Science Communication Skill Building for Undergraduates

有相当多的新闻报道描述了普通公众对科学的理解不足，并对大学生对科学的误解进行了广泛的研究。将科学散文转化为一般散文的尝试往往失败，科学专业人员需要积极参与与公众的非正式交流。位于纽约州立大学斯坦布鲁克分校的迦太基学院和阿尔达科学交流中心正在与达特茅斯学院、史密斯学院和阿巴拉契亚山区俱乐部(AMC)合作，创建和传播可供学院、大学和非正式科学教育组织使用的工具、方法和材料，以培养STEM本科生的科学交流技能。该计划在培训教师和研究生方面取得了成功。该项目将利用和调整现有的研究生和专业研究人员的科学传播培训计划，作为创建新的工具和培训方法的基础，为本科生培养科学传播能力。预计随着这些学生进入劳动力市场，他们将更好地交流和解释技术概念，特别是对普通公众，并且根据当前项目的结果，他们将更有可能从事科学教育事业。所开发的工具和方法在被高等教育机构采用时，将导致一支准备更充分的技术队伍，并使普通公众更好地理解科学。该计划将包括通过对这一努力的评估和评价数据进行纵向研究，并与前几年推广计划的五年数据集进行比较，研究干预措施的有效性。

There has been considerable press describing the poor understanding of science held by the general public, and extensive research into the misunderstandings of science held by college students. Attempts to turn science prose into general prose has often failed to hit the mark, and there is a need for science professionals to engage actively in informal communication with the public. Carthage College and the Alda Center for Communicating Science at SUNY-Stonybrook, are partnering with Dartmouth College, Smith College, and the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), to create and disseminate tools, methods, and materials that can be utilized by colleges, universities, and informal science education organizations to develop the science communication skills of undergraduate STEM students. The program has been successful in training faculty and graduate students in science communication.This project will utilize and adapt the existing science communication training programs for graduate students and professional researchers as the basis for creating new tools and training methodologies to prepare undergraduate STEM students in science communication. It is expected that as these students enter the workforce, they will be better at communicating and explaining technical concepts, especially to the lay public, and based on results from the current program will be more likely to pursue careers in science education. The tools and methods developed, when adopted by higher education institutions, will lead to a better-prepared technical workforce, and better understanding of science by the general public. The program will include a study of the effectiveness of the interventions through a longitudinal study of assessment and evaluation data from this effort compared with an expansive five-year data set from prior years of the outreach program.