Role: Coordinator
Funder: Fondazione Cariplo
Start year: 2020
Goal: Teaching young generations about the complex relationship between science, technology and society (STS) is fundamental in order to promote higher level critical thinking skills, foster lifelong civic engagement, and improve the dialogue between research and innovation community and society as a whole. However, as students’ interest towards scientific and technological disciplines continues to drop, so their participation is declining in public discussions on key contemporary issues concerning STS, such as the impact of emerging nano- and biotechnologies, the rise of artificial intelligence and robotics, the evolution of the Internet of Things, to name a few. The PROMETHEUS project aims at addressing this gap by introducing a novel approach to STS awareness and education, which is based on Sublime-inspiring theatrical experiences designed to awaken awe, stimulate inquiry and enhance engagement in STS issues that influence students’ present and future worlds. The concept of sublime (also known as the emotion of awe) is a widespread knowledge-orienting phenomenon borrowed by art and philosophy, which is at the basis of our motivation to learn and be inspired to learn across lifespan. Recent advances in cognitive science suggest that evoking feelings of awe, wonder, and astonishment can trigger explanation and exploration (two crucial antecedents of learning), promote greater interest in science and foster greater awareness of knowledge gaps. With this in mind, our project is intended:
– To design theatrical experiences aimed at promoting, through the aesthetic and psychological dimensions of Sublime, students’ inspiration, curiosity, and engagement towards STS issues;
– To rigorously validate the efficacy of this approach in a field experiment involving dropped students, using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
DID YOU KNOW? HOW WE ARE COMMUNICATING AWE
You can look for us here: https://twitter.com/ScienceSublime
Experiencelab 