From explosion to exposition: The evolution of SciComm

Primary school is arguably the first time that science communication really enters your life. Science in primary school is a fun, and often explosive, form of edutainment (education + entertainment). In some cases, people from a mystical place called a ‘university’ are invited into the classroom to wow students with bubbling liquid nitrogen, or noisy and visually appealing chemical experiments, all facilitated by a person that likely failed the audition for Playschool for being excessively enthusiastic.

In this scenario, the students are receiving what we’d classically consider an ‘outreach activity’, the purposes of which are to cultivate