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Dana Zeidler
The Evolution of Epistemic Insight and Socioscientific Issues in Science Education: A Scientific Literacy Perspective
Dana L. Zeidler, Ph.D. Distinguished University Professor in Science Education at the University of South Florida’s College of Education with strong research focus on socioscientific issues and its role in science education.
Abstract:
The Socioscientific Issues (SSI) Framework has evolved over several decades having conceptual, theoretical and pedagogical impact in the field of science education, and related fields of science proper. This presentation is centered on the facilitation of epistemic insight through a moral inquiry of scientific problems embedded in the social and cultural fabric of our world. The aim is to present key seminal underpinnings of SSI, its genesis, empirical impact on research and practice, and facilitate discussion on how the SSI framework has been framed around past, present, and future trends that have impact and continue to advance scientific literacy.
Tania Jenkins
Workshop: (Co)-designing evolutionary research, education and outreach for societal impact
Short bio
Tania is a science communicator and citizen science project designer based in Switzerland. She recently founded Cosie, which stands for co-creating science, impacting engagement. After her PhD in evolutionary ecology and two postdocs, since 2016 she has worked in science communication and citizen science. As a former evolutionary biology researcher, she strongly believes in researchers as communicators and in designing research for societal impact: she has made it her mission to support research for societal impact.
She is also one of the founders of EvoKE and serves on its Board and between 2018-2023 was Chair of the Euroscitizen COST Action to promote the public understanding of evolution in Europe. She currently coordinates SchoolFan, an Erasmus+ citizen science project to empower students to identify fake news related to climate change and CS-Connected: which aims to strengthen Citizen Science in Switzerland.
Rita Ponce
Workshop: Creating written content — crafting evolution stories and getting your message across
She is a science communicator with a research background in evolutionary biology. Currently, she is an Invited Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal and NOVA University and a researcher at ICNova (Portugal). Her work focuses mainly on searching for strategies to communicate evolution and to debunk fake news about science.
She graduated in Biology from the University of Lisbon and this was followed by a path in evolutionary biology research: she was a visiting student at the University of Rochester NY (1997-1999) and a visiting scholar at Harvard University (1999-2003), where she developed the research for her Ph.D. Back in Portugal, she received a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Lisbon and was a postdoctoral fellow at cE3c.
In parallel with research, her interests in communicating science to wider audiences led her into participating and organizing science communication activities and obtaining a Masters in Science Communication (NOVA University, Lisbon). Soon enough she discovered that writing about science is as exciting as doing science. She wrote about science and environment for the Lisbon news outlet O Corvo and was an intern at the science section of the daily Público. Currently, she teaches university courses on science communication, participates in an European project on the prevalence of fake news about climate change, and she is a freelance science writer and fact checker.
Spyros Sfenthourakis
On apes and men, or, misconceptions, tactics, and truths in talking about evolution to the public
Spyros Sfenthourakis studied Biology at the University of Athens (Greece) and obtained his Ph.D. degree from the same institute in 1994. He subsequently worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Zoological Museum of the Univ. of Athens and the Museum of Natural History of Crete (Univ. of Crete). He worked as a Lecturer (2001) and Assistant Professor (2006) at the University of Patras (Greece), and joined UCY in 2012 as an Associate Professor and Professor (2018), where he established the Ecology and Biodiversity Lab (https://sfendour.wixsite.com/biodiversitylab). His research focuses on biodiversity and eco-evolutionary patterns, island biogeography, community ecology, isopod systematics and phylogeography, in addition to several other related fields. He has published >100 papers and has contributed >170 communications in scientific conferences. Dr Sfenthourakis has served as officer (President, Secretary, Board member) in several scientific societies, such as the International Biogeography Society, the European Ecological Federation, the Hellenic Zoological Society, and the Hellenic Ecological Society, and is a founder member and currently President of the Hellenic Evolutionary Society. He has a strong interest in science communication, with numerous public lectures and contributions via other media (podcasts, online courses, etc.), and has translated >20 popular science books and textbooks, especially on evolution and ecology. He has also published two popular science books of his own on evolution.
Maria João Fonseca
Evolution education in science centres and museums
Head of Communication of the Natural History and Science Museum of the University of Porto
Director of the Hall of Biodiversity – Ciência Viva Center
Short bio: With a background in animal biology and biology teaching and a PhD in science education and communication, Maria João is Head of Communication at the Natural History and Science Museum of the University of Porto and Director of the science center Hall of Biodiversity. She is in charge of general administration and of coordinating and promoting science communication and outreach activities. She has been involved in the design and evaluation of formal and informal educational activities, teacher training, and outreach initiatives for all sorts of audiences. Also, she is currently an Invited Professor at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto and Vice-President of the Ecsite network. She is fortunate to be part of the team responsible for the reconstruction of the Natural History and Science Museum of the University of Porto.
Among her interests are topics such as art and science in the promotion of scientific culture and wellbeing, science education in informal environments, especially museums and science centers, active learning methodologies and evaluation of the impact of educational experiences.
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