A new approach for increasing graduate students’ science communication capacity and confidence
There is an increasing demand for emerging scientists to improve their ability to communicate with public audiences, yet little research investigates the effectiveness of science communication training for graduate students. We responded to this need by developing SciWrite@URI—an interdisciplinary m...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2024-12-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/18594.pdf |
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| author | Erin R. Harrington Scott R. McWilliams Nancy E. Karraker Caroline Gottschalk Druschke Jenna Morton-Aiken Elaine Finan Ingrid E. Lofgren |
| author_facet | Erin R. Harrington Scott R. McWilliams Nancy E. Karraker Caroline Gottschalk Druschke Jenna Morton-Aiken Elaine Finan Ingrid E. Lofgren |
| author_sort | Erin R. Harrington |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is an increasing demand for emerging scientists to improve their ability to communicate with public audiences, yet little research investigates the effectiveness of science communication training for graduate students. We responded to this need by developing SciWrite@URI—an interdisciplinary model for science graduate students designed around three learning outcomes based on tenets from the field of writing and rhetoric—habitual writing, multiple genres, and frequent review. SciWrite students completed courses and a science communication internship, attended writing workshops, and became tutors at a newly established Graduate Writing Center. After 2 years of training, students more frequently wrote multiple drafts and engaged in peer review, increased their confidence as writers, and decreased their apprehension about writing. We conclude the tenets of the SciWrite program helped students improve as science communicators, and we make suggestions for effective ways graduate departments and training programs might implement and build on our model. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-78b1fefdbd294088976e7c20f5ddb1bc |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj-art-78b1fefdbd294088976e7c20f5ddb1bc2024-12-22T15:05:08ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592024-12-0112e1859410.7717/peerj.18594A new approach for increasing graduate students’ science communication capacity and confidenceErin R. Harrington0Scott R. McWilliams1Nancy E. Karraker2Caroline Gottschalk Druschke3Jenna Morton-Aiken4Elaine Finan5Ingrid E. Lofgren6Department of Natural Resources Science, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USADepartment of Natural Resources Science, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USADepartment of Natural Resources Science, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USADepartment of English, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USADepartment of English, Brown University, Providence, RI, USAOffice for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USADepartment of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USAThere is an increasing demand for emerging scientists to improve their ability to communicate with public audiences, yet little research investigates the effectiveness of science communication training for graduate students. We responded to this need by developing SciWrite@URI—an interdisciplinary model for science graduate students designed around three learning outcomes based on tenets from the field of writing and rhetoric—habitual writing, multiple genres, and frequent review. SciWrite students completed courses and a science communication internship, attended writing workshops, and became tutors at a newly established Graduate Writing Center. After 2 years of training, students more frequently wrote multiple drafts and engaged in peer review, increased their confidence as writers, and decreased their apprehension about writing. We conclude the tenets of the SciWrite program helped students improve as science communicators, and we make suggestions for effective ways graduate departments and training programs might implement and build on our model.https://peerj.com/articles/18594.pdfScience communicationSTEMGraduate trainingProgram assessmentScience writingSciWrite |
| spellingShingle | Erin R. Harrington Scott R. McWilliams Nancy E. Karraker Caroline Gottschalk Druschke Jenna Morton-Aiken Elaine Finan Ingrid E. Lofgren A new approach for increasing graduate students’ science communication capacity and confidence PeerJ Science communication STEM Graduate training Program assessment Science writing SciWrite |
| title | A new approach for increasing graduate students’ science communication capacity and confidence |
| title_full | A new approach for increasing graduate students’ science communication capacity and confidence |
| title_fullStr | A new approach for increasing graduate students’ science communication capacity and confidence |
| title_full_unstemmed | A new approach for increasing graduate students’ science communication capacity and confidence |
| title_short | A new approach for increasing graduate students’ science communication capacity and confidence |
| title_sort | new approach for increasing graduate students science communication capacity and confidence |
| topic | Science communication STEM Graduate training Program assessment Science writing SciWrite |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/18594.pdf |
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