NEERS: Naturally, Effective Education Education Requires Silliness
Citation:
Berry, W. AND K. Mulvaney. NEERS: Naturally, Effective Education Education Requires Silliness. New England Estuarine Research Society (NEERS) Spring Meeting, Portsmouth, NH, April 26 - 28, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
Communicating science to scientists is hard, and communicating science to people without a scientific background is doubly hard. Using a little humor or having your audience play a game can really help you to engage them, which helps you communicate your message. This presentation provides tips on the use of humor and games in science communication, with examples of the sorts of things that have worked for us. We will show how a little humor can work wonders. You might, for example, engage your audience through something unexpected like the “History of Sediment Toxicity Assessment as told Through Bumper Stickers.” A few light jokes or self-deprecating wise-cracks help to lighten the mood and engage the audience. If you really need to get the audience into it, games work great for connecting people and science. Games can be used as teaching tools for everyone from third graders to partner organizations to fellow scientists. They can be as simple as a cooler of animals and a score sheet, or as complex as a computer simulator with a fancy model behind it. At the Atlantic Ecology Division, we have piloted a number of different games to engage the local community in our science. These include watershed models, sustainability challenges, the “Compost Challenge”, and the “Sediment Game”. In this presentation we will share some of the most successful games and their communication success stories that can be adapted for use with communities or at work. Use of these techniques could help Agency scientists better engage their audiences, particularly school children, the general public, and elected officials. Better engaged audiences will make it easier for us to communicate both the content and the importance of our science.
Description:
We have all been there: the presenter is droning on, putting up facts and figures and equations, and speaking in an almost inhuman monotone. To survive, you read your email under your desk and send “sleepy” emojis to the person next to you. We have all also been to talks where the speaker is presenting similar material but where you have been engaged, attentive, and aching to hear more. In science communication, style matters. Without a clear message made relevant to the audience, with readable slides, and an engaging speaking voice, even the most compelling scientific findings may be boring and poorly received. But what to do if you are not Neil DeGrasse Tyson, with the Cosmos behind you? Include a little humor and novelty. For example, engage your audience through something unexpected like the “History of Sediment Toxicity Assessment as told Through Bumper Stickers”. Also, a few light jokes or self-deprecating cracks help to lighten the mood and engage the audience. If you really need to get the audience into it, games work great for connecting people and science. Games can be used as teaching tools for everyone from third graders to partner organizations to fellow scientists. They can be as simple as a cooler of animals and a score sheet, or as complex as a computer simulator with a fancy model behind it. At the Atlantic Ecology Division, we have piloted a number of different games to engage the local community in our science. These include watershed models, sustainability challenges, the “Compost Challenge”, and the “Sediment Game”. We will share some of the most successful games and their communication success stories that can be adapted for use in your own communities or work. Keep in mind, like every tool, humor and games are not appropriate for every situation. Both need to be framed appropriately for your audience. Additionally, humor does not come naturally to everyone, and it can be overdone. Games can also be a lot of work. But, both humor and games can be great fun, and can help you communicate your science better. Check ‘em out.