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Dr Eric Jensen
University of Warwick [email protected]
What every conservation educator should know about social science
International Zoo Educators Conference
My Background • Research specialism in Public Engagement with
Science and impact evaluation methodology. • Lecturing: Undergraduate and Postgraduate
Research Methods, Science Studies • Convening Master’s programme in ‘Science, Media
and Public Policy’ at the University of Warwick. • Evaluation and Research Consultancy: e.g.
Durrell, ZSL, Natural History Museum, University of Cambridge, science festivals, etc.
Overview Today I will discuss… • Memory (and Learning) • Science Studies
Research – The Deficit Model critique – Public Engagement
• Social change theory
Psychology: Metaphors of Memory
Memory as container
Memory as dead ancestors
Memory as writing on wax
Metaphors of memory
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Nonsense syllables
CAJ
YAN
RIS
VUD
MIP
BES
WEN
GEP
SIF
Recall
Method of Nonsense syllables 1. CAJ 2. YAN 3. RIS 4. VUD 5. MIP
6. BES 7. WEN 8. PUV 9. GEP 10. SIF
Serial Positioning Effect
Memory as writing on wax
Ebbinghaus on memory “These relations can be described figuratively by
speaking of the series as being more or less deeply engraved in some mental substratum. To carry out this figure: as the number of repetitions increases, the series are engraved more and more deeply and indelibly; if the number of repetitions is small, the inscription is but surface deep and only fleeting glimpses of the tracery can be caught....”
Cognitive psychology’s metaphor
Sir Frederic Bartlett
Remembering as extension of embodied skill
Method of repeated reproduction
• Subject reads a narrative • Subject then reproduces narrative after 15
minutes, a week, several months, etc. (exponential increase in time).
• Reproductions are analyzed for what is added, deleted and transformed at each successive reproduction.
War of the Ghosts One night two young men from Egulac
went down to the river to hunt seals, and while they were there it became foggy and calm. Then they heard war-cries, and they thought: "Maybe this is a war-party". They escaped to the shore, and hid behind a log. Now canoes came up, and they heard the noise of paddles, and saw one canoe coming up to them. There were five men in the canoe…
Reproduction 1
Two men from Edulac went fishing. While thus occupied by the river they heard a noise in the distance.
“It sounds like a cry”, said one, and presently there appeared some men in canoes…
Analysis of transformations
One night two men from Edulac went fishing. It became foggy and calm. While thus occupied by the river they heard a noise in the distance. They thought: “Maybe this is a war-party”. They escaped to the shore and hid behind a log.
“It sounds like a cry”, said one, and presently they heard the noise of paddles and there appeared some men in a canoes…
Analysis of transformations
One night two men from Edulac went fishing. It became foggy and calm. While thus occupied by the river they heard a noise in the distance. They thought: “Maybe this is a war-party”. They escaped to the shore and hid behind a log.
“It sounds like a cry”, said one, and presently they heard the noise of paddles and there appeared some men in a canoes…
Analysis of transformations
“Making the unfamiliar familiar” “Conventionalisation”
Bartlett’s constructive remembering
• Bartlett’s studies clearly show the constructive generalization of experience into familiar cultural forms.
• However, there is a problem: he does not answer how we “turn around on our schema and construct them afresh?”.
Remembering flow chart
Confabulation
Clear memory?
Uncontested? Start Next unit of story
YES
NO
War of the Ghosts • “Presently the young man heard one of the warriors say, ‘Quick, let us go home: that Indian has been hit.’ Now he thought: ‘Oh, they are ghosts.’”
