我国高层次科普专门人才的培养现状与反思——基于首批试点高校科普硕士毕业生调查的实证分析

An Empirical Study on the Training of Science Popularization Professionals in China: Challenges and Solutions

高层次科普专门人才培养是提高公民科学素质的重要保障。本研究基于对科普专业方向的教育场域和劳动力市场互动机制的理论分析,收集首批试点高校2013—2019级科普硕士毕业生的调查数据,从课程学习、学位论文与科研经历、实习与就业等方面实证分析科普硕士的培养现状及存在的问题,并提出优化高层次科普专门人才培养的建议:区分科学教育和科学普及两个主要培养方向,依托教育或社科相关院系设置面向中小学的科学教育专业,依托理工科院系设置特色专业的科学普及专业,对不同培养方向的课程做进一步区别和细化,完善课程体系建设,突出课程内容和毕业设计的专业实践性,同时打造数字化科普作品的管理平台,依托院校建设特色科普中心,从而多方位地保障高层次科普专门人才的培养质量。

The education of high-level science popularization professionals serves as the basis for how society embraces science and technologies. Our study aims to empirically present the challenges confronted with the master programs in science popularization in China. We theoretically framed the interaction mechanism between science education and science popularization professionals, and then surveyed the 2013—2019 entering cohorts in five pilot universities. Based on the descriptive statistics, this paper proposes several measures to improve the situation and to guarantee the quality of high-level talents in science popularization. First, science education should be distinguished from science popularization with varied curriculum systems. The direction of science education can be generated in the education or social-science-related departments, which nurtures science teachers for primary and secondary schools;the programs of science popularization, on the other hand, can be developed in colleges or departments of science and engineering, endeavoring to cultivate professionals who distill technical information of a certain field into understandable messages for public consumption. Second, the application-oriented principle should be emphasized in either the curriculum design or the graduation thesis. Third, the departments concerning science popularization may seek collaboration with colleges and universities to build featured scientific centers, which can not only provide students with more internship opportunities, but also make it possible for institutions to publicize their advanced researches.