About Resource
Sittenfeld et al. (2022) present the “science-to-civics” framework to address community climate resilience. Developed through the Citizens Science, Civics, and Resilient Community project (CSCRC), the framework combines participatory data collection (community science) with public deliberation about policy solutions in an effort to build community climate literacy and resilience, and to establish a sustained practice of public engagement.
The science-to-civics framework is built on three “essential and defining elements” of public engagement with science and creates opportunities for members of the public to contribute to:
- Agenda-setting, by contributing to citizen-created data that is relevant to local climate hazards;
- Decision-making, by learning about and weighing potential policy solutions; and,
- Policy-forming, by sharing priorities, recommendations, and values.
In addition to the framework, this publication also details evaluation results from Science Center Public Forums, the project that informed the framework, and findings from the framework’s pilot application in the CSCRC 2019 campaign “Wicked Hot Boston.”
How to Use
Consult this resource to explore in depth the multi-scaled impacts of science-to-civics activities in informal science centers (ISCs):
At the institutional scale, science-to-civics has the potential to position/solidify ISCs as, “trusted conveners for informed community dialogue by engaging citizens in critical thinking, data collection and analysis…and potential policy responses...while sharing usable public values and priorities with civic planners.” As such, implementing this framework could help advance the missions of many science centers and museums to enhance public engagement with science.
At the programmatic scale, opportunities to create public engagement with science abound:
- Agenda-setting stage - ISCs convene gatherings of diverse community partners, resilience planners, and scientific experts to define hazards, identify community priorities, and select citizen science projects. After project selection, ISC educators help to recruit and manage a network of volunteer citizen scientists and to facilitate data collection.
- Decision-making & Policy-forming stages - ISCs convene public forums and unite citizen science volunteers and members of the broader public with policymakers and planners. ISC educators help facilitate conversation using deliberation modules that engage diverse publics in substantive deliberation on key climate hazards.
Location: Boston, MA
Author(s)/Organization: David Sittenfeld, Mahmud Farooque, Brian Helmuth, Sara Benson, Emily Hostetler, Francis Choi, Nicholas Weller, Caroline Nickerson, Katie Todd, Darlene Cavalier
Publication Year: 2022
Tags
Attributes:Aims for Action, Centers Community Priorities, Equity-Focused
Outcomes:Capacity for Civic Engagement, Impactful Scientific Research
Approaches:Civic Engagement & Policymaking, Dialogue & Deliberation
Type:Reports & Articles