Page 34 - Standard Indicators for the social appropriation of science

Virtual Science Camps took place during VSC activities, the perceptions regarding
the summer – at the end of the first wave of vaccines remained substantially stable with a
Coronavirus pandemic – and after the “second slight shift in positive.
wave” when the discussions about possible
vaccines against SarS-CoV-2 were beginning. The high level of trust in science, and the
This fact has largely influenced the discussion agreement on official scientific positions also
and it is possible that it has influenced the has repercussions on the level of beliefs and
participants perception. the participants show high levels of certainty
and accord to science statements. The level of
However, the participants were strong belief, after the SC activities, were strengthened
supporters of scientific theories and the in all countries, except in Italy and Spain where
benefits of vaccinations and, again, after the it remained stable.

Summary

In summary, an influence of the Science Camps on the students’ knowledge and attitudes
is noticeable. For the most part, the participants develop into a positive direction in all four
categories. However, it should be noted that in most cases a positive attitude towards
science already existed before the Science Camps. Thus, most responses across all
categories are already in the “Moderate” to “Very High” range even before participating
in a Science Camp (see Figure 1-4). However, the fact that students have a positive
attitude towards science given their current situation within life was to be expected, and
it is encouraging that there has been a further increase beyond this.

However, the visualisations of the variation per topic also show that the effects are
strongly dependent on the individual implementation of the science camps (see Figure
5-8) as well as the given topic. A stronger impact of the respective realisation of the
Science Camps seems to be particularly visible for the topics GMOs and CAM. Here,
there is comparatively more decrease after participation. In contrast, the changes in
the topics of climate change and vaccination, which are particularly present worldwide,
seem to be less noticeable. Nevertheless, the success of the events and the impact
on the questionnaire strongly depends on many different factors, which can result from
both a cultural and social context. For advice on how to successfully implement Science
Camps or other formats with which the tool is applicable, see Annex 3.

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