Active learning in the science communication classroom

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Active learning in the science communication classroom

Author: Mark Sarvary – Cornell University, United States

Co-authors:

  • Kitty Gifford – Science Communication consultant, United States

Teaching science communication can happen in many different formats: one-day-long workshops, activities embedded into science courses or semester-long courses dedicated only to communication. Regardless of the format, the science communication classroom is transforming, following the newest trends in education research. With the advancement of education research, it is clear to all instructors that students learn better by doing, and science communication has many applied components that can be taught using these active learning techniques. In this demonstration, the co-presenters want to share some of the active learning techniques they have been using the past years in their applied science communication course at Cornell University and at Shoals Marine Laboratory. Ideas about how to teach information literacy, encourage storytelling, assess audiences or use social media will be shared. They will also discuss curriculum development using Bloom’s Taxonomy. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own teaching techniques to share and help build an “inventory” of active learning methods that instructors who teach science communication can use. The focus of this demonstration will be hands-on activities. Attendees will walk away with this “inventory” that they can implement into their own classes and workshops.

Mark Sarvary is an instructor in biology and science communication at Cornell University and conducts discipline-based education research. Kitty Gifford is an independent communication consultant and brings her real-life experience of working with clients into the classroom. They co-teach a course titled “Applied Science Communication: digital platforms and public engagement” and have been teaching science communication workshops to undergraduate researchers, postdocs and faculty members at Cornell and at other institutions. They look forward to bringing useful tools to this demonstration and gaining new ideas from the attendees.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Time

A Foundation, not an afterthought: Diversifying training models to transform science communication education worldwide

Author: Mark Sarvary – Cornell University, United States

Co-authors:

  • Alexander Gerber – Rhine-Waal University, Germany and Institute for Science & Innovation Communication (inscico), Germany
  • Merryn McKinnon – Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University, Australia
  • Fabien Medvecky – University of Otago, New Zealand

Undergraduates are no longer only consumers, but producers of scientific information and are eager to gain skills in communicating their scientific discoveries. Employees and postgraduate programs are showing an increasing interest in undergraduates with advanced communication and similarly transferable interpersonal skills. These needs have transformed the higher education curricula as science communication education is no longer reduced to a postgraduate afterthought, but is rather a foundation of undergraduate science education. Science communication training can help students understand the scientific process, become science-literate, identify the role of research and innovation in their socio-political contexts, and shape their interdisciplinary views.

This diverse international panel is bringing education professionals together to discuss how science communication has been transforming education all over the world. The panelists will showcase examples from the University of Otago in NZ, Rhine-Waal University in Germany, the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the Australian National University, and Cornell University in the USA, and identify the pros and cons of embedded, stand-alone, workshop-style, interdisciplinary and other ways of teaching science communication at the undergraduate level. Results from a comprehensive empirical study on science communication degree programs will be also presented, and the audience will have the opportunity to discuss how to transform higher education effectively and systematically so we can respond to the need for well-trained science communicators early in their academic careers. The conversations will be led by two co-chairs: a science communication practitioner and a well-known science communication scholar, and this panel will offer a unique opportunity to bring perspectives together from multiple continents.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Roundtable discussion
Theme: Transformation

Turning undergraduates into science storytellers. What are the best practices?

Author: Mark Sarvary – Cornell University, United States

Co-authors:
Kathleen Gifford – Science Cabaret/Cornell University
Bruce Lewenstein – Cornell University

What is the role of science communication in the undergraduate science curriculum? This international panel will discuss key issues in teaching science communication at the undergraduate level, and how to bring public communication of science into science education.

Join this roundtable discussion with Merryn McKinnon and Will Grant from the Australian National University, Fabien Medvecky from the University of Otago, NZ, Kitty Gifford and Mark Sarvary from Cornell University, USA. Bruce Lewenstein from Cornell University will moderate the discussion.

Dr. Sarvary and Ms. Gifford organized this roundtable after they developed a course at Cornell University (USA) for science undergraduates covering how to build a science communication strategy plan. Their goal was to understand how undergraduates consume and produce scientific information, and to develop methods to teach communication skills to the next generation of science scholars.

Roundtable participants will discuss how scientific storytelling can be taught at an undergraduate level, and exchange ideas about how digital natives use technologies for science communication. Panelists will also discuss student involvement in public science events outside of the university walls. Instructors who teach science communication are especially encouraged to join this discussion, and bring ideas what has worked and what has failed in their classrooms. We look forward to discussing this topic with fellow science communication instructors, researchers and experts in this field.

Presentation type: Roundtable discussion
Theme: Stories
Area of interest: Teaching science communication

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