September 1, 2010 I am always looking for new ways to teach/communicate science. After working in a lab for years and years and years, I have gotten used to “lab-speak”. I am very, very good at reporting dry and uninteresting results to an ultimately uninterested audience. I have a little pipe-dream that some day I’ll get good at this whole communication thing. Part of my problem is that I find science interesting at face value. I think that most scientists do. We surely appreciate an amazing teacher or talented journalist, but we don’t require them to want to learn about science. The other problem that I face in trying to communicate science is that it is sometimes difficult to reach a non-scientist audience. I mean, let’s face it, if you’re reading this, you are probably a scientist, a friend/relative, or both. (You guys are the best, by the way!!). There is a disconnect between the scientist and non-scientist. It seems obvious that there should be. But, it doesn’t mean that when I tell someone that I am a chemist I should get a blank stare as a response. I think that the traditional liberal arts education is partly responsible for this type of reaction. The liberal arts education I received as an undergrad did a wonderful job of training me as a thinker. We read and discussed Plato. I took a course on the health ethics of end of life procedures. I took advanced courses in history and philosophy. However, my fellow students who were humanities/business/education majors were just not engaged with science education. Sure, they had to take some intro-level science courses to graduate. But, I don’t think that any standard science course (which by definition needs to prepare science majors for the more advanced courses) really focuses on engaging non-scientists. Its a difficult problem, and it would be great to have some solutions. There are lots of scientific problems out there that are affecting our every day lives. We all need to be fluent in the promise and shortcomings of scientific research. Bard College has taken a bold step to fill this gap in science education/appreciation. They have instituted a Citizen Science Program, which will require all first-year students to go through a three week science integration course. This year’s program will focus on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. In lab, the students will study how viruses attack bacteria and learn about the best methods for preventing the spread of disease. Outside of lab, they will see how their research on the bench translates into scientific/policy/and socio-economic decisions through plenary lectures and discussions from professionals who work with these issues every day. To read more about the Bard program, go here and here.
The liberal arts just got a little hard core!
What … you couldn’t tell that I was a scientist?
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