Martin,
I got back from holiday to find your very interesting email question about
alternatives to credit-bearing courses for promoting the public understanding
of science.  I am an ecologist and have been teaching natural history classes
for the last 15 years some of which developed into a certificate in Field
Biology and are now part of a part-time degree in Landscape Studies.  I am
very interested in issues around the public understanding of science
particularly with reference to nature consevation and ecological citizenship,
and regret the present almost complete emphasis on vertical progression.
Lifelong learning should be about horizontal progression too and I have found
long-running natural history classes ideal for developing fieldwork and
identification skills.  Next year I am hoping to use a work-shop format for
such classes.  The emphasis will be on assembling a portfolio of annotated
sketches and field records rather than written reports, and such a course
would be allowed continue with the same title and learning outcomes for more
than one year.  It is still of course an accredited course.  However, since
becoming a full-time lecturer 6 years ago I have had the advantage of
research time and have managed to combine my aspirations for public
understanding of science with my research interest in wildflower meadows.
This has resulted in a long-running meadow management experiment in a Local
Nature Reserve.  The experiment, which was designed and set up by my CE
students using a COPUS grant, forms a 'Living Exhibition' demonstrating the
effects of different management treatments on flower-rich grassland with
explanatory display boards on site.  CE students spend Thursdays in the
Summer Term collecting % cover data from a series of permanent quadrats in
the different treatment areas and a smaller group of students are involved in
the data analysis.  The science learning is at many levels from dog-walkers
and council officials (the site is owned and managed by the local district
council) to the core of CE students who have gained hands-on experience of
scientific investigation.  This sort of approach could be extended to other
areas of environmental or nature conservation research.

Margaret Pilkington
University of Sussex


-- Begin original message --

> From:         Martin Counihan <[log in to unmask]>
> Date:         Thu, 25 Jul 2002 09:45:39 +0100
> Subject: Sci-3L
> To:           [log in to unmask]
> Reply-To:     Science and Lifelong Learning <[log in to unmask]>
>
> To:  Sci-3L group
>
> I haven't received any messages from this list for a long time, so I hope
> it is not moribund. I would like to ask a rather open-ended question about
> public outreach by methods other than credit-bearing courses.
>
> Those of you who have been in this business for some time will know that,
> until the early 1990's, university-provided lifelong learning in science
> (as in other subjects) took the form predominantly of non-credit-bearing
> short courses, but over recent years this kind of provision has almost
> disappeared from universities and has been replaced by credit-bearing
> courses leading, usually, to academic awards.  However, in many respects
> the "accreditation" process has been less than successful, and many babies
> have been thrown out with their bathwater.  In many universities, and
> certainly at Southampton, things have now reached a point where it is no
> longer realistic to regard credit-bearing courses as a suitable medium for
> wide public outreach and true lifelong learning in science.  Also, I am
> well aware that the broader science communication community does not
> perceive credit-bearing university courses as playing a significant part in
> public engagement with science and technology.   (By the way, are you aware
> of this: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/enscot/conf.htm ?)
>
> That being so, I am wondering if any members of this list have and
> suggestions to make about new approaches to our task.  Have you been
> developing new kinds of work which do NOT assume that members of the public
> will want to attend formal courses?  If so, please mention them.
>
> Martin Counihan
> University of Southampton
>

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