Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Oct 24;7(23):10124-10130.
doi: 10.1002/ece3.3501. eCollection 2017 Dec.

Broadening the voice of science: Promoting scientific communication in the undergraduate classroom

Lauren A Cirino  1 , Zachary Emberts  2 , Paul N Joseph  1 , Pablo E Allen  1 , David Lopatto  3 , Christine W Miller  1
Affiliations

Broadening the voice of science: Promoting scientific communication in the undergraduate classroom

Lauren A Cirino et al. Ecol Evol. .

Abstract

Effective and accurate communication of scientific findings is essential. Unfortunately, scientists are not always well trained in how to best communicate their results with other scientists nor do all appreciate the importance of speaking with the public. Here, we provide an example of how the development of oral communication skills can be integrated with research experiences at the undergraduate level. We describe our experiences developing, running, and evaluating a course for undergraduates that complemented their existing undergraduate research experiences with instruction on the nature of science and intensive training on the development of science communication skills. Students delivered science talks, research monologues, and poster presentations about the ecological and evolutionary research in which they were involved. We evaluated the effectiveness of our approach using the CURE survey and a focus group. As expected, undergraduates reported strong benefits to communication skills and confidence. We provide guidance for college researchers, instructors, and administrators interested in motivating and equipping the next generation of scientists to be excellent science communicators.

Keywords: CURE; classroom‐based research; nature of science; oral communication; science skill development; undergraduate research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Self‐rated postcourse gains to skills and abilities reported by students. A rating of five is the highest gain and one is the lowest gain. The gray circles represent mean ratings of the students in the present study (our course, n = 7). For comparison, we show the overall mean gains reported by students (other CURE courses, n > 9,000) who took the CURE survey in 2014–2015, and who responded to the same CURE survey (white triangles)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Self‐rated benefits to development reported by students after the course was completed. A rating of five is the highest gain and one is the lowest gain. The gray circles represent mean ratings of the students in the present study (our course, n = 7). For comparison, we show both the average learning gains reported by other students (similar courses, white triangles) enrolled in classroom research experience and by students who completed a summer laboratory research experience in 2014 and completed the Survey of Undergraduate Research Experiences (typical summer research course, white squares)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Anaya, G. (1999). College impact on student learning: Comparing the use of self‐reported gains, standardized test scores, and college grades. Research in Higher Education, 40(5), 499–526.
    1. Auchincloss, L. C. , Laursen, S. L. , Branchaw, J. L. , Eagan, K. , Graham, M. , Hanauer, D. I. , Lawrie, G. , McLinn, C. M. , Pelaez, N. , Rowland, S. , Towns, M. , Trautmann, N. M. , Varma‐Nelson, P. , Weston, T. J. , & Dolan, E. L. (2014). Assessment of Course‐Based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A Meeting Report. CBE Life Sci Educ, 13, 29–40. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Besley, J. C. , Dudo, A. , & Storksdieck, M. (2015). Scientists’ views about communication training. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(2), 199–220.
    1. Brownell, S. E. , & Kloser, M. J. (2015). Toward a conceptual framework for measuring the effectiveness of course‐based undergraduate research experiences in undergraduate biology. Studies in Higher Education, 40(3), 525–544.
    1. Brownell, S. E. , Price, J. V. , & Steinman, L. (2013). Science communication to the general public: Why we need to teach undergraduate and graduate students this skill as part of their formal scientific training. Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education: A Publication of FUN, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, 12(1), E6–E10. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources