I think a lot about critical thinking.
As science communicators, we must constantly question the authenticity of information. People have agendas and biases, or they may operating on false information or assumptions.
I want my science communication students to critically evaluate the science stories they read and consider whether the words on the page accurately reflect the science. I want them to consider the choices the writer made — the words they used, the sources they interviewed, the information they included and omitted — and the consequences that might have.
I want my students to reflect on their own work, too. I want them to think about what they would have done differently, if they had the time and resources. I also want them to see how their peers reflect on the same assignments, so they realize there are common challenges in science writing and so we can strategize together about ways to make our work more in line with what we set out for it to be.
I think WebEx Teams is a good learning space for these conversations. I’ve already written about Teams as a good platform for communication and collaboration, and I think we can throw critical thinking into the mix, too. I’ve only just started to experiment with this but I thought I’d share some early thoughts and future plans.
In my fourth-year seminar course, Science & Storytelling, we had a scientist-turned-illustrator come talk about the power of comics in science communication. The students then drew their own comics about a scientific concept or process. They had about two hours to work on their comics in McMaster’s Maker Space, a wonderful creative atmosphere. When the time was up, I asked the students to take pictures of the comics and share them on Teams along with a short description of their vision. The goal was not to have a polished comic in the end, but to apply the concepts we learned in class to effectively communicate in pictures instead of words.
Asking students to share their work on Teams raised the stakes of this assignment because they wanted to impress their peers. That said, we took care to make sure students knew it was a safe, judgment-free space for sharing. Asking them to describe what they were going for gave them a chance to reflect on their challenges and identify common challenges in the class. Teams allows you to bookmark comments to revisit with particular themes in mind, so we could revisit these discussions back in the classroom. Teams also made it easy for students to see how their peers navigated certain challenges using some of the tactics we learned in class.
Going forward, I’ll ask students to analyze their challenges more explicitly, and then perhaps invite them to pair up with a student who faced similar challenges to work through them together.
I’d like to use a similar set-up for students to reflect on their own writing. I’d like for them to share their work and think about the voices they included. Do they reflect the science accurately? Are they diverse? Are the students unconsciously perpetuating any biases, in terms of the veracity of the science or the demographics of the scientists? More importantly, what did they learn in considering all these things, and how might they apply that knowledge in other projects here at McMaster and beyond?
It’s important to reflect on what we do. And in big classes, we have an opportunity to identify common challenges and pitfalls. I think Teams is a great way to spotlight these issues and encourage students to think critically and collaboratively about how to address them.