Narrative mediation First reproduction • Joan: At some point he thinks they’re ghosts; he
decides their ghosts • Emily: Well, I think he might be a ghost Second reproduction • Joan: He realizes that they’re ghosts or he says they’re
ghosts • Emily: Well, I think that the point is that he is a ghost
Narrative mediation First reproduction • Joan: At some point he thinks they’re ghosts; he
decides their ghosts • Emily: Well, I think he might be a ghost
Second reproduction • Joan: He realizes that they’re ghosts or he says they’re
ghosts • Emily: Well, I think that the point is that he is a ghost
Hollywood movies as mediators
Learning at the zoo
Evalua&on Method
• Children drew different animals discussed in the ‘Desert & Rainforest’ Formal Learning session “where they live in the wild” before / aBer the session.
• Each pupil was asked to draw a picture of either a Meerkat and Sloth, or a Camel and Jaguar, in their habitat.
Results: 10-‐year-‐old boy, before educa&onal presenta&on at zoo
BEFORE
Results: 10-‐year-‐old boy, a@er educa&onal presenta&on at zoo
AFTER
Results: 10-‐year-‐old girl, before educa&onal presenta&on at zoo
BEFORE
Results: 10-‐year-‐old girl, a@er educa&onal presenta&on at zoo
AFTER
Symbol as mediator: 10-‐year-‐old girl, a@er educa&onal presenta&on at zoo
AFTER
Cultural Resources as Mediator of Knowledge:
10-‐year-‐old boy’s drawing before presentaNon • “saw it [a sloth] on the film Ice Age à next to caves, woods”
Primary School Results – Cultural Resources
• These children used Hollywood movies as symbolic resources to contextualise their understanding of the sloth and its habitat.
• Points to role of mass media in visitors’ knowledge and aXtudes towards animals and habitats.
Religion as a media&ng factor in conserva&on concern
• Several pupils from the parNcipaNng Catholic school evoked God to either explain their concern or non-‐concern for species exNncNon.
• One pupil wrote, “Yes, [species ex&nc&on] lessens biodiversity [and] harm[s] the beauty God has created”.
• In contrast, another pupil from the same school explains, “No [I am not personally concerned about species ex&nc&on]. God has a plan. If he didn’t want [species] to be ex&nct he would stop it.”
• What happens when material is repeatedly passed from one person to another?
• Bartlett used stories and images
BartleU on Conven&onaliza&on
Original 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Coping with Abstract Scien&fic Ideas
• If people are confronted with a concept or behaviour they do not understand, they will use metaphor and other convenNonalisaNon approaches to make it comprehensible.
Lev Vygotsky: Cultural resources and learning
Tools and symbols/signs
Mediated memory
Remember to Conserve!
Lev Vygotsky: Zone of Proximal Development
Unguided: Appreciation for biodiversity
Int What do you think about when you are walking around the zoo? […]
F9 Well, I just 'ind it fascinating with all the different, the different types of animals. There are different birds, like types of birds, there are like hundreds. And I wouldn’t have known about it.
Self-‐guided Zoo Visit
Limits of self-guided learning F12 I’ve never seen a turtle bigger than my hand before.
Int So, you were surprised at how big it was?
F12 Yes. And it was moving and it was massive! I thought it was a rock at Jirst, and then I realised.
Int So, why did it get so big, do you know?
F12 Because it’s greedy.
• Self-‐guided Zoo Visit; Female Pupils -‐ Age 13
• Bishops Challoner School, Tower Hamlets
What other tools could zoos provide visitors with to promote
conservation behavior?
to remembering is a construction site
From memory is a container
Conclusion on Psych. of Memory
An introduction to ‘Public
Engagement’ for conservation educators
What is Public Engagement?
