ECTS credits ECTS credits: 3
ECTS Hours Rules/Memories Student's work ECTS: 51 Hours of tutorials: 3 Expository Class: 9 Interactive Classroom: 12 Total: 75
Use languages Spanish, Galician
Type: Ordinary subject Master’s Degree RD 1393/2007 - 822/2021
Center Faculty of Biology
Call: First Semester
Teaching: With teaching
Enrolment: Enrollable
It is intended that students who take this course acquire a general view of the different methods of communicating science and environmental education, especially important in this era, the Anthropocene, conditioned by the global impact that human activities are having on terrestrial ecosystems. Students must reach the following general objectives:
• Learn and apply the guidelines of scientific methodology and in particular of scientific reasoning to the transmission of scientific content. Identify pseudoscientific interpretations.
• Know the main formats for the transmission of scientific knowledge.
• Be trained to transmit scientific information in at least one format.
• Be able to synthesize and expose in public and for the general public knowledge derived from scientific research.
• Know how to apply the principles and tools used in scientific communication and environmental education.
• Develop capacities for critical discussion and evaluation of scientific data related to biodiversity.
Theoretical course
1. The necessity of promoting science communication in the Anthropocene. The role of scientists in conveying science. Relationship with other disciplines.
2. Concepts: Diffusion, dissemination, and transfer.
3. Methods of diffusion.
4. Transfer.
5. Dissemination.
6. Communication formats. Methodologies common to different formats.
7. Development of a communication plan: Genres and target audience. Methodology in the process of creating scientific communication. Creation of a scientific script and its transformation into a narrative script. Dissemination in digital and traditional media. Cost calculation and indicators. Traditional formats of science communication and new possibilities. Methodologies common to different formats. Traditional formats of science communication and new possibilities. Common methodologies to the different formats.
Practical course
1. Development of a communication plan for science dissemination.
2. The students will choose an environmental topic of interest, gather documentation, develop a scientific script, and prepare a communication plan.
3. Exercises in drafting press releases, headlines, synthesis work, and interviews.
4. Development, preparation, and presentation of a project related to science dissemination on a current topic of environmental interest.
This project will be developed in-person during the practical sessions, though it can also be worked on and completed remotely. The projects will be presented orally in the classroom.
Bibliografía básica
Bennett, D.J., & Jennings, R.C. (2011). Successful science communication telling it like it is. Cambridge University Press.
Bucchi, M., & Trench, B. (Eds.). (2021). Routledge handbook of public communication of science and technology. Routledge.
Cheng, D. et al. (eds.) (2008). Communicating science in social contexts: New models, new practices. New York: Springer.
Schiele, B., Claessens, M., & Shi, S. (Eds.). (2012). Science communication in the world: practices, theories and trends. Springer Science & Business Media.
Bibliografía complementaria
Allum, N., Sturgis, P, Tabourazi, D., Brunton-Smith, I. (2008). Science knowledge and attitudes across cultures: A meta-analysis. Public Understanding of Science, 17 (1), 35-54.
Bauer, M. W. (2009). The evolution of public understanding of science discourse and comparative evidence. Science Technology & Society, 14(2), 221-240.
Cámara, M., Muñoz van den Eynde, A., & López Cerezo, J.A. (2018). Attitudes towards science among Spanish citizens: The case of critical engagers. Public Understanding of Science, 27(6), 690-707.
Cortassa, C. (2016). In science communication, why does the idea of a public deficit always return? The eternal recurrence of the public deficit. Public Understanding of Science, 25(4), 447-459.
Dudo, A., & Besley, J. C. (2016). Scientists’ prioritization of communication objectives for public engagement. PloS one, 11(2), e0148867.
Egner, H. (2007). Surprising coincidence or successful scientific communication: How did climate change enter into the current public debate?. Gaia-Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 16(4), 250-254.
Fischhoff, B., & Davis, A. L. (2014). Communicating scientific uncertainty. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(Supplement 4), 13664-13671.
Nisbet, M. C., & Scheufele, D.A. (2009). What’s next for science communication? Promising Directions and Lingering Distractions. American Journal of Botany, 96, (10), 1767-1778.
Sanz-Menéndez, L., Van Ryzin, G. G., & Del Pino, E. (2014). Citizens’ support for government spending on science and technology. Science and Public Policy, 41(5), 611-624.
Sturgis, P., & Allum, N. (2004). Science in society: re-evaluating the deficit model of public attitudes. Public understanding of science, 13(1), 55-74.
Trench, B. (2012). Vital and vulnerable: Science communication as a university subject. Science communication in the world: Practices, theories and trends, 241-257.
BASICS & GENERALS
CG01 - Acquisition of the capacity to analyse the current and future situation of terrestrial biodiversity.
CG02 - Use of the appropriate terminology for the field of terrestrial biodiversity.
CG03 - Use sources of information and databases necessary to contribute to the analysis and generate information specific to the field of terrestrial biodiversity.
CB8 - That students are able to integrate knowledge and face the complexity of formulating judgments based on information that, being incomplete or limited, includes reflections on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments.
CB9 - That the students know to communicate their conclusions and the knowledge and last reasons that sustain them to specialized and non-specialized publics in a clear and unambiguous way.
TRANSVERSALS
CT1 - Capacity for analysis and synthesis.
CT4 - Ability to obtain adequate, diverse and updated information in different languages.
CT5 - Commitment of truthfulness of the information offered to others.
CT6 - Ability to solve problems through the integrated application of knowledge.
SPECIFICS
CE13 - Ability to communicate information related to terrestrial biodiversity.
Oral explanation: teaching procedure by which the teacher presents concepts and / or procedures, providing basic information necessary to understand a theoretical perspective or a practical procedure, promoting student participation.
Practical class: developed in the field, laboratory or computer classroom, its purpose is the in situ description of the process of scientific communication and environmental education, the realization of a communication exercise through some of the formats explained and the learning and application of software and adequate hardware, with the support and supervision of the teaching staff.
Assessment will be based on the practical work completed by the students, which will be submitted in report format.
1. For the practical task "Development of a communication plan for science dissemination," the evaluation of the written report will account for 40% of the final grade. This will be based on the presentation of a report that includes a description of the target audience, the script of the work to be communicated, the dissemination plan, and, if possible, the video or material intended to be produced. The oral presentation of the communication plan in the classroom will account for 20% of the final grade.
2. The exercises in drafting press releases, headlines, synthesis work, and interviews will account for 30% of the final grade. Participation and involvement in the practical activities of the course will account for 10% of the final grade.
MINIMUM SCORE MAXIMUM SCORE
Evaluation of the Written report of communication plan 0 40
Evaluation of oral presentation of the communication plan 0 20
Evaluation of practical exercises 0 30
Participation and engagement 0 10
Hours Time in person (%)
Theoretical classes 7 100
Interactive classes 14 100
Tutorship 2 0
Personal work of the student 52 0
Total hours of work 75