Fostering Conversation about Synthetic Biology Between Publics and Scientists: A Comparison of Approaches and Outcomes.

Public engagement with science (PES) is an emerging outreach method that builds trust between scientists and public audiences by encouraging two-way conversations and mutual learning about science content and societal values. Building with Biology, a PES initiative focused on synthetic biology, distributed 182 kits with two types of products to informal science education institutions across the United States: 1) hands-on activities for public events, and 2) materials to run public dialogue programs, called forums. This article compares the interest levels, perceived value, and learning of public participants at these events and forums. Forum participants reported slightly higher levels of increased interest in future activities related to PES and synthetic biology; valued aspects of interpersonal interactions central to dialogue-based programming; and described learning about societal decision-making around synthetic biology. Event participants valued enjoyment and access to content and reported slightly larger learning gains. The current study may help program coordinators and educators thoughtfully select a PES product type that promotes outcomes aligned with their goals: events featuring hands-on activities may support greater understanding of scientific relevance, and forum programs might encourage learning and behavior that leads to deliberative processes.

Promoting evaluation capacity building in a complex adaptive system.

This study provides results from an NSF funded, four year, case study about evaluation capacity building in a complex adaptive system, the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net). The results of the Complex Adaptive Systems as a Model for Network Evaluations (CASNET) project indicate that complex adaptive system concepts help to explain evaluation capacity building in a network. The NISE Network was found to be a complex learning system that was supportive of evaluation capacity building through feedback loops that provided for information sharing and interaction. Participants in the system had different levels of and sources of evaluation knowledge. To be successful at building capacity, the system needed to have a balance between both centralized and decentralized control, coherence, redundancy, and diversity. Embeddedness of individuals within the system also provided support and moved the capacity of the system forward. Finally, success depended on attention being paid to the control of resources. Implications of these findings are discussed.