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Mapping mental models of science communication: How academics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland understand and practice science communication

The mental models that individual scholars have of science communication – how it works, what it is supposed to achieve and so on – shape the way these academics actually communicate to the public. But these mental models, and their prevalence among scholars, have rarely been analysed. Drawing on a...

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Autores principales: Kessler, Sabrina Heike, Schäfer, Mike S., Johann, David, Rauhut, Heiko
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9344493/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35014586
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09636625211065743
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author Kessler, Sabrina Heike
Schäfer, Mike S.
Johann, David
Rauhut, Heiko
author_facet Kessler, Sabrina Heike
Schäfer, Mike S.
Johann, David
Rauhut, Heiko
author_sort Kessler, Sabrina Heike
collection PubMed
description The mental models that individual scholars have of science communication – how it works, what it is supposed to achieve and so on – shape the way these academics actually communicate to the public. But these mental models, and their prevalence among scholars, have rarely been analysed. Drawing on a large-scale, representative web survey of academics at universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (n = 15,778) from 2020, we identify three mental models that are prevalent among scholars, and that correspond to conceptual models found in science communication theory: ‘Public Understanding of Science’, ‘Public Engagement with Science’ and ‘Strategic Science Communication’. The results suggest that the ‘Strategic Science Communication’ model is particularly prevalent among academics in precarious employment and female scholars. Extrinsically motivated academics, that is, those under pressure to win grants, also seem to use science communication more strategically. The ‘Public Engagement’ model is prevalent among older and female scholars, while ‘Public Understanding’ is particularly prevalent among scholars who find their work especially meaningful. Findings also reveal that academics’ mental models largely align with the way they practice science communication.
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spelling pubmed-93444932022-08-03 Mapping mental models of science communication: How academics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland understand and practice science communication Kessler, Sabrina Heike Schäfer, Mike S. Johann, David Rauhut, Heiko Public Underst Sci Articles The mental models that individual scholars have of science communication – how it works, what it is supposed to achieve and so on – shape the way these academics actually communicate to the public. But these mental models, and their prevalence among scholars, have rarely been analysed. Drawing on a large-scale, representative web survey of academics at universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (n = 15,778) from 2020, we identify three mental models that are prevalent among scholars, and that correspond to conceptual models found in science communication theory: ‘Public Understanding of Science’, ‘Public Engagement with Science’ and ‘Strategic Science Communication’. The results suggest that the ‘Strategic Science Communication’ model is particularly prevalent among academics in precarious employment and female scholars. Extrinsically motivated academics, that is, those under pressure to win grants, also seem to use science communication more strategically. The ‘Public Engagement’ model is prevalent among older and female scholars, while ‘Public Understanding’ is particularly prevalent among scholars who find their work especially meaningful. Findings also reveal that academics’ mental models largely align with the way they practice science communication. SAGE Publications 2022-01-11 2022-08 /pmc/articles/PMC9344493/ /pubmed/35014586 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09636625211065743 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Articles
Kessler, Sabrina Heike
Schäfer, Mike S.
Johann, David
Rauhut, Heiko
Mapping mental models of science communication: How academics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland understand and practice science communication
title Mapping mental models of science communication: How academics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland understand and practice science communication
title_full Mapping mental models of science communication: How academics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland understand and practice science communication
title_fullStr Mapping mental models of science communication: How academics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland understand and practice science communication
title_full_unstemmed Mapping mental models of science communication: How academics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland understand and practice science communication
title_short Mapping mental models of science communication: How academics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland understand and practice science communication
title_sort mapping mental models of science communication: how academics in germany, austria and switzerland understand and practice science communication
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9344493/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35014586
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09636625211065743
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