Science Communication Course Directory Published

As the science community has recognized the vital role of communicating to the public, science communication training has proliferated. The development of rigorous, comparable approaches to assessment of training has not kept pace. We conducted a fully controlled experiment using a semester-long science communication course, and audience assessment of communicator performance. Evaluators scored the communication competence of trainees and their matched, untrained controls, before and after training. Bayesian analysis of the data showed very small gains in communication skills of trainees, and no difference from untrained controls. High variance in scores suggests little agreement on what constitutes “good” communication.

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Lessons From the Pandemic: Engaging Wicked Problems With Transdisciplinary Deliberation

Journal of Communication Pedagogy ◽

10.31446/jcp.2021.2.17 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 164-171

Author(s):

Miles Coleman ◽

Susana Santos ◽

Joy Cypher ◽

Claude Krummenacher ◽

Robert Fleming

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Science Communication ◽

Wicked Problems ◽

Public Deliberation ◽

Academic Departments ◽

Collaborative Effort ◽

Fake News ◽

Communication Course ◽

Participatory Decision Making ◽

Large Complex

Some crises, such as those brought on or exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, are wicked problems—large, complex problems with no immediate answer. As such, they make rich centerpieces for learning with respect to public deliberation and issue-based dialogue. This essay reflects on an experimental, transdisciplinary health and science communication course entitled Comprehending COVID-19. The course represents a collaborative effort among 14 faculty representing 10 different academic departments to create a resource for teaching students how to deliberate the pandemic, despite its attending, oversaturated, fake-news-infused, infodemic. We offer transdisciplinary deliberation as a pedagogical framework to expand communication repertoires in ways useful for sifting through the messiness of an infodemic while also developing key deliberation skills for productively engaging participatory decision-making with concern to wicked problems.

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Thirty Years of a Science Communication Course in Australia

Science Communication ◽

10.1177/1075547017696166 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 169-194 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Merryn McKinnon ◽

Chris Bryant

Keyword(s):

Career Paths ◽

Science Communication ◽

Academic Discipline ◽

Communication Training ◽

Communication Course ◽

Skill Sets ◽

Growth Of Science ◽

University Degree

Since 1985, the Science Circus program has recruited science graduates Australia-wide and provided them with science communication training leading to a university degree. On qualifying these graduates demonstrate highly diverse career paths reflecting the relevance of science communication training to other disciplines. Graduates, by their activities, have contributed to the growth of science communication as an academic discipline and an “industry”—both in Australia and abroad. It suggests that science communication training can have impact far beyond narrowly defined disciplines and skill sets, and this impact is worthy of further exploration.

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Using Digital Knowledge Maps to Integrate Technology into Pre-Service Teacher Education

Literacy Enrichment and Technology Integration in Pre-Service Teacher Education - Advances in Higher Education and Professional Development ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-4924-8.ch008 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 128-146

Author(s):

Ria Hanewald

Keyword(s):

Information And Communication Technologies ◽

Science Communication ◽

Visual Literacy ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Research Approach ◽

Mixed Method Research ◽

Knowledge Maps ◽

Communication Course ◽

Digital Knowledge ◽

Survey Interviews

This chapter reports on the fostering of visual literacy skills through the integration of technology, specifically digital knowledge maps into a science communication course for 118 students at an Australian university. The aim of this action research is the enrichment of the existing course by fostering visual literacy and collaboration skills in students and integrating technology (i.e., C-maps tools for digital knowledge mapping) in order to prepare these future science teachers for the demands of the 21st century classroom. A mixed method research approach is employed for the data collection, which consists of three instruments: a survey, interviews, and student-generated artefacts. Findings indicate that students’ feedback on the integration of this technology and visual literacy enrichment experience is by and large positive as it helps them with their effective use of information and communication technologies (Web 2.0 tools) and develop their collaboration and visual literacy skills.

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