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40-523: The museum is made up of six facilities, divided between five campuses. The newest facility, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences at Greenville, was announced in 2020 and opened to the public on September 18, 2021. NCMNS is a division of the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources . The North Carolina State Museum was created in 1879 by combining two existing state-owned collections of geologic and agricultural specimens. The museum

80-578: A broader social context that has a high degree of uncertainty. This PNS era requires a new approach to public engagement efforts and requires a reevaluation of the underlying assumptions of "public engagement", especially with emerging science and technology issues, like CRISPR gene editing , that have the potential to become " wicked problems ". These "wicked" issues often require regulatory and policy decisions that have no single correct solution and often involve numerous interest groups – none of whom are clearly positioned to decide and resolve

120-514: A decade until the NCMNS reached out in 2016, prompting negotiations to purchase the fossil. Legal issues concerning mineral rights significantly slowed these negotiations until they were resolved in 2020. Funds for the purchase were raised by the nonprofit Friends of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Following the construction of a dedicated display wing in the Nature Research Center,

160-567: A dinosaur replica along with other items were stolen from NCMNS by two accomplices. The offenders turned themselves in on July 17. The replica, along with the other items were recovered. In 2020, the museum announced its acquisition of the Dueling Dinosaurs , a well-preserved and scientifically important specimen from Montana of a Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus possibly locked in combat. First found in 2006, there were unsuccessful attempts to sell it to museums or private collectors for over

200-464: A large number of historic sites, documents, pieces of art, and other items and places of cultural value for the state. The State Archives, for instance, contain over 100 million historic documents, including North Carolina's copy of the United States Bill of Rights and the original 1663 charter for the colony as granted by Charles II of England . Perhaps the most prominent building supervised by

240-409: A new technology and conducting this engagement away from universities so that it can be done on the public's terms with the public's terms. Other scholars have emphasized that this model of public engagement requires that the public be able to influence science, not merely be engaged by it, up to the point of being able to say "no" to research that does not align with the broader public's values. Under

280-400: A series of fields and themes such as: Important lines of research are how to raise public awareness and public understanding of science and technology. Also, learning how the public feels and knows about science generally as well as individual subjects, such as genetic engineering , or bioethics . Research by Matthew Nisbet highlights several challenges in science communication, including

320-482: Is a basic condition for decision making in democratic societies, even on science and technology issues. There are also attempts to develop more inclusive participatory models of technological governance in the form of consensus conferences, citizen juries , extended peer reviews, and deliberative mapping. Some scholars have identified a new era of " post-normal science " (PNS) in which many scientific discoveries carry high stakes if risks are estimated incorrectly within

360-801: Is a satellite facility of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences located in Greenville, North Carolina. It and the Grifton Nature and Science Center were acquired through a partnership between NCMNS and ATFS. The center was renovated with new exhibits being added and reopened in September 2021. The Museum at Greenville is largely based on the Raleigh facility, but with more exhibits focusing on subjects relevant to northeastern North Carolina such as pirates and pollinators , and includes resources from East Carolina University . NCMNS hosts many special events through

400-439: Is a satellite facility of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Its mission is to celebrate the natural history and cultural heritage of North Carolina's forests through interpretive exhibits, educational programming, and the preservation of natural and man-made materials that demonstrate the ongoing relationship of forests and people. Displays and interactive exhibits include an outdoor Tree Trail and Fossil Dig Pit, and

440-540: Is communicated. Examples of measurement: Government and private-led campaigns and events, such as Dana Foundation 's " Brain Awareness Week ", are becoming a strong focus of programmes which try to promote public awareness of science. The UK PAWS Foundation dramatically went as far as establishing a Drama Fund with the BBC in 1994. The purpose was to encourage and support the creation of new drama for television, drawing on

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480-431: Is part of the museum's mission of enhancing public understanding and appreciation of the natural environment by providing an outdoor learning space while acting as a model for renewable and sustainable energy . The facility opened a Nature PlaySpace on Saturday, September 28, 2013. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences at Whiteville, North Carolina formerly known as the North Carolina Museum of Forestry,

520-560: Is that emphasizes the value of knowledge of one's knowledge. Examples of measurement: The nature of connections among different pieces of information in memory. The key assumption is that the use of elaboration increases the likelihood of remembering information. Examples of measurement: People may trust science or scientists to different degrees, or may find specific scientists or specific research to be more or less credible. These factors can be related to how science can be used to advance knowledge, and may also be related to how science

