The Plant Science Blogging Project: A curriculum to develop student science communication skills
The Plant Science Blogging Project: A curriculum to develop student science communication skills
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DOI：
10.1002/ppp3.10287
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发表时间：
2022-07-01
影响因子：
5.1
通讯作者：
Kuebbing，Sara E.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Iriart，Veronica;Forrester，Nicole J.;Kuebbing，Sara E.
社会影响声明撰写科学博客的做法既有利于科学家和社会一样，提供专业发展的机会，并提供信息的格式，是访问大量和不同的观众。通过设计一个项目，向高年级本科生介绍以植物生物学为重点的科学博客写作，激发了学生对科学写作和热门植物科学博客网站内容的兴趣。如果更广泛地采用，这项工作可以扩大科学教育的范围，促进下一代科学家有效的科学传播技能的发展。在科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）领域追求职业生涯的学生受益于在职业生涯早期发展公共沟通技能，但传统生物学课程的机会有限。我们在2018年秋季和2019年为匹兹堡大学的植物生物学本科课程创建了“植物科学博客项目”。学生们为科普博客《植物爱情故事》和《EvoBites》撰写博文，将个人与植物的联系与植物生物学概念结合起来。通过将生物学融入他们的叙述中，学生们学会了如何与公众分享植物学知识。该项目对学生的学习和公众参与产生了积极的影响。在作业后的调查中，大多数学生报告说他们喜欢这项作业，觉得它提高了他们对植物生物学的理解，并激发了他们未来阅读和撰写科学博客的兴趣。大约三分之一的学生撰写的博客被发表，其中两个上升到前10名最多阅读的植物爱情故事的帖子。学生博客中的一些主要主题，包括医学和文化，与网络上发布的常见故事主题不同，这表明学生有可能使科学博客内容多样化。总体而言，植物科学博客项目允许本科生以新的方式参与植物生物学主题，提高他们的科学沟通能力，以适应当今大规模信息共享的世界，为传播科学知识、造福公众作出贡献。
Societal Impact StatementThe practice of writing science blogs benefits both the scientist and society alike by providing professional development opportunities and delivering information in a format that is accessible to large and diverse audiences. By designing a project that introduced upper‐level undergraduate students to science blog writing with a focus on plant biology, we piqued students' interest in science writing and the content of a popular plant science blog website. If adopted more widely, this work could broaden the scope of science education and promote the development of effective science communication skills for the next generation of scientists.SummarySuccessful scientists must communicate their research to broad audiences, including distilling key scientific concepts for the general public. Students pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields benefit from developing public communication skills early in their careers, but opportunities are limited in traditional biology curricula.We created the “Plant Science Blogging Project” for a Plant Biology undergraduate course at the University of Pittsburgh in Fall 2018 and 2019. Students wrote blog posts merging personal connections with plants with plant biology concepts for the popular science blogsPlant Love StoriesandEvoBites. By weaving biology into their narratives, students learned how to share botanical knowledge with the general public.The project had positive impacts on student learning and public engagement. In post‐assignment surveys, the majority of students reported that they enjoyed the assignment, felt it improved their understanding of plant biology, and piqued their interest in reading and writing science blogs in the future. Approximately one‐third of the student‐authored blogs were published, including two that rose to the top 10 most‐read posts on Plant Love Stories. Some dominant themes in student blogs, including medicine and culture, differed from common story themes published on the web, indicating the potential for students to diversify science blog content.Overall, the Plant Science Blogging Project allows undergraduate students to engage with plant biology topics in a new way, sharpen their scientific communication skills in accordance with today's world of mass information sharing, and contribute to the spread of scientific knowledge for public benefit.