Scaling Up: A Workshop to Explore Building Systemic Communication Capacity for Next-Generation Scientists

October 1st, 2012 - September 30th, 2014 | PROJECT

Science communications proficiency is an important skill for STEM graduate students but is not a typical part of STEM graduate education nationally. At the institutions that do offer such science communications training, instructional approaches are highly variable, reflecting an absence of standards and evaluation metrics. The workshop will 1) inventory science communications training for STEM graduate students nationally, (2) identify high effective practices in science communications training with attention to curriculum, approaches, and evaluation, and (3) define a roadmap that gives concrete recommendations to university administrators and funding agencies for national implementation and scale-up of science communications training. The workshop will involve IGERT PIs, science communications trainers, science communications researchers, and individuals from national agencies and organizations with a high interest in STEM graduate student communications training. Products of the workshop will include a white paper to NSF that identifies best practices for science communications training and specifies a roadmap for national scale-up of effective practices; publications in the peer-reviewed literature and other media; and briefings of officials at organizations with capacity to foster changes in graduate education (e.g., NSF, Council of Graduate Schools, and AAAS).

Project Website(s)

(no project website provided)

Project Products

GradSciComm Report and Recommendations: Mapping the Pathways to Integrate Science Communication Training into STEM Graduate Education

Team Members

Nancy Baron, Principal Investigator, COMPASS
Erica Goldman, Co-Principal Investigator
Liz Neeley, Co-Principal Investigator, COMPASS

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: IGERT FULL PROPOSALS
Award Number: 1255633
Funding Amount: 94790

Tags

Audience: Scientists
Discipline: Education and learning science | General STEM
Resource Type: Project Descriptions
Environment Type: Community Outreach Programs | Conferences | Higher Education Programs | Informal | Formal Connections | Professional Development | Conferences | Networks | Professional Development and Workshops | Public Programs