Part of the doctoral thesis of UM’s Science Engagement Senior Executive, Ms Danielle Martine Farrugia, has just been published in the latest special issue of the Malta Review of Educational Research (MRER) journal which is dedicated to emergent scholars of Education.
Her research discusses citizen participation in informal science activities in Malta – via the gathering of Maltese residents’ attitudes and perceptions of science.
Through a quantitative study, three factors emerged that affect Maltese residents’ science capital: whether they attend science activities, which entities they visit, and their relationship with institutions that conduct Public Engagement with Science (PES).
Some interesting findings from the study:
- The majority of the respondents expressed their interest in science (80.2%), with only a small sample of 69 respondents (12.0%) stating that they are not interested in science
- Those respondents with a secondary level of education are the group with the least percentage (41.7%) with respect to interest in science, but then the percentage is significantly higher for diploma (84.7%), undergraduate (84.1%) and post-graduate (91.8%)
- While most of the feelings associated with science were positive, some respondents also used words such as difficult and breakdown.
- The word that appeared most frequently across all four themes was experiments, followed by discovery and laboratory.
- The Internet is significantly more popular as a learning tool than TV and science events, which in turn are significantly more popular than newspapers, radio, podcasts, and blogs.
- The majority of the respondents never attended science activities (51.9%), while 262 respondents (45.8%) reported that they attended such events.
- The 18–24 age group had the highest attendance rate (65.2%), followed by the 25–34 age group (50.8%). The older age groups had lower attendance rates, with the 55–64 group at 29.4% and the 65+ group at 32.7%
While science capital is a helpful tool for science educators to empower citizens and students, its potential is only beginning to be realised. Examining power dynamics between science entities and PES in society is essential, the study concluded.
Ms Farrugia, who has recently also won a National STEM Award for her endeavours, extended her gratitude to her mentors and co-authors, Prof. Paul Pace and Dr Edward Duca.