Comunicação pública da ciência e literacia midiática para a cidadania

Abstract

Providing society with access to verifiable and reliable information, particularly that generated through scientific research, remains a fundamental challenge in building autonomous nations. This work addresses the challenge of enhancing public science communication to promote civic engagement and develop critical thinking skills. We argue that society currently faces an infodemic and disinformation crisis, exacerbated by widespread deficits in media literacy. Digital media have transformed communication and information access patterns, positioning individuals simultaneously as information producers, consumers, and curators. While this transformation has democratized information access, it has also introduced unprecedented societal challenges. In this thesis, we present possible diagnoses of the historical factors that have distanced scientific knowledge from common sense, examine the challenge of media education for citizenship, and explore science's pursuit of inclusive and participatory communication aimed at emancipation through critical thinking. The empirical component of this research involved developing and testing a diagnostic and training methodology designed to enhance public understanding of science and media literacy competencies. Our study population comprised first-year high school students from a public school in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais State. We developed assessment instruments based on theoretical frameworks established by Polino (2015) and Ferrés and Piscitelli (2015). Following these frameworks, we evaluated Public Science Communication across four dimensions (Institutional, Information-seeking behaviors, Attitudes and values, and Knowledge appropriation) and assessed Media Competence through six dimensions (Technology, Language, Interaction processes, Production and dissemination processes, Ideology and values, and Aesthetics). We administered questionnaires before and after the intervention activities designed for this study. Using evaluation methods developed specifically for this thesis – including the definition of each dimension (what they mean), their indicators (how we can verify them), and scores corresponding to each level – we obtained a diagnosis of the participating students. Our findings demonstrated improvement in eight of the ten dimensions assessed. The intervention consisted of interactive workshops and face-to-face sessions employing problem-based learning strategies that positioned students as active knowledge seekers. The central challenge focused on identifying and countering health-related misinformation. Our evaluation methodology incorporated field notes and semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that the participatory approach, characterized by dialogue-based learning and collaborative problem-solving around issues identified by the students themselves, effectively fostered critical engagement with both digital media and scientific information.