Public Engagement can be: • Science Communication • Site-based (e.g. Zoo-based or Museum-based) • Education (e.g. scientists talking in schools) • Outreach • New Media (e.g. Dialogue on Twitter /
Facebook) • Festivals • Consultations • Debate and dialogue • Collaborative research (e.g. megalab)
Many different models User Panels
Participatory Appraisal
Neighbourhood Forums
Online forums
Democs™
Planning for Real™
Citizens’ juries
Citizens’ Summits
Deliberative Polling™ Local Involvement Networks
E-Petitions
Opinion Polls Citizens’ Panels
World Cafe Forum Theatre
Focus Groups
Future Search Open Space
Wikis
Participatory Budgeting
Lectures
Public talks
Public Engagement
The deficit model Assumes that the problem is a public
‘deficit’ of: i. understanding of scientific knowledge
ii. trust in science – more info, transparency, or explanation, will restore trust (via ‘understanding our motives’)
iii. understanding of scientific process – science cannot give certainty nor zero-risk (Bob May 2000)
Ø all suggest public responses are emotional, irrational and ‘without knowledge’
Ø Citizens seen as naïve and gullible to media misinformation
Ø Public should not question ‘our’ scientific-institutional culture
The deficit model
Ø suggests public responses are emotional, irrational and ‘without knowledge’
Ø Citizens seen as naïve and gullible to media misinformation
Ø Public should not question scientific-institutional culture or claims
Losing the deficit model
Ø Science studies research on numerous scientific topics, most notably genetically modified crops, has shown that the deficit model is false.
Ø More knowledge does not necessarily make publics agree with a scientific perspective.
Losing the deficit model
Ø Communication of discrete and de-contextualised ‘facts’ is not effective.
Ø ‘Facts’ approach can be counterproductive as it gives a false sense of the scientific process and does not acknowledge the probabilistic nature of scientific knowledge.
Ø Publics respond to narrative and context
Losing the public deficit model: Shifing from ‘Facts’ to ‘Process’
“Science education in schools focuses too much on facts, rather than process, leading to the misleading impression that science… deals in certainties rather than, as is more often the case, conclusions based on the balance of probabilities after evaluation of the available evidence”.
Robert May, FRS: UK Government chief-scientist: 11 July 2000, lecture Hannover Expo, Germany.
Beyond the ‘deficit model’ of publics Ø Yes, there is public ignorance of science Ø There is also scientific / institutional ignorance
Ø of science Ø of publics and their realities
Ø Public ignorance is NOT the cause of ‘public scepticism’ or public mistrust Ø It is not the case that to ‘know science / zoos is to
love them’
Beyond the ‘deficit model’ of publics – Science studies research has shown that public
views towards science and scientists are very positive.
– Scientists are consistently rated as one of the most trusted professions.
– However, mistrust and disenchantment with science (where it exists) tends to be associated with ‘Institutional arrogance’. • This includes a failure to listen and learn from
publics and a (false) pretence to having all of the answers.
- dialogue (lncluding listening to publics) - public engagement - participation (various methods) - inclusivity of knowledges - transparency and accountability
i.e. “scientific citizenship” For scientific institutions: Honest, transparent discussion of the risks, consequences, impacts, and ‘uncertainties’ in scientific knowledge
New ‘public engagement with science’ agenda
Arnstein’s Ladder (1969)
Involve
Consult
Collaborate
Empower
Inform
Engagement Aims
Empower
And another way of looking at it
Collaborate Involve Consult
Inform Number of people involved
Key points about doing public engagement
• Don’t engage unless you are prepared to listen.
• Understand your engagement participants. • Communicate clearly. • Listen.
Where to go for more information
• ISOTOPE www.isotope.open.ac.uk
• NCCPE www.publicengagement.ac.uk
Questions about Public Engagement?
An Inter-disciplinary Model of Social Change
• Integrating perspectives from Cultural Psychology and Sociology
• Drawing from cultural psychology: the concept of ‘social’ or ‘cultural representations’
• Drawing from sociology: ways of understanding role of institutions and practice
Premises • Social change is long-term, continuous
process. • Not all social change develops around
ideas / representations (e.g. can happen through coercion),
• But social change through transformation of ideas and their implementation is the focus of present model.
Aim of Model • Aim is to acknowledge that the content of
ideas matters, but… – Processes, practices, institutional and social
norms fundamentally re-shape ideas as they make their way through society.
• Aims to highlight unique intervention opportunities that are salient within each aspect of social change.