560-711: Is widely held to be the birth of the Public Understanding of Science movement in Britain. The report led to the founding of the Committee on the Public Understanding of Science and a cultural change in the attitude of scientists to outreach activities. In the 1990s, a new perspective emerged in the field with the classic study of Cumbrian Sheep Farmers' interaction with the Nuclear scientists in England. Brian Wynne demonstrated how

600-661: The Dueling Dinosaurs exhibit was officially opened to the public in 2024 in the newly-built SECU DinoLab. The Center is located on Jones Street in downtown Raleigh. The Nature Research Center (NRC) is an 80,000 sq ft (7,400 m), four-story wing across the street from the Nature Exploration Center. The NRC and NEC are connected by a breezeway. The initial opening (April 20, 2012) lasted for 24 hours and drew 70,000 visitors. The NRC provides hands-on activities and visitor-viewing of scientists working in

640-726: The North Carolina Museum of History , founded in 1902, and the North Carolina Symphony , founded in 1943. These organizations either remained independent or were gradually combined under the Office of Archives and History until 1971, when the Department of Cultural Resources became the first cabinet-level office of any state in the United States to deal solely with history, the arts, and cultural knowledge. On September 18, 2015,

680-580: The Department of Cultural Resources was renamed the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. The name change came with a transfer of several divisions to the department, including North Carolina's state parks , aquariums , zoological park , museum of natural sciences , the Clean Water Trust Fund and the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program. The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources supervises and cares for

720-526: The NRC's four research laboratories. The museum also makes use of distance learning to broadcast lessons and virtual field trips to classrooms around the state. The Nature Research Center's three investigate labs are open-to-the-public hands-on educational spaces. The Nature Research Center's five research labs are part of the museum's Research and Collections department. These spaces (normally used for behind-the-scenes work) have transparent glass walls through which

760-517: The arts, culture, and history within the borders of the state. The current Secretary of Natural and Cultural Resources, the cabinet-level officer who oversees the department, is D. Reid Wilson . Wilson has been in office since January 2021 and was immediately preceded by Susi Hamilton , who served as secretary from 2017 to 2020 The department was founded as the North Carolina Department of Art, Culture, and History. Its first secretary

800-471: The chair since Dawkins' retirement in 2008. Similar professorships have since been created at other British universities. Professorships in the field have been held by well-known academics including Richard Fortey and Kathy Sykes at the University of Bristol , Brian Cox at Manchester University , Tanya Byron at Edge Hill University , Jim Al-Khalili at the University of Surrey , and Alice Roberts at

840-400: The civic science model, there are five key lessons for scientists committed to public engagement: Social scientists use various metrics to measure public understanding of science, including: The key assumptions is that the more individual pieces of information a person is able to retrieve, the more that person is considered to have learned. Examples of measurement: The key assumption

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880-545: The department is the North Carolina State Capitol , an 1840 Greek Revival building that contains a substantial number of historic artifacts, furniture, and monuments related to the history of North Carolina. The North Carolina General Assembly 's appropriation in 1947 of $ 1 million for the purchase of artworks and sculpture to be housed in the Museum of Art made it the first state in the nation to use public funds for

920-404: The development of interfaces to mediate between expert and lay understandings of an issue. Newer frameworks of communicating science include the dialogue and the participation models. The dialogue model aims to create spaces for conversations between scientists and non-scientists to occur while the participation model aims to include non-scientists in the process of science. The area integrates

960-490: The experts were ignorant or disinterested in taking into account the lay knowledge of the sheep farmers while conducting field experiments on the impact of the Chernobyl nuclear fallout on the sheep in the region. Because of this shortcoming from the side of the scientists, local farmers lost their trust in them. The experts were unaware of the local environmental conditions and the behaviour of sheep and this has eventually led to

1000-429: The failure of their experimental models. Following this study, scholars have studies similar micro-sociological contexts of expert-lay interaction and proposed that the context of knowledge communication is important to understand public engagement with science. Instead of large scale public opinion surveys, researchers proposed studies informed by sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK). The contextualist model focuses on

1040-410: The general public. While early work in the discipline focused on increasing or augmenting the public's knowledge of scientific topics, in line with the information deficit model of science communication , the deficit model has largely been abandoned by science communication researchers. Instead, there is an increasing emphasis on understanding how the public chooses to use scientific knowledge and on

