Meetings description and evaluation scores

WG1 “Assessment”

In Porto we will:

1. Present the first results from our ongoing pilot study on understanding and acceptance of evolution in first-year university students.
2. Adjust the used questionnaire and the procedures for conducting the survey, based on the results from the pilot study.
3. Start redesigning/ adjusting the used questionnaire and/or developing/selecting additional questionnaires for examining understanding and acceptance and related factors across several other education levels (elementary and secondary education).

Applications for this WG meeting will be evaluated based on the following evaluation criteria

WG2 “Formal Education”

This WG meeting is dedicated to:

• discuss the criteria and analyse countries’ primary and secondary education official curricula and programs;
• start developing evaluation instruments and methodologies to measure teachers’ content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) about evolution education.

We are going to prioritise applicants that:

• Understand which are the official documents guiding primary and secondary education in their countries;
• Have access to these documents and can bring them for the meeting and/or provide the links;
• Are motivated to analyse these curricula and to contribute with suggestions to change those or to explore contents under an evolutionary perspective;
• Are motivated to develop and apply evaluation instruments to measure teachers’ CK and PCK about evolution education.

Applications for this WG meeting will be evaluated based on the following  evaluation criteria

Read more about our WG here.

WG3 “Informal education”

We will meet in Porto to discuss the following:

1. The establishment of  a work-plan outlining how to identify science exhibitions, exhibits and activities that present evolution-related topics and retrieve any available assessment data on their impact.
2. A scope of a workshop focusing on best practices/guidelines for creating/restructuring museum exhibitions, exhibits and educational programmes on evolution. This would involve choosing potential venues, speakers, case studies.
3. Initial ideas for a workshop that will explore assessment strategies to evaluate evolution exhibits (in collaboration with WG1) .
4. Plans for STSMs that will focus on effective links and activities that could reinforce learning both in- and outside of the classroom. This will involve choosing key topics that STSMs would focus on and what the outcomes would be.

Applications for this WG meeting will be evaluated based on the following evaluation criteria

Read more about our WG here.

WG4 “Media”

Authenticating and communicating science to the general public in accessible formats is an aim at the core of WG4. What scientific society lacks nowadays is its tighter integration with the media and entertainment industry – two major channels through which the general public receives scientific information. Difficult scientific concepts, with biological evolution as one of the most difficult ones, suffer considerably from this lack of integration. Scientific messages related to evolution presented in the media, movies and pop-culture outputs are notoriously incorrect, vague or even anti-scientific. WG4 aims at filling this gap nad finding more efficient ways through which media can collaborate with scientists to create better outputs.

During the meeting we will:

1. Form a core of our working group to give its activity impetus and devoted contributors;
2. Discuss the goals for the following Grant Period and more generally for the whole Action;
3. Create a draft of a scientists-journalists workshop aimed at facilitating the exchange of information between these two stakeholder groups;
4. Initiate a wider cooperation of media/entertainment people with scientists, extending beyond the time horizon of the Action.

Taken our goals, the application process will prioritize people with prior experience in communicating science, cooperating with media/entertainment industry, and interested in evolutionary biology and/or scientific literacy in general. The following scores reflect this by emphasizing the quality of the applicant’s CV and the alignment of hers/his contribution with the WG4 goals.

Accordingly, the following scores will be given to the following evaluation criteria:

Read more about our WG here.

WG5 “Scientists”

Scientists have a crucial role to play in engaging the public and, although most of them acknowledge the importance of developing strong ties to society, only very few are truly involved in scientific outreach and this culture of engagement varies greatly from country to country. This working group aims to provide a sound understanding of current practices involving researchers’ engagement in scientific outreach, to increase awareness about the benefits for both researchers and the general public from their interactions, and to promote efficient interactions.

More precisely at this meeting, we intend to:

1) Consolidate the WG objectives and plan the activities for the next four years (including Identification of relevant STSMs and planning for relevant Training Schools)

2) Set up sub working groups based on the different objectives and activities

3) Identify and plan collaboration with other working groups

4) Deliver an assessment kit for outreach activities in Evolution to be used by researchers engaging in these activities

Applications for this WG meeting will be evaluated based on the following evaluation criteria:

Read more about our WG here.