Some colleagues and I have been conducting an informal survey examining student perceptions of their biology learning experiences. One of the questions we asked was about the types of biological issues they found the most interesting and I am sure you won’t be surprised to learn that preferences take a note from pop culture, the top three being: DNA forensics, stem cell research, and vaccine use. However, one surprise was that biotechnology ethics was at the bottom, an issue that our society is going to have to start making decisions about in the very near future - in fact it is already starting to make its own debut appearances on TV, and perhaps that is what it takes.

Last week’s Private Practice episode had the dutiful Naomi in the middle of a heated debate over embryo selection to help a dwarf couple who wanted to select to have a dwarf child. Naomi ultimately won the battle in this episode, but not until after she was accused of impeding scientific progress. I was impressed to see this issue start to emerge in so public a forum. Scientific issues get a great surge of interest when they are presented in TV’s storytelling format, and it is no surprise that this is what the latest enthusiasm is geared toward in our considerations of how to communicate science, in the classroom or otherwise.

In my opinion, the greatest attribute of the forensic TV shows is that the viewer becomes a part of the mystery that needs to be solved and is challenged to see if they can pick up the clues before the lead characters do. The best shows defy predictability and leave us guessing until the very end. But the key is that we aren’t just guessing - we are looking at the evidence and thinking longer and harder about what the data that has been presented to us actually means. Isn’t this what science itself is all about?! These shows manage to engage people in the process of gaining insight into “how we know what we know.” Our challenge is to transfer that engagement to the real world, as this is the type of understanding we hope for as we express concern about “public understanding of science” - not the recitation of facts but a public at large who is able to look at a societal questions, consider the data that has been presented by scientific research, consider the possible outcomes, and make informed judgments about how to act.

The Understanding Science Web site, from the University of California, Museum of Paleontology, is a tremendous accomplishment in helping the scientific community and teachers communicate how science works and why it matters, but it is merely our first leap in the right direction. We have a society to re-educate … not to indoctrinate, but to invite to participate in the joy of understanding that, yes, science is a body of information, but each bit of information in that body is the result of an amazing story … of a person or group of people who asked questions, investigated a mystery, failed, triumphed, laughed, cried, and that same piece of information is the beginning of another story that will change, challenge, or help grow the stories that came before it. We can only imagine - if we become successful in this endeavor, students in our survey will select the issues where fact has more compelling stories than fiction, and they themselves will recognize that they are participants in determining the outcomes to issues they express little interest in today - like alternative energy and habitat fragmentation.

Posted by at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Welcome to our new COPUS blogger Sonia Bhangoo! Sonia is a Post-doctoral Fellow at the National Institutes of Health conducting research on chronic pain. She has volunteered to help with COPUS, because she is passionate about connecting science to the public. We are thrilled to have Sonia as part of our COPUS team!

January was quite the time to be in Washington, DC. The energy surrounding the arrival of a new President at the White house could be felt in the cold January air. However as the next few months passed, and the new administration settled down in the nation’s capital, questions of who will lead the various government agencies arose. One such agency near and dear to our hearts is the world renowned National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH is at the front line when it comes to science, providing financial support for medical research in every state and around the world.

On Monday August 17th, 2009, Dr. Francis Collins was sworn in as the 16th director of the NIH. For the past decade, Dr. Collins had been serving as the director for the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the NIH. His work and leadership led the institute to prestige in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book. Being a top leader at the NIH, while authoring several books on the importance of research and medicine, shows his appreciation for science.

While his scientific career is well known and appreciated, some out there may not know his softer side. Dr. Collins recently made an appearance on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. His witty remarks and ability to develop a comic rapport with Steven Colbert show that not only is he a successful scientist, but can also be someone who brings ease and understanding to the often complex world of science. This was especially apparent in his response concerning cloning and stem cell research after Colbert expressed his desire for crab claws!

As you know, the mission of COPUS is to bring science to the forefront of the public eye and increase their public understanding of the nature of science and its value to society. Having a leader like Dr. Collins will help further this effort. His ability to communicate to the public the necessity for biomedical research and how it can further our society is a welcome sight to the scientists who dedicate their lives to the exploration of science. Seeing the public understand, value and appreciate research is the ultimate goal that we all hope to achieve. A new director at the helm will bring a different perspective and a different way achieving this goal. Welcome Dr. Collins!

