PopScience: Teaching students to Communicate Scientific Findings to the General Public

Abstract

Scientific communication has become more important than ever before, yet most scientists are not trained in how to communicate their research findings to the general public. The PopScience assignment is a semester-long writing and oral communication project that focuses on how to communicate primary scientific literature to the general public. The overall goals of the PopScience project are to teach students how to: 1) critically evaluate neuroscience primary literature, and 2) translate and convey primary literature findings to a lay audience. Students completed a pre- and post- assignment perceptive assessment to evaluate the skills they obtained (e.g., reading comprehension and critical thinking), and the effectiveness of the assignment in improving these skills. Students reported that overall, the assignment improved their ability to read primary literature articles and explain them to a lay audience. Self-evaluation and professor assessments suggest the PopScience assignment also improved student's ability to integrate and summarize results from multiple sources, as well as identify and explain neuroscience terminology that often leads to confusion for lay audiences. In conclusion, this assignment teaches students how to communicate basic neuroscience to the general public, a skill that continues to be critical in successful scientific careers.

Keywords: neuroscience; primary neuroscience literature; scientific communication; undergraduate education.

Figure 1

Student confidence question: students were asked to rate their confidence in ability to read primary neuroscience literature and explain it to a general audience with no scientific background. A 1 represented “No idea” and a 10 represented “Confident.” This result demonstrates a significant improvement in presenting primary literature to a lay audience, **** p<0.0001.

Figure 2

Comparative assessment of student learning: questionnaire items that demonstrate significant improvement from pre- to post-assignment. Students were asked to rate each skill on a 10-point scale, with one representing never used, and 10 meaning they have mastered that skill. Significant t-test comparisons **p<0.01, ***p<0.001, ****p<0.0001, *****p<0.00001, ******p<0.000001.