1080-834: The museum expanded with the opening of the Museum of Forestry in Whiteville . This facility was later overhauled and reopened in 2015 as the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Whiteville. Another location was added in 2004, with the opening of the Prairie Ridge Ecostation for Wildlife and Learning. The museum expanded its downtown campus in 2012 with the adjacent Nature Research Center. The collection contains over 1.7 million specimens, including amphibians , reptiles , birds, fish, mammals, invertebrates , invertebrate and vertebrate fossils, plants, geology , and meteorites . On July 14, 2014,

1120-579: The museum offers educational program experiences and special events. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences at Contentnea Creek , formerly known as the Grifton Nature & Science Center, is a satellite facility and outdoor classroom located in Grifton, North Carolina . It features hiking and paddling trails centered around Contentnea Creek, along with an observatory and outdoor classroom. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences at Greenville, North Carolina formerly known as A Time For Science (ATFS),

1160-592: The paradox that scientific success can create either trust or distrust in experts in different populations and that attitudes of trust are shaped by mostly socioeconomic rather than religious or ideological differences. A 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center found varying levels of trust in science by country, political leanings, and other factors. The publication of the Royal Society 's' report The Public Understanding of Science (or Bodmer Report ) in 1985

1200-476: The problem. Policy and regulatory decisions around these scientific issues are inherently political and must balance trade-offs between the scientific research, perceptions of risk, societal needs, and ethical values. While scientists can provide factual answers to research questions and mathematical estimates of risk, many considerations surrounding these wicked science and technology issues have no factual answer. The unidirectional deficit model of simply educating

1240-487: The public can observe research scientists. The atrium is home to the LCD sculpture Patterned by Nature . Prairie Ridge Ecostation (45 acres (180,000 m)) is a satellite facility and outdoor classroom located 6 miles (9.7 km) from the museum's downtown Raleigh locations. It includes Piedmont prairie , forest, ponds, a stream, and sustainable building features integrated with a wildlife-friendly landscape. Prairie Ridge

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1280-407: The public on theses issues is insufficient to address these complex questions, and some scholars have proposed scientists adopt a culture of civic science: "broad public engagement with issues that arise at the many intersections between science and society." An emphasis is placed on developing an iterative engagement model that actively seeks to incorporate groups who stand to be adversely effected by

1320-567: The purpose of building a state art collection The department is organized in the following manner (all divisions located in Raleigh unless otherwise noted): The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources also oversees the North Carolina Award . Public awareness of science Public awareness of science ( PAS ) is everything relating to the awareness , attitudes, behaviors, opinions, and activities that comprise

1360-406: The relations between the general public or lay society as a whole to scientific knowledge and organization. This concept is also known as public understanding of science ( PUS ), or more recently, public engagement with science and technology ( PEST ). It is a comparatively new approach to the task of exploring the multitude of relations and linkages science, technology, and innovation have among

1400-421: The social impediments in the bidirectional flow of scientific knowledge between experts and laypersons/communities. Scholars like Sheila Jasanoff have advanced the debate around public engagement with science by leveraging the theory of deliberative democracy to analyze the public deliberation of and participation in science through various institutional forms. Proponents of greater public deliberation argue it

1440-496: The world of science and technology. The Vega Science Trust was set up in 1994 to promote science through the media of television and the internet with the aim of giving scientists a platform from which to communicate to the general public. The Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science chair at The University of Oxford was established in 1995 for the ethologist Richard Dawkins by an endowment from Charles Simonyi . Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy has held

1480-410: The year. The most notable are: 35°46′56″N 78°38′22″W  /  35.7821858°N 78.6394221°W  / 35.7821858; -78.6394221 North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is a cabinet-level department within the state government of North Carolina dedicated to overseeing projects in

1520-536: Was Sam Ragan , poet and arts advocate who later became North Carolina Poet Laureate . It was renamed to Department of Cultural Resources in 1973. In 1973, Grace Rohrer succeeded Ragan, becoming the first woman to hold a cabinet-level office in North Carolina. Many of the offices and divisions of the department were founded as separate institutions, such as the State Library of North Carolina , founded in 1812,

1560-518: Was added in 1899 as the collection grew, and the entire facility was moved to a purpose-built building in 1924. The facility was later renamed the North Carolina State Museum of Natural History. In the 1950s and again in the 1990s, shifts in education further expanded the museum's holdings as universities donated their collections to the state. In 1986, the museum was renamed to The North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences. In 2000,

1600-536: Was originally housed in the Briggs Building on Fayetteville Street . The museum's collections, outreach and education programs, and status grew over the next 60 years under the stewardship of Herbert Brimley . In 1887 the museum was placed under the management of the Department of Agriculture , and was moved to the department's office building: a former hotel on Edenton Street across from the capitol building. An annex

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