In case you missed his appearance on the Colbert Report, check it out here:

Posted by Sheri Potter at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Welcome to our new COPUS blogger and Regional Hub Coordinator Jennifer Skene! Jennifer is a post doc at the University of California, Museum of Paleontology diving in to science education -- and will be a regular blogger here at COPUS. We are thrilled to have her join the COPUS team!

COPUS Regional Hubs are doing great things, across the country! This is the first in a series of blogs to update you on Regional Hub activities. We'll share the strategies that are working for each Regional Hub, and introduce you to the people who are making things happen.

I recently spoke to Natalie Kuldell, one of the liaisons of the Cambridge Regional Hub, and an Instructor of Biological Engineering at MIT. Natalie, along with co-leaders Ben Wiehe of WGBH, and Marie Studer of the Encyclopedia of Life, meet with the Cambridge hub members every other month. They don't meet at the member organizations' offices. Instead, they meet in a neutral space, like a bar (I love the idea of a hub in a pub!) or a municipal building. They start with a 30-minute talk about a topic of general interest, and then break for snacks and networking. The hub members suggest the topics for the meetings. "We want it to be group directed, not top-down," says Natalie. Some of the topics suggested for future meetings include how to improve an organization's web presence, and how to better interact with the press. Right now, the challenge is to develop a good communication tool, so that everyone can participate in planning the hub meetings and can coordinate on collaborative activities. They're experimenting with a Google Group - I'll keep you posted on how it works out.

Networking is central to the Cambridge hub's strategy; the Cambridge area has lots of science resources, and COPUS brings different groups together. Natalie says it's been great for people with complementary interests to connect and talk about how they can help each other out. The Cambridge hub meetings have resulted in a few collaborations already: several MIT graduate students have spoken at the science cafés organized by Ben Wiehe.

As an instructor at MIT, Natalie designs the curriculum for the biological engineering undergraduate major and teaches several research-based courses - learn more about her work here. Natalie wants "scientists to be spokespeople for science." Especially in the area of biological engineering - "bioengineering is a field that needs a good public interface, so people can get a good idea of what bioengineering can and can't do." She hopes that when her students are asked about bioengineering issues, like genetically modified food, they can be articulate providers of good information. In the classroom, Natalie works with about 100 students each year. Her involvement with COPUS lets her interact with a much broader group.

Do you have suggestions or strategies you'd like to share with other COPUS Regional Hubs? Or questions about how other hubs operate? Email me at skene@berkeley.edu

Posted by Sheri Potter at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There was a magical moment last week when I escaped my kids for two hours to meet a friend at the closest tiki bar for some laughter and relaxation — but something from that day still haunts me.

For those of you who don’t know me, I have the quintessential waitress personality. I talk to everyone I am near, and usually end up making a new friend or at least having a nice, interesting conversation. That is why, as I was waiting for my friend to arrive, I was listening to the conversation between the bartender and the patron closest to me to see if I could find an opportunity to jump in. The conversation went down something like this:

Patron: Unseasonably hot this year, huh?
Bartender: (noticeably dripping with sweat in mid-September) Man, it sure is - must be that global warming.
Patron: (Heckling) Yeah “global warming.” If that is what this is about.
Sheri: (Trying to be smooth) So, that global warming is pretty crazy stuff, huh?
Patron: Eh, I think it is bunk — this is just normal temperature fluctuation, nothing to get worked up about.
Sheri: (Totally shocked) So you don’t think global warming is real?
Patron: What are you, some advocate or something?
Sheri: Well, the scientific community thinks that global warming absolutely is happening and happening faster than the original projections. I am kinda worried that my house will be under water in the next couple decades.
Patron: Hmph, well, we just don’t know what is going to happen. (Turns his head away and avoids further conversation.)

All of a sudden I had been shunned… and repeated efforts to reengage in idle conversation were complete failures. I don’t take failure to socialize lightly. This was a major attack on my sensibilities! And here we are a week later, and I still can’t get that guy’s face out of my mind — where had I gone wrong? Was it because I tried to talk about the “S” word (science)??

