Supporting scientists in doing outreach
2007 Impact statement- Lewenstein, Bruce Voss
abstract
In 2006-2007, we developed a new model for teaching science communication and outreach skills to science graduate students.
submitted by
- Lewenstein, Bruce Voss | Professor
issue being addressed
Many calls have been issued for scientists to be more actively engaged in communicating their science to non-scientists. However, there is rarely time in a science training program for a full course on communication, and most courses are not tailored for the needs of science graduate students. We sought to address this problem.
response
We developed a semester-long, two-credit course that provides practical experience in authoring press releases and blogs, creating podcasts, conducting interviews, and other aspects of science communication.
impact assessment
The course led to a letter in Science providing information for the 120,000 plus readers of that journal. The 25 students in last year`s course have now continued on to be science writing interns at Cornell and elsewhere.
The model has now become a regular course at Cornell, and has been adopted by and adapted to at least one other institution--a science and natural history museum in North Carolina. In addition, inquiries have been received from around the United States and from other countries about how to develop similar courses.
The model has now become a regular course at Cornell, and has been adopted by and adapted to at least one other institution--a science and natural history museum in North Carolina. In addition, inquiries have been received from around the United States and from other countries about how to develop similar courses.
academic priority area
- Applied Social Sciences | CALS academic priority
- Environmental Sciences | CALS academic priority
- Land-Grant Mission | CALS academic priority
- New Life Sciences | CALS academic priority
topic description
science communication
has geographic focus
- Brazil | country
- New York State | state
- North Carolina | state
funding source description
- National Science Foundation
- Cornell University internal funding
- Biogeochemistry IGERT
collaborators
Cornell University Dept of Horticulture
key personnel
- Dana Warren (graduate student)
- Professor David Wolfe
- Blaine Friedlander
- Marissa Weiss (graduate student)
department, unit, division
- Communication (COMM) | Cornell department
mission focus
- extension/outreach | project type
- research | project type
- teaching | project type
From CALS annual faculty reporting. Imported on August 5, 2008