Mirror, mirror on the wall. Whom is science communication inclusive of, if not for all? I was taught that science is all about objectivity and rigor, and that science doesn’t care who you are. But science, like all other institutions, is susceptible to inequalities and biases. As science communicators, we know how important it … Read more
After much deliberation and debate, we are proud to announce the winners of the State Your Mission science communication challenge. We were blown away by the number and the outstanding quality of the submissions, they give us hope for the future of science advocacy. At the same time, we feel sad that we cannot place … Read more
We are excited to launch our second annual Science Communication Mission Statement Challenge today January 8th, 2019. It is an exciting time to be a science advocate as science communication is taking its much needed rightful place on social media, and is embedded in science training curricula. The number of science communication jobs and degrees … Read more
What is at the root of science denial? Our October Twitter chat focused on whether or not education plays a part in science denial and polarization of public opinion on controversial science topics. We reviewed findings from a recently published paper by Caitlin Drummond and Baruch Fischhoff, which revealed an unexpected “paradox of polarization.” We … Read more
Education strengthens science communication. Or does it??? Contrary to common sense (and conventional science communication approaches), increasing scientific education may actually enhances polarization in public opinion on controversial issues in science! We refer to this dynamic as the paradox of polarization. This month we are reviewing the article, “Individuals with Greater Science Literacy and … Read more
During our April Twitter chat, we discussed the topic of “Building Public Trust in Science: Communicating Science Across the Partisan Divide.” We were joined by special guest, Mark Smith (@MS71541719), Honorable Mention Winner of our State Your Mission Challenge and former climate change skeptic turned environmental advocate. To kick off our discussion, we briefly reviewed … Read more
We received some awesome mission statement submissions during last month’s State Your Mission Challenge! One of our favorite mission statements got us thinking about some intriguing questions… Science (and by default, scientists) has become quite politicized, particularly around certain issues that are often the focus of partisan debates, such as climate change. How can … Read more
Earlier this year we challenged the scientific community to enter our State Your Mission Challenge and create a mission statement for their science outreach efforts. To our delight, our challenge was accepted and we had 20 wonderful submissions via Twitter and Instagram. How we chose a winner We had a specific set of criteria for … Read more
Happy New Year! The New Year is here and you’re probably planning your science outreach efforts. We are curious to know how you are planning to share the important benefits of science through your outreach efforts, to whom you will be reaching out, and why you think your approach will make a difference. Here … Read more
Are science comics an effective tool for STEM education? On November 7, Echo Rivera hosted our #scicommJC Twitter chat where she summarized a publication addressing the effectiveness of science comics. There was also an activity as part of this Twitter chat. Participants were asked to draw a comic or cartoon to explain a topic they normally teach. … Read more