Informal Science Education and Career Advancement

Michael Smith; Claudia Fracchiolla; Sean Fleming; Arturo Dominguez; Alexandra Lau; Shannon Greco; Don Lincoln; Eleni Katifori; William Ratcliff; Maria Longobardi; Maajida Murdock; Mustapha Ishak

arXiv · 2112.10623

Informal Science Education and Career Advancement

Michael Smith·Claudia Fracchiolla·Sean Fleming·Arturo Dominguez·Alexandra Lau·Shannon Greco·Don Lincoln·Eleni Katifori·William Ratcliff·Maria Longobardi·Maajida Murdock·Mustapha Ishak

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Abstract

This document supports a proposed APS statement that encourages academic, research, and other institutions to add the participation in informal science education activities to the criteria they use for hiring and career advancement decisions. There is a prevalent attitude that the time spent by a researcher on these activities takes time away from research efforts that are more valued by their peers and their institution. To change this mindset, we enumerate the many benefits of informal science education activities to the public, to researchers, to their institutions, and to the field of physics. We also suggest aspects of these activities that may be considered by institutions in evaluating informal educational efforts for recruitment and career advancement decisions.

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Michael Smith, Claudia Fracchiolla, Sean Fleming, Arturo Dominguez, Alexandra Lau, Shannon Greco, Don Lincoln, Eleni Katifori, William Ratcliff, Maria Longobardi, Maajida Murdock, Mustapha Ishak. 2021-12-20. Informal Science Education and Career Advancement. https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.10623

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