Suchergebnisse

One of the major challenges in contemporary science is to develop new and innovative ways to engage society in science and scientific topics. One attempt to create new ways of communicating with the public has been the use of the artistic languages to explore scientific subjects. Theatre, in particular, allows the exploration of emotions, and to raise awareness of ethical and social questions. This art of expression can therefore have the power to engage people in specific subjects, the science-related included. Here, we present a creative project that articulates science and theatre in order to bridge the communication gap between researchers and the public(s). The European Researchers' Night (ERN) is an 'edutainment' initiative—education plus entertainment—of the European Union that allows people to be closer to researchers and their world. The theatre company Marionet, together with researchers from the University of Coimbra, took the challenge of creating and performing a theatre play that would be part of the Researchers' Night events. From 2009 onwards, five plays were devised and staged with the active involvement of 38 researchers, as actors, authors or sources of inspiration. In this study, we explored the involvement of the researchers in the artistic process, their motivations, limitations and professional and personal outcomes, as well as the feedback from the public regarding the potential of theatre plays to bring to light the scientific world singularities, and to disseminate scientific ideas.

Blue and green ecosystems are considered a key for the improvement of cities sustainability, providing numerous ecosystem services and habitat for many species. However, urban streams are still neglected and degraded, specially in southern European countries. One important step towards the rehabilitation of these ecosystems is the awareness of their importance by citizens. This study aimed to assess the effect of 1-year of activities (field and laboratory) of an environmental education project on primary school children, in improving their knowledge on urban stream ecosystems and their problems. We analyzed students' questionnaires before and after field and laboratory activities, drawings and group interviews. Initially, most children had incipient contact with rivers and streams, showing fears and lack of knowledge about them. As the project progressed, their perceptions changed, with a clear increase in the proportion of students recognizing the biodiversity associated to rivers (e.g., names of riparian trees, aquatic plants and invertebrates). Also, their fears decreased significantly, while their awareness to the impacts of artificialization and lack of riparian vegetation increased. Our results show that direct contact with nature have a positive role in the way it is understood by children, as well as promoting responsible and sustainable behaviors, being effective from the early primary-school years. ; Funding: SRQS was financed by a post-doc grant in the Project "PHARA-ON: Pilots for Healthy and Active Ageing" funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (H2020-SC1-FA-DTS-2018-2); ARC by a posdoc grant of project RIVEAL - RIparian forest Values and Ecosystem services in uncertain freshwater futures and Altered Landscapes (LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-029790; FCT). MJF by FCT through Norma Transitória do DL 57/2016 changed by law 57/2017). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.