科学拓展活动在日本的体制化

＂科学拓展活动＂是高等院校、科研院所以及科学学会、科学基金会之类公共团体开展旨在提高公众的科学意识、增进公众与科学家之间的相互理解的科学传播活动的总称。科研人员有必要围绕自己所开展的研究平等地面向公众开展双向科学传播活动,也即开展科学拓展活动,这是由科学家的社会责任所决定的。科学拓展活动20世纪末21世纪初才开始在英美兴起,各国重视科学家与公众的对话交流主要是因为科学发展离不开公众的支持,科学决策需要公众参与。尽管日本大力倡导开展科学拓展活动的时间稍晚于英国和美国,但是不到十年科学拓展活动就在日本实现了体制化,尽管如此,但是真要把科学拓展活动抓好,尚有许多问题需要解决。

The Institutionalization of Science Outreach Activities in Japan

Science extending activity is the general term of the science popularization activities carried out by such public groups or organizations as institutions of higher learning, science and research institute, academic groups of science, and science foundation aiming at promoting the scientific literacy of the general public and boosting the communication between the public and scientisL It is of a necessity for the researchers to conduct two-way science popularization activities, namely science extending activity, to/he public on an equal footing according to their researches, this is the social responsibilities of the scientists. Such kind of activity initially came to be known during the late of 1990s and the beginning of this century in USA and some European countries, the reason why great emphasis should be put on the dialogue and communication between the public and the scientists is that the development of science can not be going further without the public support and that the decision making of science needs the participation of the public. Despite the fact that the conduction of science extending activity in Japan was slightly later than that in USA and Great Britain, essthanadecadeinthepastwitnessedits realization of being institutionalized in Japan It is good, butplenty of problems need to be resolved prior to doing a great job in science extending activity.