Back in the early days of COPUS, a colleague told me: “That is great you are doing this Year of Science thing to reengage with the public — but really it is not that broken.” I have spent the last three years personally deciding if I think this statement is true — collecting evidence, like this exchange at the tiki bar, to form my own impression about whether or not we need more science in our culture. From my personal and professional observations — the evidence is overwhelming! I am stunned that anyone could think it is not broken!

So, as we roll into the third quarter of the Year of Science 2009, we are spending a lot of time asking ourselves the two questions that we asked of you: What did we get out of 2009? Should these efforts continue? The chasm between science and society is BIG, and we can see that our journey together has only just begun. We hope that you will join us in providing your input on how to move forward as a community that is passionate to impart change — our collective voice and activities will have far more impact than any one of us alone. And maybe through our work together, the day will come (hopefully before the tiki bar is under water) when I listen to the patron next to me say “scientists say this global warming stuff is serious, aren’t you glad this bar’s light bulbs are CFL’s?” That will be a moment to toast.

Posted by at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I received a hand written thank you note today from Doral Hurd, senior volunteer at the San Diego Archaeological Center. Wow, did that make me feel good - the joy of receiving a hand written note is something that email will never be able to replace! She was writing to thank us for sending her the Understanding Science posters from last month's giveaway.

We are really excited about how the poster giveaway came together. For those of you who didn't hear - it all started with a $100 donation from our colleague Dejan Petrovic at Dejan SEO in Croatia. We thought it would be nice to use that money to mail some Understanding Science posters, leftover from a conference. So we posted a link on our newsletter to see who was interested. But we never expected the size of the response. By the time it was over we gave out 10,000 posters to people in 49 states plus India, Greece, Canada, Argentina, Portugal, UK, Colombia, Oman, Philippines, Germany, Ecuador, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, Pakistan, Barbados, and Switzerland!

The additional funds to pay for this came predominately from Dejan who rallied 21 of his colleagues to give an additional $100 each (or more!). Encyclopedia of Life followed with a wonderful contribution, as did a philanthropist friend of Judy Scotchmoor's in California (Judy is my partner in crime on all things COPUS). (To see the full list, check out the logos on the bottom of the Year of Science 2009 home page!)

COPUS was pleased to share this wonderful resource with so many. The whole experience was a great one for us, we never expected 900 responses to the request (I am sorry I had to turn off the form!), and we were thrilled by the way our friends stepped up to help us meet the need. We hope you all enjoy the posters... and thank you for all you do in support of science!

Posted by Sheri Potter at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Media Contact:

ajb@botany.org            

For Immediate Release 

Three upcoming articles look into the ways plant biologists can improve science communication with students and the general public

Society needs science, and scientists need an informed, thoughtful, and open-minded citizenry. Thus, the obvious dependence of American society on science is strikingly inconsistent with the low level of scientific literacy among U. S. citizens. By establishing 2009 as the "Year of Science," professional scientific organizations and grassroots, citizens-for-science groups hope to bring a renewed and invigorated focus on the importance of science now and in the future. As knowledge experts and educators, practicing scientists are key players in advancing the scientific literacy agenda.

As part of its 2008 annual meeting, the Botanical Society of America (BSA) organized a symposium to help inform attendees about the issues involved in scientific literacy as well as the progress achieved toward the goal of obtaining a public that is better informed and more accepting of scientific achievements and science in general. There were five presentations during the symposium: Marshall Sundberg discussed the PlantingScience initiative developed by the BSA (www.PlantingScience.org), Gordon Uno showed how developing botanical literacy among our students can contribute to scientific literacy, Judith Scotchmoor illustrated how she and her colleagues have developed educational outreach and resources for helping teachers teach the process of science to their students, and Matthew Nisbet and Dietram Scheufele each discussed different aspects of science communication and the public.

Papers based on these presentations will be published in the October issue of the American Journal of Botany and will remain free for viewing. All of the papers--including the introduction by Christopher Haufler and Marshall Sundberg (http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/reprint/ajb.0900241v1)--show how both passive and active forces have contributed to current concerns about scientific literacy.

