This weekend I attended and presented at ASMCUE (American Society for Microbiology Undergraduate Education) where we discussed how to integrate science communication into undergraduate STEM curriculum. At the end of this post is my presentation along with a few rubrics you can use in your own classroom
Ask yourself this: How many of your STEM students end up attending professional school once they graduate from your institute?
In many cases students do not directly attend professional school after graduating and don’t necessarily utilize the writing skills they have obtained in undergraduate STEM courses like writing laboratory reports or scientific posters. However, they are still using social media professionally and personally.
Majority of folks obtain STEM news from the Internet
Shouldn’t we practice Scicomm in our classrooms?
Many of our students will be teaching, using social media in their careers and explaining science to their family members and members of their local communities. Having students practice science communication also helps students learn the science more deeply and create virtual learning environments (see slide show for more information). Also many instructors would prefer to evaluate a blog post over a 5 page laboratory report when assessing understanding of various scientific concepts.
Attached is my presentation and the various ways in which I have incorporated Scicomm into our undergraduate STEM education program. If you have questions or want to discuss this information further (get instructions or other rubrics) please feel free contact me.
One thing to note: I recommend only incorporating 1-2 types of media in each course, keep instructions and assignments simple and easy to assess in your STEM courses.
Aimee M Hollander, PhD 