Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America.
Department of Genetics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
PLoS Biol. 2020 Mar 30;18(3):e3000668. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000668. eCollection 2020 Mar.
Science communication and outreach are essential for training the next generation of scientists and raising public awareness for science. Providing effective science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational outreach to students in classrooms is challenging because of the need to form partnerships with teachers, the time commitment required for the presenting scientist, and the limited class time allotted for presentations. In our Present Your Ph.D. Thesis to a 12-Year Old outreach project, our novel solution to this problem is hosting a youth science workshop (YSW) on our university campus. The YSW is an interpersonal science communication and outreach experience in which graduate students from diverse scientific disciplines introduce middle and high school students to their cutting-edge research and mentor them to develop a white-board presentation to communicate the research to the workshop audience. Our assessment of the YSW indicated that participating young students expressed significantly more positive attitudes toward science and increased motivation to work in a STEM career after attending the workshop. Qualitative follow-up interviews with participating graduate students' show that even with minimal time commitment, an impactful science communication training experience can be achieved. The YSW is a low-cost, high-reward educational outreach event amenable to all disciplines of science. It enhances interest and support of basic science research while providing opportunities for graduate students to engage with the public, improve their science communication skills, and enhance public understanding of science. This YSW model can be easily implemented at other higher education institutions to globally enhance science outreach initiatives.
科学传播和外展对于培养下一代科学家和提高公众对科学的认识至关重要。由于需要与教师建立合作关系、演讲科学家所需的时间投入以及为演讲分配的有限课堂时间，因此向课堂中的学生提供有效的科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教育外展具有挑战性。在我们的“向 12 岁孩子介绍博士论文”外展项目中，我们解决这个问题的新颖方法是在大学校园里举办青年科学研讨会（YSW）。YSW 是一种人际科学传播和外展体验，来自不同科学学科的研究生向中学生介绍他们的前沿研究，并指导他们制作白板演示文稿，以便向研讨会观众传达研究内容。我们对 YSW 的评估表明，参加研讨会的年轻学生对科学表现出更积极的态度，并且参加研讨会后更有动力从事 STEM 职业。与参加的研究生进行的定性后续访谈表明，即使投入的时间很少，也可以实现有影响力的科学传播培训体验。YSW 是一种低成本、高回报的教育外展活动，适用于所有科学学科。它增强了对基础科学研究的兴趣和支持，同时为研究生提供了与公众接触、提高科学传播技能以及增强公众对科学的理解的机会。这种 YSW 模式可以轻松地在其他高等教育机构实施，以在全球范围内增强科学外展计划。
