the respondents view science and scientist in a positive manner, 2. most of the residents, especially the aged, are willing to participate in the community activities, 3. superstition still has some influence on the public's attitude towards science in the rural areas. The paper puts forward some suggestions on science communication in Chinese rural areas based on the afore-mentioned conclusions and interviews.

This research analyzes the shortage of talents and irrational structure in the construction of science popularization talents in China, with considering the influencing factors and functions from the perspective of organizational attractiveness. Through an empirical study, it is found that both instrumental attributes and symbolic attributes have significant and positive influence on potential talents' perception of the attractiveness of science organization, where the symbolic attributes effect is greater than the instrumental attributes. Promotion, competence and prestige are all relating to the attractiveness of science popularization organization. Gender has a significant impact on the relationship between the characteristics of science popularization and organizational attractiveness. In addition, the potential talents are less prone to the perception of science popularization work and organizational attraction, consequently, some measures should be taken to improve the attraction of the talents for science popularization organization.

There are few researches on disaster education courses. Disaster education textbooks, if not aligning with scientific basis, may cause another disaster when it comes to the compilation of some textbooks. In light of this, the research focuses on education courses. Curriculum development research is principally conducted through international comparison, survey research and case retrieval on teachers. Concerning the construction of curriculum objective, it can be achieved by an analysis of the subject development, the curriculum design method, and developing the disaster education curriculum.

Public acceptability has become one of the most important restrictive factors in the development of nuclear industry. The nuclear exhibition hall, to which much attention has been paid by the relevant government departments and enterprises, is an important place for public science communication and exchange. Combined with literature research and expert recommendations, Shandong Nuclear Power Science and Technology Museum and other domestic representatives of the nuclear exhibition halls had been chosen to visit, and it was found that since 2000, nuclear exhibition halls, constructed by nuclear-related enterprises in China, have become significantly more spacious and magnificent, more geographically near the city, and diversified in the layout, and applied acousto-optic and other modern means more often. However, the model of nuclear reactor was the standard configuration, flat panels were still quite common, and display content was basically the same. Japan, close to China in geographical location and culture, is one of the countries with the largest number of nuclear power in the world, so its nuclear exhibition halls have great reference for us to learn. Through literature research, it was found that the Exhibition halls in Japan had changed significantly in the late 1980s in the exhibition building itself, the surrounding environment, entertainment facilities, high-tech display means and so on. A comparative analysis of nuclear exhibition halls between China and Japan showed that visitor's reception volume of nuclear exhibition halls in China was much smaller, with insufficient supporting services, obviously emphasis on knowledge dissemination and imperfect organizations. Therefore, it is recommended that China should strengthen the top guidance to exhibition halls construction, change development concept, innovate expression methods, streamline display content, and focus on improving operational capabilities. Finally, it is emphasized that the dissemination of nuclear science should strive to uphold the basic principles of objectivity and fairness, and inspire the public to think constantly and profoundly.