Developing Key Skills as a Science Communicator: Case Studies of Two Scientist-Led Outreach Programmes
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School of Research, Enterprise and Innovation, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, Manchester M1 5GD, UK
2
Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
3
GNS Science, Avalon, Lower Hutt 5011, New Zealand
4
Science in Context, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Jesus Martinez-Frias
Geosciences 2015, 5(1), 2-14; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences5010002
Received: 12 November 2014
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Accepted: 7 January 2015
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Published: 16 January 2015
Outreach by scientific researchers in school classrooms often results in widespread benefit for learners, classroom teachers and researchers. This paper presents a consideration of these benefits using two case studies in the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES). In each case, different school classroom-based activities were designed by scientists, but were improved by input from educational professionals, which helped to maximize the mutual learning experiences and to ensure the quality of the content and its delivery. Each case study suggests an improvement in scientist’s working knowledge of best practices for classroom-based outreach activities, which can translate to improved practices for University-level teaching, among other tangible career-relevant benefits. Despite these benefits, these projects highlight the well-established need for improved training for researchers in effective outreach practices, increased value on programme evaluation, and the growing need for meaningful professional recognition for researchers involved in these important, and ever-growing, outreach activities.
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Keywords:
education; outreach; classroom; scientific training; learning experience
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MDPI and ACS Style
Illingworth, S.M.; Roop, H.A. Developing Key Skills as a Science Communicator: Case Studies of Two Scientist-Led Outreach Programmes. Geosciences 2015, 5, 2-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences5010002
AMA Style
Illingworth SM, Roop HA. Developing Key Skills as a Science Communicator: Case Studies of Two Scientist-Led Outreach Programmes. Geosciences. 2015; 5(1):2-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences5010002
Chicago/Turabian StyleIllingworth, Samuel M., and Heidi A. Roop. 2015. "Developing Key Skills as a Science Communicator: Case Studies of Two Scientist-Led Outreach Programmes" Geosciences 5, no. 1: 2-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences5010002
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