Marcellus Matters

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Living With Risk Can Give You Gas: Engaging Adults in Science and

Energy

Terry Noll, project coordinator Margaret Hopkins, team member

Marcellus Center for Outreach and ResearchPenn State University

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• 3-year project funded by National Science Foundation – Informal Science Education

• Targeting adults living in rural areas which historically have few resources for informal science programming

• 15-member, multi-disciplinary team (faculty and researchers from Earth & Mineral Sciences, Education, Agricultural Sciences, Arts & Architecture)

• PI: Michael Arthur, Geosciences

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Project goals: •To increase participants’ knowledge of science and engineering related to energy consumption, production and policy•To build a shared science-and-energy knowledge base to aid in community decisionmaking•To apply the skills of scientific inquiry and investigation (citizen science)•To develop strategies for deliberation of complex environmental issues

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Four programs:•Marcellus Environmental Planning Workshop•Marcellus Community Network •Marcellus Community-Based Performance•Marcellus Community Science Volunteer Program

Session LocationsSession Locations

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Three specific regions•Coal country

– Clearfield, Jefferson and Elk counties– History of natural resource extraction and legacy of

environmental impacts from coal mining

•Northern Tier – Clinton, Sullivan, Lycoming counties– Areas with tourism economy and little to no history of

natural resource extraction

•Southwestern Pennsylvania– Washington, Fayette and Greene counties– History of natural resource extraction and corporate

presence

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Marcellus Community-Based Performance•Live theater, original plays

• Actors and scientists from the project

•Two versions• Scenes and a multi-media performance

– Landowner, landman; family conflict– Based on web postings

• Live radio show (with sound effects, singing)– Focus on who to believe/how to evaluate conflicting

information

•Followed by facilitated group discussions• Opportunity for participants to interact with scientists• Opportunity for participants to respond to the vignettes

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Clearfield CountyPost-performance evaluations, post-performance interviews of participants and post-performance evaluations by actors•Why people attended (interest in how relates to property, environment, economy etc.)•Perception of the event (lots of factual info, info/points of view that are new, balance of performance and info)•Thoughts about views (want to hear what others say; multiple valid points of view; can learn from what others say

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What we have learned from post-performance evaluations•Live theater creates new relationships between community members and scientists•Live theater is effective at generating dialogue – the vignettes/scenes provide new avenues for talking and sharing about Marcellus•Live theater can defuse some of the tensions surrounding Marcellus development•Live theater can be a means of presenting information; people reported they learned

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What we are still experimenting with:•The best venue

• Audience comes to us?• Going to the audience?• Theatre vs county fair?

•The best form•Structuring the post-performance conversation

• Responding to audience but directing the response• Trained facilitators: allowing actors to stay with

their roles and their characters’ points of view

•Balancing the affective experience of theater and presentation of science-based information

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Marcellus Community Science Volunteers•Modeled after Master Gardener and Master Naturalist program

•Eight-weeks of classes• Once/week; 2.5 hours• Saturday session of field work (water testing)• Rig tour

•Volunteer commitment•Clearfield County (2 groups)

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Sessions (some combined)•Energy systems and choices•Nature of science•Geology of Marcellus Shale•Engineering•Hydrogeology and water testing•Land use planning•Community impacts•Economic and workforce development•Dialogue skills

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Session structures•Hands-on, group activities

– Well siting activity, landowners with conflicting values

– Visuals – Correlation/causation data exercise– Energyville– Data collection – Lectures (engineering) – Media reports

•Session materials– Readings– Powerpoints– Additional resources

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Who participated?•Senior Environmental Corps volunteers, county and township officials, school superintendent, high school science teacher, business owners, admissions officer with a technical institute, landowners •Range of educational levels (individuals with low literacy skills and individuals with graduate degrees)•More opposed to development than favored •Fairly even split by gender

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Why they participated•Most in search of more information about water impacts– Will this contaminate my water supply?– What happens if my water contains

methane?•Interest also high in understanding the geology, injection wells (seismicity) and engineering•Many were confused by conflicting media reports, reports of conflicting data•Most wanted information they could trust

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Formative and Summative Evaluations

•Pre- and post-test•Weekly evaluations of session structure (effective? ineffective?), content (too simple? too complex?)•Weekly reflections on each session (draw upon in conversation? used in work?)•Focus groups•Post-summative evaluation•Delayed summative evaluation

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Evaluation instruments are measuring:•Gains in knowledge of geology, energy policy, water issues•Acquisition of science skills (data collection, analysis, interpretation)•Sharing of knowledge gained with others•Engagement with emerging technologies•Confidence in facilitation skills

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Participants’ responses:•Wanted more technical information, more local information•Enjoyed hands-on activities but understood need for lecture/presentations•Appreciated opportunities for extensive Q&A with scientists•Questioned inclusion of community impacts, facilitation skills

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What we learned:•Providing science-based information is not enough•Need to engage participants in understanding the development of scientific knowledge•Build understanding and awareness of peer review—how it works, what it means—and scientific consensus•“They want us to tell them whether this is a good thing or a bad thing—science can’t do that.”

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Challenges:•Balancing people’s demand for content with their need to understand how science is an ongoing and cumulative process•Explaining what scientists know and don’t know (discomfort with uncertainty)•Addressing “world views”•Developing infrastructure to sustain relationship with Marcellus Community Science volunteers

– Citizen science research projects

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Next steps:•Marcellus Community Science Volunteer Program– Clinton County (March 25-May 13)– Sullivan County (Summer 2013)

•Marcellus Community Based Performance Program – Clinton County, May 2013•Marcellus Environmental Planning Workshop Pilot (Spring 2013)

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Reports from external evaluator can be found athttp://informalscience.org/project/show/1983

For more information, contact Terry Noll, project coordinator, [email protected]