Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

Through a series of lectures and workshops, this module will provide learners with an insight into why the public understanding of science is important. It will address the current policies, activities and obstacles associated with producing a scientifically educated public. Using key scientific developments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as examples, there will be an examination of the way science has been presented in the public arena, and how this has changed.

This module will cover the following topics:

- Why promote the public understanding of science? Exemplified by current issues

- The historical perspective: popularizing science in the nineteenth century

- Key scientific developments in the twentieth century, for example Flemming and penicillin, Watson and Crick and
DNA, Hawking and the origin of the universe

- Perception of scientists by the public

- Arts vs Science - separation of the two cultures ( C P Snow)

- Informal science education, a historical perspective

- The impact of science on technology: the industrial revolution; the computer revolution; biotechnology

- Key issues in biotechnology: the status of the science in the public sphere and problems encountered

- The ethical challenges of emerging research in science

- How science is presented to the public today and its role in the political processes both at local and national levels

- Dilemmas and the way ahead

- UK policy and PUOS initiatives.