Teaching Scientific Communication within an REU Bec Batchelor and Val Sloan September 2016

Why teach scientific communication? Teach critical scientific skills Awesome presentations Develop scientific identity Why teach scientific communication? Build confidence Create a community Provide a “touch point”

To address all of these aims, we work hard to make our scientific communications workshops: Supportive Active Engaging While also providing students with the tools to be scientifically successful!

In this presentation we will discuss: Creating a supportive learning environment Elements of scientific communication training Tips on providing feedback Text-book resources Ideas for teaching scientific communication in different ways!

Building a supportive environment https://magistersapiens.wordpress.com/1-the-use-of-learning-theories-and-styles-in-classical-studies-and-junior-english/ Be explicit – right from the start, outline expectations of respect and supportive, not-competitive community Don’t be afraid to address realities – whether it’s a traumatic current event or the challenge of mentor management…

Respect & understanding in your summer program Be respectful of all individuals and their viewpoints. Listen to what individuals’ lives are like and the experiences they’ve had in the world. Don’t rush the process of trying to understand a person’s experiences or identity. Don’t criticize people for being different. Don’t force your values on others. Develop trust and openness and allow people to be who they are without pressure or judgment. SOARS Center for Higher Education NCAR UCAR air • planet • people

Being around people who are different from us makes us more creative, more diligent and harder-working Scientific American, 2014 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/

What should I include? To some extent it depends on your scientific outputs (poster, presentation, paper, all of the above?) and how much time you assign to your workshops! Student presenting

What do I include? Intro to scientific communication Examples of a scientific paper/poster/presentation How to read a paper Elevator speech Parts of a paper (or poster etc) Creating scientific posters Effective presentations Summary and conference abstracts Ethics Other additions: Work plans and research management Literature reviews Peer review Proposals CVs and resumes Professional etiquette Student presenting

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1795

Syllabus Examples A 4- workshop example: For a 9-workshop example, see the SOARS syllabus – see handout Syllabus, with content and homework deadlines is shared with mentors in advance (and reminders are sent out) Student presenting

Feedback Personal feedback is really important! Different ways this can be done: Writing mentors Peer review Time for working in class You provide feedback on their work* ALONG-THE-WAY DEADLINES ARE VALUABLE! * Not highly recommended…

Text-book Resources Eloquent Science: A practical guide to becoming a better writer, speaker and atmospheric scientist: David Schultz Writing Science: How to write papers that get cited and proposals that get funded, Joshua Schimel Science Research Writing: For non-native speakers of English: Hilary Glasman-Deal

How do I teach it?* Student presenting * We know most of you are way more experienced educators than we are! We just wanted to share some of the activities we’ve used….

The Elevator Speech An approximately thirty second summary of your research for a general audience (i.e. gets straight to the point!), that you can pull out on any occasion You should assume you have a smart listener, but one who doesn’t know anything much about your topic The Elevator Speech: An approximately one minute summary of your research for a general audience (i.e. gets straight to the point!), that you can pull out on any occasion You should assume you have a smart listener, but one who doesn’t know anything much about your topic

The Recipe Start with the big picture Explain why we care Put your research into the context of the big picture Leave out the specifics and no jargon! The recipe: Start with the big picture Explain why we care Put your research into the context of the big picture Leave out the specifics and no jargon!

Elevator speech about your REU The recipe: Start with the big picture Explain why we care Put your research into the context of the big picture Leave out the specifics and no jargon!

What is a scientific poster? Provide a collection of posters (good and bad) Ask students to discuss them as they look around What makes a good one? What are the components?

Silly poster game Discuss the key components of a research project Invent research Make a poster Present it! Benefits: The importance of storytelling Building familiarity with a new format Practice presenting Lots of laughs! (cohort building…)

For the real thing, templates help!

Practice Talks It’s really helpful to have a practice presentation mid-way through. It really helps you and the mentors check in. Some ways this can be done: A formal half-length talk No prep: describe research to the group With mentors and staff, present using a white-board only

“You teach it…” I assign teaching about the sections of a paper, creating great posters and giving good presentations to the students. I break them into groups of 4 across our labs. The rules: You have no more than 2 hours to prepare You have 20 minutes to present Everyone must be included Be as creative as you like!

Why it works Helps with engaging different learning styles Requires depth learning in order to teach Builds comfort presenting Strengthens cohort Fun! Hints: Save a time for discussion/debrief; ask questions; collect presentations in advance!

The crash course works for posters, presentations and abstracts! Introduce the format and tips Provide template Have class create their presentation Present it at the end!

How to prepare a scientific talk

General rule is to use one slide per minute Figures, plots or pictures which you discuss Descriptive title and authors Introduction/Motivation What is the point of a presentation? To describe your research and interact with the audience. Often prior to publication, a good way to get some feedback. Methodology Conclusion Acknowledgements & future work

Today’s Challenge: Create a draft slide show about your project Add pictures to help help explain it, visually

Where do I start? Make six slides with this structure: Topic and authors Introduction and relevance (motivation) Methods Data and Results Future work Acknowledgements

2 hours later….