New Perspectives in Science Education

The deepening of interactions between science and society is decisive both for the progress of knowledge and for the trust placed in scientific research by the public. The international movement for Open science promotes a science that is more accessible, inclusive and transparent to help solve complex social, economic and environmental challenges [1].

An important perspective of this movement is to provide access to the practices and tools that are part of the research cycle. This is part of the mission of “Tous Chercheurs”, a French innovative network of experiment spaces opened to public, and rooted in the academic world [2]. We work to educate and train people in scientific approaches through practice and collaborative pedagogies. A very first step for the democratization of research approaches is to understand science in the making by agreeing a common language.

We present here a tool designed to facilitate dialogue of knowledge and find out how research works, that can be used with citizens and in all training courses from secondary school to doctorate. This serious game, named Expli’cit, was step-by-step designed through participant observation between 2020 and 2023 during 40 sessions with several hundred participants (students, researchers and citizens …).

The aim of this collaborative game is to improve understanding of and question the pathways that lead to the production of new scientific knowledge. Participants, supervised by a scientific tutor, use word cards magnets to create a fresco by sharing different representations of research.  The game makes visible and explains the structuring elements of scientific activity (reasoning, practices, professions, values, postures, ethics, temporalities …). A complementary support guide is available for facilitators and students in doctoral training to support more-in-depth theory of some core generic concepts like scientific objectivity, neutrality etc.

During the test sessions, we observed that the game greatly facilitated the dialogue between academics and non-research actors in a variety of intermediation situations. The participants better understood the answers that science is able to provide or not, and sharpened critical thinking skills. In higher trainings settings, the game has proved highly effective in promoting interdisciplinarity dialogue and reflexivity thanks to insights into the epistemology and philosophy of science. Expli’cit offers new perspectives both in formal science education and in the development of participatory science and research because it provides a solid basis to jointly explore problems with scientific rigor and integrity.