An inter-disciplinary model of social change: Four Aspects
Dialectic of adoption/rejection
• A developing change can gain adherents, undergo revision or reverse course completely within each aspect.
• Dialectic of adoption/rejection operates within each aspect of social change. – Key points for adoption / rejection include:
• Point at which professional fields of practice relevant to change and interested publics ignore, reject, revise and reject, partially adopt, revise and adopt or fully adopt a change.
– Key factor here is (1) fit with existing norms, (2) whether resources re-structured to support norm adoption.
Communication Processes • These processes involve intellectual, rhetorical
and discursive struggles over how something should be represented.
• Outcome from this aspect of social change = ideas that become ascendant.
• Mass media and other communication processes (e.g. art), power dynamics
and message framing play key role in this domain.
Communication Processes and Conservation Education
• Conservation education in zoos and elsewhere engages in intellectual, rhetorical and discursive struggles over how conservation and species loss should be represented and understood
• Conservation educators should:
• use every lever at their disposal to engage in this struggle (e.g. in zoo activities, mass media, etc.
• Develop the most effective framing and communication methods possible for the conservation message.
Implementation processes
• Here institutions and organizations are mobilized to create norms and practices that align with the ascendant transcendent representations.
• Key factors here include: Struggles over knowledge, resources and fit with existing norms.
• If a transcendent representation is successfully encoded into professional norms and
practices, then the putative social change gains momentum and strength.
Implementation processes and conservation education
• Zoos can influence the implementation of conservation norms by: – Ensuring all accredited zoos are using the
most sustainable products, energy use, etc. – Advocating such sustainable practices with
other organisations / businesses in the local area.
.
Public Engagement Processes • Here professional practices and ascendant
representations come into contact with the behaviours, norms and pre-existing ideas of affected publics.
• Conflict can arise in situations in which: • affected publics have different interests and habits
and the re-structuring of resources, OR • appeal of the idea is insufficient to garner support
amongst these publics.
Public Engagement Processes and conservation education
• This is where zoos currently focus most of their efforts on trying to influence the behaviours, norms and pre-existing ideas of visiting publics.
• Zoos can improve their efforts in this domain by: • Understanding their visiting public’s interests and
habits and developing conservation solutions that are realistic
• Improving the rhetorical appeal of conservation through careful empirical evaluation of different communication strategies, techniques and message framing.
Deliberative Processes • This can act as the initial phase of (re)new(ed) reform,
where practitioners, analysts, stakeholders, etc. recognize the contradictions inherent in an idea or practice. – They begin to articulate both how it is problematic and
alternative ideas that overcome its difficulties. • The cycle then returns to the communication aspect for
renewed debate, new ideas, re-framing, reconstruction or complete termination of a previously ascendant Idea or representation.
Deliberative Processes • Zoo educators can contribute in this domain by
highlighting challenges in getting publics to adopt conservation ideas or practices, and developing solutions / re-framing of ideas.
• Rather than waiting for others such as the UN or WWF to lead on this kind of discussion, zoo educators can draw upon their experience and evaluation with publics to contribute to debates about how conservation ideas should be conceived.
Meta-level factors operating across all aspects of social change
• Power • Language (Rhetoric / Metaphor) • Media (which both limit and spread ideas) • Visual representations • Identity
Opportunities for conservation educators to intervene at multiple levels
• Influencing ‘Adoption / Rejection’ Dialectic for new conservation norms. – i.e. can lay the groundwork for new norms that
emerge e.g. from government to be more readily accepted by publics.
• Influencing Language (Rhetoric / Metaphor)
Opportunities for conservation educators to intervene at multiple levels
• Influencing Visual Representations – What images do publics associate with
conservation? Zoos can help to make these images of animals in need of help, rather than e.g. government bureaucrats.
• Influencing Identities – I.e. helping publics to begin to see themselves
as the kind of person that engages in conservation activities.
