Public understanding of education

This working paper was written as part of a 2010-11 project called Changing Minds, which was funded by NZCER's purchase agreement. The paper discusses NZCER’s research in the broad area of future-focused public and community engagement with education. It questions our role as researchers, asking whether we should be in the business of knowledge building, or using our research knowledge to actively support and sustain change. In the past we have done a bit of both, with varying degrees of success.

This survey investigated public attitudes and beliefs about science. 

The project built on previous research carried by ACNielson in consultation with NZCER. AC Nielson carried out a repeat of the 2002 survey:
Commonsense, trust and science: How patterns of beliefs and attitudes to science pose challenges for effective communication

We found a very similar pattern of responses, with the level of interest in any branch of science linked to perceptions of its usefulness.