Outreach Research
The demands our society makes on universities have evolved: The so-called “third mission” of universities is to contribute to society, e.g. by promoting “practices and experiences” to their employees and students that “tend towards the sharing and co-production of socially and culturally relevant knowledge”. This task has become more challenging with growing diversification of society. Activities in which scientists translate their research or broader scientific concepts to those outside of academia are summarized as ‘science outreach’. Several studies show a lack of training in communication skills throughout university education. Consequently, to enrich scientific excellence with the ability to communicate it to diverse audiences, a state-of-the-art IRTG needs to equip its graduate students with appropriate competencies. Topics that can be relevant for children and young adults could, for example, include application-oriented inventions for N2 activation , for pharmaceuticals or functional materials for use in batteries or conducting materials. To engage in this process, doctoral students need to be willing to invest time and effort, which will be compensated for in a suitable form. For that, an appropriate Ed-ScOut-related academic self-concept, self-efficacy expectations and beliefs are needed. Furthermore, students must acquire specific Ed-ScOut-related competencies. Few examples of courses for science outreach training have been published and empirical evidence is scarce. Still, authors stress that the development of such courses must be empirically driven to be effective. In combination with the lack of pedagogic research on boron-related topics, there is very little previous work to start with, but vast potential for urgently needed data. To qualify all CRC’s graduate students, ACP and KFW will conduct a mandatory Ed-ScOut workshop for the IRTG. To ensure the quality of the process while considering the iterative nature of this demanding task, the research Project OR will seek a triangulation of qualitatively- and quantitatively-collected data within a design-based research setting.