In his contribution, Gordon Uno (http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/reprint/ajb.0900025v1) summarizes why it is important for scientists in general and botanists in particular to invigorate science teaching with inquiry methods. He illustrates the challenges we face because students lack critical thinking skills, are generally uninformed about plants, and many are actually hostile toward learning about plant biology. To improve this situation, Uno provides seven principles of learning that make recommendations about how botanists should teach, including using themes and "thinking botanically" to illustrate all biological concepts.

Judith Scotchmoor and her colleagues Anastasia Thanukos and Sheri Potter (http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/reprint/ajb.0900014v1) discuss efforts targeted at raising public awareness of science (via COPUS, the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science) and provide resources that are available to teachers who seek to weave the "process of science" into courses to inform students about how science works. By developing a public that is more actively aware of science as part of their lives, both citizens in general and students in particular are more likely to be interested in learning about science. Scotchmoor et al. also discuss the web-based project called "Understanding Science" that aims to improve teacher understanding of the nature of the scientific enterprise, provide resources that encourage and enable K-16 teachers to reinforce the nature of science throughout their teaching, and serve as a clear and accessible reference that accurately portrays the scientific endeavor.

Matthew Nisbet and Dietram Scheufele (http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/reprint/ajb.0900041v1) melded their presentations into a joint-authored paper to discuss efforts targeted at raising public awareness of science. As researchers into communication about science, these authors illustrate that building a public that is more receptive to science requires more than enhancing scientific literacy. They emphasize that science communication efforts need to be based on a systematic, empirical understanding of the intended audience's existing values, knowledge, and attitudes, their interpersonal and social contexts, and their preferred media sources and communication channels.

Taken together, this set of papers captures current issues about the public understanding of science, illustrates why greater emphasis on helping students understand and appreciate the process of science is so important, and provides insights and perspectives on what all practicing scientists can do to build a more receptive audience. It appears that in some respects academic scientists are contributing to the problem because we tend to teach content (facts about biology) rather than process (how to learn about biology). We need to help our students understand how scientists actually do our work, and we should learn about the social dynamics involved with scientific communication. Each of the papers presents different elements of making us more aware of the challenges we face, better prepared to help our students appreciate and learn about science, and in general enhancing our capacity to change the future. Practicing scientists should be active participants in making sure that scientific literacy improves for new generations of students.

###

The full articles in the links mentioned are available for no charge for 30 days following the date of this summary at http://www.amjbot.org/papbyrecent.dtl. After this date, reporters may contact Richard Hund at ajb@botany.org for a copy of the article.

The Botanical Society of America (www.botany.org) is a non-profit membership society with a mission to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. It has published the American Journal of Botany (www.amjbot.org) for nearly 100 years. In 2009, the Special Libraries Association named the American Journal of Botany one of the Top 10 Most Influential Journals of the Century in the field of Biology and Medicine.

For further information, please contact the AJB staff at ajb@botany.org.

Posted by at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

How do you learn fun new information about science?

a) Newspaper
b) TV
c) The Internet
d) The Science Zine that I found on a bench while I was waiting for the bus

If answer d) seems totally strange and you have no idea what a Science Zine is, or even how to pronounce it, read on!

A zine (pronounced zeen) is a little magazine. Science Zines are a cool way to convey scientific knowledge - a fusion of art and science that fits in the palm of your hand. Check out The Small Science Collective for some examples - this website has lots of Science Zines that you can print out, read, and then leave in public places for random strangers to enjoy.

You don’t have to limit yourself to reading Science Zines - you can create your own! The Year of Science 2009 is sponsoring a Zine-a-thon Contest, awarding prizes for the best Science Zines.

First come up with a science topic - your topic can be anything, but it should fit in with one of the Year of Science themes. Next, make a zine by folding an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper into little book with 8 mini-pages. (Folding is easy, no origami experience required! Check out the easy folding instructions.) Then, be like da Vinci and combine art and science! Zines must be sent in and postmarked by November 1, 2009. For more info, visit the Zine-a-thon Contest website.

