Achievement

IGERT Co-PI Mimi Koehl taught a course on Communicating Science to the Public as part of our curriculum. The course consisted of lectures, demonstrations, and class discussions about different ways scientists can reach out to the public to explain the process of science, scientific discoveries, and scientific information relevant to key issues. Mechanisms explored included websites, blogs, newspaper and magazine articles, television news and interviews, documentaries, radio, public displays, science museums, public lectures, science cafes, tours of scientific facilities, popular press books, toys, plays and movies, and even cartoons. Local experts with experience in various media participated by sharing their best practices. The class discussed strategies for making the issues, process, and findings of scientific research understandable to many audiences, while focusing on how to communicate effectively with journalists. Students showed what they learned through independent projects.