“I Saw It On Youtube!". The Role of Science Communication in the Post Digital Era

In response to global challenges such as climate change and health emergencies, there is a growing need to foster active and responsible citizenship through enhanced Scientific Literacy (SL) (EU, 2015). SL involves making informed decisions through critical and reflective analysis (Akerson, 2018; Reincke et al., 2020), and Science Education (SE) is crucial for its development. However, to improve SE’s effectiveness, innovative teaching and learning strategies are required. A promising area for innovation is the connection between SE and Science Communication (SC). SC uses entertainment to communicate scientific messages, creating an edutainment process (EC, 2020) that enhances motivation and engagement with SL. Social media plays a significant role in SC by facilitating interactive and shareable content (Sandu & Christensen, 2011; Pinto & Riesch, 2017). SC also promotes Media Literacy (ML), which, alongside SL, is vital for navigating the modern information landscape (Potter, 2013; Livingstone, 2003). Building on this premise, our study investigates the intersection of SL and ML to create educational models that foster active citizenship. The research unfolds in two phases. In the first phase, two surveys were conducted – one for science communicators and one for their audiences. The data was analyzed using a mixed-method approach (Dahler-Larsen, 2023), with descriptive frequency analysis for quantitative data and phenomenological content analysis for qualitative data (Mortari, 2007). The second phase, reported here, involves semi-structured interviews to explore users' experiences with SC and its impact on their lives, with the aim of strengthening the link between SC and SE to enhance SL development.