A project-based course for a new generation of science communicators
Simone Härri — a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph — leads a hands-on course that promotes better conversations between the scientific community and a curious, informed public.
The disconnect between scientists and the public might stem from struggling through years of mandatory science classes, or failing to understand scientific journals that read more like Ancient Greek than English. In the age of the Internet and social media, widespread misinformation on science-based issues promotes the agendas of climate change deniers and anti-vaxxers alike.
“You don’t trust what you don’t understand. Writing should be very simple when the concept is complicated,” explained Härri, who teaches ENVS*2230 or Communications for the Environmental Sciences. “Even [as] an expert in the field, I find those papers are really written poorly.”To combat the issue, Härri teaches students to communicate verbally and visually to both the science community and the general public.The course is a little unconventional. There are no tests or quizzes, no midterm or final exams, and no textbook. Instead, students complete projects: presenting research papers to scientific and general audiences, data analysis, writing an entire journal article from a set of numbers, designing a poster, and a completely open-ended final communications piece. The textbook is replaced by a $27.00 subscription to Top Hat, an app that lets students answer questions to solidify each concept.
Studies have shown that students remember the answer they gave, even if it’s wrong, so Härri asks multiple questions to lead students to the correct answer. If a student scores 85 per cent or higher on the semester’s questions, they get 5 per cent added to their final mark.
“ENVS*2230 is skills based but less content related. I find you can’t teach skills without the students actually practicing the skills,” said Härri. “The idea is to have time within the classroom to do smaller exercises and get my feedback instantly. Top Hat slows things down, so you can’t put as much content in your class. I actually think that is a big advantage.”
Härri also teaches courses on climate change, an issue famously misrepresented by right-wing media outlets. In 2012, Trump tweeted that climate change is a hoax made up by the Chinese government and hasn’t stopped misinforming his followers since.
“There are so many people who think science is something you can choose to believe in or not. If a leader of one of the most important countries is saying things that are outrageous and with no scientific background, you start to wonder what’s going wrong,” said Härri. “I think a big part of it is that not all scientists learned how to communicate well. It has huge consequences; in the end some of the big decisions are not [made] by scientists.”Science can be communicated effectively to the public, as seen through Bill Nye the Science Guy, YouTube videos, documentaries, and reliable news sources.
“For a few semesters I taught the course Impacts of Climate Change. It’s one of the few environmental science electives for non-science students,” Härri said.
“I had a few students who were terrified of taking the course and they were always asking me, ‘I’ve always hated science class, do you think I can do this? Should I be scared of this?’ and I was like, ‘I know you can do this,’” she continued. “And then afterwards they were like, ‘I can do science! I didn’t know science could be so fun!’”
“That’s what I would like to convince many people of. I love teaching at university because you guys are our future,” said Härri.
A good instructor is a good science communicator, and Härri hopes that scientists and the public will soon come to understand one another.
Photo by Mariah Bridgeman/The Ontarion.