ABSTRACT
People seek scientific information for two main types of goal: leisure goals, such as satisfying curiosity; and instrumental goals, such as making a decision or solving a problem (Brossard, 2013; Segev & Baram-Tsabari, 2012). For example, of over 3,000 questions presented by the public to science editors, the top questions were distributed between curiosity questions, such as “why do tea leaves rotate in the middle of the cup when stirred?” and instrumental questions, such as “shall I turn off even energy-saving lamps when I leave a room?” (Artz & Wormer, 2011). The stakes for achieving accuracy and understanding are higher for instrumental goals. In this chapter, I focus on instrumental goals, and on research on adults and secondary-school students.
