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Centre for the Public Awareness of Science · ANU College of Systems and Society
Social change – even when science and other evidence seem to clearly point the way – is complex, hard and messy. While experts present the ‘facts’ illuminating the optimal path forward, how people interpret, twist, use and misuse that evidence is as nuanced as society itself. Scientific and other evidence is viewed and often distorted through cultural, political, corporate and economic lenses, with different stakeholders using it – explicitly or covertly – to advance their own interests. These are sometimes at odds with the public good, but science communication can offer insight and action to address this. If you’ve ever lamented why we can’t ‘fix’ climate change despite overwhelming evidence telling us how to – or similar confounding issues – and want tools to deeply understand STEM issues and make a difference, then this is the course for you! We explore social change and societal transitions through three key foci: the evidence, stakeholders involved, and media and public discourse. These aspects provide means for analysing complex cases of social change and better charting effective, inclusive solutions – an area where science communication can help. Learning experiences will help you deeply engage with science and technology related social change issues, broaden your insights through understanding others' perspectives, and generate solutions. We’ll cover fundamental theory and social change models for STEM-related issues, then extend into diverse case studies across nature and sustainability, climate and energy transitions, and society, equity and justice. Students will hear from domain experts – astronomy, sustainability, health, law, electric skateboarding and many more (note guest content varies year to year) – and engage in dynamic, conversational lectures.
Major Group Project Part A — individual progress report
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 5
Major Group Project Part B — major group project report
Learning outcomes 3, 4, 5
In-class activity 1
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
In-class activity 2
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester including: - Face-to face component which may consist of 2 x 1 hour lectures and 1 x 1 hour tutorial each week. - Approximately 94 hours of self-directed study which will include preparation for lectures, tutorials, and assessment tasks. Work Integrated Learning Projects Students may engage with WIL partners (internal/external) as an element of the major group work assignment. This is not required and will be dictated by the topic a student group chooses to work on and the approach they take
N/A Preliminary Reading Throughout the course students will be directed to current web-based source material from the scholarly and grey literature as pertinent to each week.