ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Science and Environmental Communication
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1657572
Public Engagement by Strategic Science Communication: An Evaluation Study on the Impact of an Interactive Science Exhibition on the German Energy Transition
Provisionally accepted
- Technische Universität Ilmenau, Ilmenau, Germany
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Science exhibitions are a promising instrument to uniquely encourage public engagement with scientific issues. However, knowledge about the actual effectiveness of science communication activities is mostly lacking. Therefore, this study examined the impact of a science exhibition on the German energy transition on visitors' public engagement at seven different locations. Using a pretest-posttest survey (N = 767), we evaluated whether visiting the exhibition promotes cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement. Additionally, we extend knowledge on the role of gamification by examining whether an integrated game can further enhance engagement, either directly or indirectly, through positive exhibition experiences. The results show that the exhibition indeed had a positive effect on cognitive and partly affective as well as behavioral engagement. For gamification, we found no positive direct effects of using the game. However, analyses revealed indirect effects on cognition and affect mediated by positive exhibition experiences.
Keywords: Public Engagement, Evaluation, Science exhibition, Gamification, energy transition, Climate Change
Received: 01 Jul 2025; Accepted: 26 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Schaller, Schumann and Wolling. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sophia Schaller, Technische Universität Ilmenau, Ilmenau, Germany
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.