Effects of Astrobiology Lectures on Knowledge and Attitudes about Science in Incarcerated Populations.

The incarcerated population has little or no access to science education programs, STEM resources, or scientists. We explored the effects of a low-cost, potentially high-impact informal science education program that enabled NASA scientists to provide astrobiology lectures to adults inside 16 correctional institutions in three states. Post- versus pre-lecture surveys suggest that presentations significantly increased science content knowledge, positively shifted attitudes about science and scientists, increased a sense of science self-identity, and enhanced behavioral intentions about communicating science. These were significant across ethnicity, gender, education level, and institution type, size, location, and state. Men scored higher than women on pre-lecture survey questions. Among men, participants with greater levels of education and White non-Hispanics scored higher than those with less educational attainment and African American and other minority participants. Increases in science content knowledge were greater for women than men and, among men, for those with lower levels of education and African American participants. Women increased more in science identity than did men. Thus, even limited exposure to voluntary, non-credit science lectures delivered by scientists can be an effective way to broker a relationship to science for this underserved public group and can potentially serve as a step to broaden participation in science.

How repeated exposure to informal science education affects content knowledge of and perspectives on science among incarcerated adults.

Over two million men, women, and youth are incarcerated in the United States. This large and ethnically diverse population has, in general, more limited exposure to education, particularly in scientific fields, than the general public. Formal educational programs for the incarcerated can be expensive and logistically difficult to initiate and maintain, but informal science education (ISE) approaches have the potential to significantly improve inmates' view of science and of themselves as science learners. However, "dosage effects"-how repeated exposure to educational experiences may affect listeners-are poorly documented. In this study, we evaluated the longitudinal effects of an ISE program in Utah, which provided a monthly lecture series delivered by academic scientists on a range of science topics. Science content knowledge, self-perception as a science learner, interest in science, and a desire to seek out more scientific information all significantly improved for inmates attending lectures. We also found that seeing a greater number of lectures is positively associated with a desire to seek out additional information. We documented an inverse relationship between education background and the increase in a desire to learn more, suggesting that those with more limited exposure to science manifest the greatest increase in seeking out more information. These results suggest that ISE for the incarcerated significantly improves their knowledge of, and relationship with, science; that some of these effects carry over across months or years; and that ISE programs can have the largest impact by focusing on those with more limited prior exposure to science.