I’m going to write a Science Zine version of my dissertation - I’ll squeeze 6 years of research onto those 8 tiny pages. Look for it on a bus stop bench near you!

Links:

small science collective
http://smallsciencezines.blogspot.com/

Year of Science
http://www.yearofscience2009.org/home/

Year of Science contest
http://www.yearofscience2009.org/about/zine-contest.html

Year of Science themes
http://www.yearofscience2009.org/themes/

folding instructions
http://www.yearofscience2009.org/about/ZineFoldingInstructions.pdf

Posting submitted by:
Jennifer Skene, University of California Museum of Paleontology

Posted by at 5:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We are looking for science teachers who are willing to be interviewed for inclusion in a book for parents about the science of how alcohol affects teens’ bodies. Teachers will be asked for advice on how parents can explain and engage teens in science. If you are also, or have been, a parent of a middle school student, that would be a plus.

The book, tentatively titled Delaying that First Drink, will be published this fall by AAAS. I am doing the research and writing it. The book will accompany a series of lesson plans for middle school students on the science of how alcohol. The science portion is centered around body systems and how they are interrelated and affected by alcohol, as well as new brain research showing that kids’ brains are affected differently than adults’ by drinking.

You can check us out on Facebook, and become a fan if you’re interested.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Science-Inside-Alcohol/33451484521. Please email or call me - Aimee Stern, aimee@sterncommdc.com or 202-744-5004 if you can help us with the book.

This post contributed by:

Stern Communications
9903 Forest Grove Drive
Silver Spring, MD 20902
202-744-5004
aimee@sterncommdc.com
sterncommdc.blogspot.com

Posted by at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This blog posting was contributed by our Ohio Regional Hub leader. I thought others might enjoy reading it!

Dear COPUS Hub Colleagues:

This morning during the call I was asked about the role of our Public TV/Radio stations. We work in Cleveland with ideastream (a partnership of Cleveland’s WVIZ-TV PBS and WCPN-Radio NPR), although our outreach work is statewide. They serve as our non-profit fiscal agent. Aside from being the largest PBS/NPR outlet in Ohio, they also operate the Ohio Channel in Columbus, which covers state level government. Through their work, we are part of a network of all the PBS/NPR outlets in Ohio. For an indirect fee on our income, they provide us with office space, phones, computers, financial services, etc. We, in turn, look for opportunities to involve them in science & math outreach. Below is just one example of an activity done jointly between WVIZ TV, Great Lakes Science Center, SMART Consortium (one of OMSC’s teacher quality member organizations), and a panel of National Board Certified middle school science teachers. We received production funding from eTech Ohio - part of the state’s teacher quality initiatives for digital learning. Now, very little of this is new from a content perspective, but our design concept was to give teachers background knowledge, pedagogy, and additional resources so that a more inquiry-based approach could be taken to the study of the concepts in the videos. The first 20 episodes are here We are in the process of doing 8 more related to thermodynamics, convection, conduction, more air pressure, etc. to get at interactions of the hydrosphere and atmosphere.

http://www.wviz.org/psi/

The other current project is the production of the twenty-two 45-second STEM Ed viral media public awareness spots I mentioned this morning. Those start to roll out in April. They will show students and families some intriguing topics from science, engineering, mathematics, and technology that we hope will inspire students to seek careers in these areas. Resources for parents - including career preparation and college scholarship/apprenticeship opportunities will also be made available through a Web site dedicated specifically to this project. This is just in DRAFT, but we will probably be using something like this for outreach and conversation:
www.conduitohio.ning.com

Also look at our “Ideas” special news report from April 2008 http://www.wviz.org/index.php/WVIZ/ideas/ on Ohio’s schools and the crisis in STEM education. The relationship with media is complex, but workable. If it is objective and informs the community, then we can sometimes arrange to get news coverage. Such efforts are held to strict practices of news reporting. We can also purchase air time or underwriting and make more subjective advocacy announcements on a fee-based arrangement.

Feel free to write or call to discuss any of this in more depth.

George Viebranz, Executive Director

Ohio Mathematics and Science Coalition

www.OhioMSC.org

Posted by at 6:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)