When
Tuesday 4th Feb, 5:00 pm

Where
Room B1

Hashtag
#T25

Category
Insight

Presenter
Carly Siebentritt

Abstract

Inspiring Australia (IA) aims to engage all Australians with science. Many people in the Victorian community express an interest in science and technology but don’t actively seek it out or search for information about science. The following is a case-study of an attempt to attract a science-disengaged audience to a science-art event.

We worked with the community group Laneway Learning which coordinates a series of evening ‘classes’ in a multitude of subjects. We ran two such identical classes, one titled ‘The Science and Art of Chocolate’ and one titled ‘The Art of Delicious Chocolate.’ Importantly, the content of each session was identical and each was advertised in the same way. Following the session short evaluation sheets, again identical, were filled in by event participants. In this presentation we will present the profile of the participants from each class and suggest that, in order to engage the science-disengaged, we need to consider the impact of the word ‘science’ when promoting events and engagement opportunities to attract a less engaged audience.

Self-explanatory? Perhaps, but how often do we practise what we preach?