Scientific literacy, public perception of science and the role of educational and science divulgation activities

• Grant number: 19/27033-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2021
• End date: October 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Roberto Plaza Teixeira
• Grantee: Rodrigo de Siqueira Bicudo
• Host Institution: Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de São Paulo (IFSP). Campus Caraguatatuba. Caraguatatuba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims to investigate the public perception of the science of young students through research instruments that will be applied after science education and dissemination activities about the way science works and produces knowledge. Didactic methodologies and communication tools will be analyzed to enable students to better understand the methods that science uses to understand and explain reality. In this way, actions that can bring the public closer to the science produced in academic circles will be elaborated and analyzed, with a view about the dissemination of science denial movements, pseudo-scientific fallacies, and fake news. Topics associated with current scientific knowledge, such as, for example, global warming, the effectiveness of vaccines, and the shape of the Earth will be addressed. It will be evaluated how videos, news, and articles, particularly on the internet, are associated with the dynamics of movements against science and public perception about the work done by scientists. The analysis of historical examples of anti-science movements and their consequences in social terms will be addressed in these presentations. Didactic scripts will also be developed that can be used to help students to identify pseudoscientific statements, fake news, statements without experimental evidence, and reasoning without logical consistency. (AU)