Models & Programs

The following models and programs provide a window into Dialogue & Deliberation, a set of methods for engaging community members and policymakers to identify or refine community priorities and support decision making around difficult or complex science and technology topics. These examples are drawn from both within and outside of the science center and museum field.

Jump to the examples of programs and initiatives.
The Museum of Science, Boston is one of the founding members of the Expert & Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology (ECAST) network and has held a number of public deliberation events on a wide range of topics.

Models of Dialogue & Deliberation

The use of Dialogue & Deliberation is well established in civic engagement and participatory democracy spaces, and many models and frameworks already exist for how to design and implement these types of programs. Additionally, science engagement professionals have developed frameworks for public dialogue aimed at a science engagement context. We have highlighted here a few examples of models and frameworks that science centers and museum professionals can use for inspiration and adapt to their local contexts.

Improving Communities through Youth Civic Engagement in Afterschool Settings

This report explores the growing intersection between STEM and civics and recommendations for authentically cultivating youth leadership and civic learning in afterschool and other out-of-school-time (OST) settings.
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Pre-Community Engagement: Setting the Stage for Authentic Community Engagement​

“Pre-Community Engagement” provides a framework for how to prepare effectively ahead of community engagement; it proposes a fundamental shift to approaching community engagement in a way that centers community priorities, scheduling, and needs.
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Tactics for Trust: Building Public Trust in Science and Beyond​

This playbook offers strategies for practitioners to enhance public trust in science. Drawing from diverse trustbuilders, it provides actionable insights to connect scientific endeavors with community needs, fostering transparency and accountability.
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Engaging Your Community: A Toolkit for Museums​

This toolkit guides museums through a community engagement and self-assessment process to evaluate their relevance and strengthen relationships with their communities, thereby enhancing sustainability.
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How to Host a Community Conversation: A Comprehensive Guide​

Three how-to guides cover organizing, facilitating, and participating in community conversations. Each guide underscores the importance of fostering collective responsibility, strengthening social bonds, and promoting collaborative problem-solving.
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Equitable Informal STEM Learning: Tools for Practitioners

The Youth Equity and STEM project developed a rich bank of resources to support equitable practice in informal science learning.
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Cultivating a Culture of Active Hope: Strategies for Science Centers and Museums to Invite and Inspire Planetary Health Action 

This guide from the Seeding Action Initiative provides evidence-based recommendations for communications about planetary health that encourage a shift from a culture of silent fatalism to one of active hope.
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Teen Science Café Network: Research Highlights

The Teen Science Café Network supports teen science cafés across the country. In its 4th year, members reflect on the benefits and institutional alignment of this by-teen for-teen educational model and the challenges of teen engagement.
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Data Jams: Promoting data literacy and science engagement while encouraging creativity 

Data Jams are a method of creatively engaging students with original scientific datasets.
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Examples of Programs and Initiatives

Browse this inspiring set of program examples to learn more about Dialogue & Deliberation in practice at the local, national, and global scale.

View all program examples in the resource library

Improving Communities through Youth Civic Engagement in Afterschool Settings

This report explores the growing intersection between STEM and civics and recommendations for authentically cultivating youth leadership and civic learning in afterschool and other out-of-school-time (OST) settings.
More Detail

Pre-Community Engagement: Setting the Stage for Authentic Community Engagement​

“Pre-Community Engagement” provides a framework for how to prepare effectively ahead of community engagement; it proposes a fundamental shift to approaching community engagement in a way that centers community priorities, scheduling, and needs.
More Detail

Tactics for Trust: Building Public Trust in Science and Beyond​

This playbook offers strategies for practitioners to enhance public trust in science. Drawing from diverse trustbuilders, it provides actionable insights to connect scientific endeavors with community needs, fostering transparency and accountability.
More Detail

Engaging Your Community: A Toolkit for Museums​

This toolkit guides museums through a community engagement and self-assessment process to evaluate their relevance and strengthen relationships with their communities, thereby enhancing sustainability.
More Detail

How to Host a Community Conversation: A Comprehensive Guide​

Three how-to guides cover organizing, facilitating, and participating in community conversations. Each guide underscores the importance of fostering collective responsibility, strengthening social bonds, and promoting collaborative problem-solving.
More Detail

Equitable Informal STEM Learning: Tools for Practitioners

The Youth Equity and STEM project developed a rich bank of resources to support equitable practice in informal science learning.
More Detail

Cultivating a Culture of Active Hope: Strategies for Science Centers and Museums to Invite and Inspire Planetary Health Action 

This guide from the Seeding Action Initiative provides evidence-based recommendations for communications about planetary health that encourage a shift from a culture of silent fatalism to one of active hope.
More Detail

Teen Science Café Network: Research Highlights

The Teen Science Café Network supports teen science cafés across the country. In its 4th year, members reflect on the benefits and institutional alignment of this by-teen for-teen educational model and the challenges of teen engagement.
More Detail

Data Jams: Promoting data literacy and science engagement while encouraging creativity 

Data Jams are a method of creatively engaging students with original scientific datasets.
More Detail

Data Walks: An Innovative Way to Share Data with Communities 

Data Walks are a tool to deepen community engagement with research findings. By connecting data to personal experiences, participants offer new perspectives to ongoing research, helping to inform policies and programs that advance community priorities.
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The Data Visualization Design Process: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

A step-by-step guide to data visualization accessible to novices. This guide aims to help transform quantitative data into meaningful real-world conversations.
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Participatory data stewardship: A framework for involving people in the use of data 

The framework for participatory data stewardship promotes data collection, storage, sharing, and use in ways that empower people to help inform, shape, and govern their own data.
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