Science in the News (http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu) is a unique example of a successful science communication program that is entirely graduate student initiated and driven. Over the past 11 years, SITN has proven to the Harvard administration that there is both public and graduate student interest in such programs and the organization has become one of their most cited examples of university science outreach. SITN provides an annual 9 week lecture series that is free and open to the public where teams of 3 graduate students present on current science topics followed by a lab tour. Check out our website to watch a lecture or come in person (http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu). We also have a bi-weekly e-newsletter called the SITN Flash that is entirely written and edited by our graduate student members, bring science labs, lectures, and mentoring to local schools, host a “Model Organism Zoo” at the Cambridge Science Festival, and run a science cafe, called Science by the Pint, where we provide opportunities for faculty and post-docs to communicate science. Contact us (sitnboston@gmail.com) to learn more about what we do, how we are organized, and how you can start a similar program in your area (our low budget model can easily translate to any community).

SITN in collaboration with Harvard faculty have recently instituted a short course on oral science communication entitled “The Performing Art of Science Presentation” (Check it out: https://nanosandquarters.hms.harvard.edu/node/131). In the class, Nancy Houfek, Head of Voice and Speech at the American Repertory Theater, leads an interactive workshop that provides performance training to improve science presentations (and oral communication ability in general). The second session of the course is an opportunity to prepare and deliver a brief presentation, receive audience critiques, and give a repeat performance. The pilot of the course had overwhelming turnout from graduate students and post-docs. Based on that initial success the course is now offered every fall and spring and we have the opportunity to further improve the curriculum, expand the course, get more faculty to show up and participate, etc. While it took some convincing, Harvard administration has allowed the course to be offered for academic credit. This was a crucial step towards institutionalizing science communication training and changing the community’s attitude about recognizing that so-called “non-science” curriculum is critical to scientific training and career development.

The need for communication training really starts even earlier than we are discussing, at the undergraduate level. Many students come to graduate school now with extensive research training. They’ve already begun to communicate their science and bad habits have had a chance to be ingrained. It’s harder to unlearn than to be properly trained at the outset.

I attended one of AAAS’s Communicating Science workshops; these are usually held in conjunction with professional science society meetings. I thought it was great! Dirk, you might be interested… bonus: these workshops are free.
http://communicatingscience.aaas.org/Pages/Workshops.aspx

Chris, an aggregation of these classes/workshops would be a wonderful resource! Thanks.

I developed and have taught since 1998 a set of three courses treating media coverage of science in the broadest sense, encompassing science, environmental issues, engineering and sustainability, health, natural resources, and natural history. About 60% of the students enrolled are from science disciplines at the graduate and upperdivision undergraduate levels. All of our award winning writers have been science graduate students.

My courses cover the entire spectrum from hard news to creative nonfiction–from the role of the public information officer and writing press releases to reporting hard news, writing feature articles, writing for the Web, and nonfiction genres of narrative, review, profile, and essay. Using case studies and readings from the literature, we examine issues of balance, accuracy, media framing, treatment of uncertainty, and reporting about risk.

I am founding editor of a regional magazine called Northwest Science & Technology
(www.nwst.org), which has provided a platform for my experiential learning curriculum. Articles assigned to students in class may be considered for publication in NWS&T online, so students have a chance to build a portfolio of published clips while contributing to an outreach vehicle that fosters greater public understanding about science and technology developments in the region. Graduates of the program have been very successful at earning national placements. For example, over the summer, one worked as a mass media fellow at the Chicago Tribune, sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Another just went to Fermilab and Symmetry magazine as a science writing intern. Previous students have earned placements or freelancing assignments with the Dallas Morning News. Boston Globe, Discover magazine, Science; IEEE Spectrum, and Astronomy magazine, among others. Several have done Congressional fellowships

The most effective strategies from these classes have been combined into a hands-on, intensive course for postdoctoral researchers, initially aimed at chemists (www.chemleaders.com) but applicable to other fields of science and engineering as well.

–Deborah L. Illman, Ph.D.
University of Washington
illman@u.washington.edu

What leads to successful outcomes? “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Learning methods to illustrate concepts and bring those learning with you toward your knowledge level. Publications and texts such as Edward Tufte’s visual explanation series are valuable. The deliberate practice of these skills in mock situations is valuable. Training and practice are key. The National Research Council has helpful publications concerning how students learn and how to teach science. Workshops and coursework as described in this column are crucial. The mere recognition of this as an issue, and in the academic setting, is the start in a better direction.

I’m interested in the role that science professional societies can play in helping to educate their members on public science communication. We all attend research conferences so it seems like an obvious place to have trainings. The problem comes in trying compress a semester of practice into a 1/2 day course. I’m looking for suggestions on ways to do this that actually do improve people’s communication skills. Has anyone done a workshop at a conference that they would recommend on this topic?

http://www.stonybrook.edu/journalism/courses_in_cs.html

The CCS also plans to offer courses to graduate students in the sciences starting in the spring semester that would be much longer versions of the workshop sessions. For more info, see http://www.stonybrook.edu/journalism/science/.

The lead trainer is Nancy Baron – and many of the readers of this blog have participated over the years, as I have (Cory Dean, Jeff Burnside, Ken Weiss, Juliet Eilperin, Tim Radford). I would highly recommend her new book to any scientist who wants to engage with the media: Escape from the Ivory Tower. (Island Press).