This HONORS 220 class satisfies the science requirement to graduate with Honors but more importantly it showed me how to talk and present about science. Too often are scientists losing audiences attention and interest because of subpar communication skills. Not only is it important for the public to be able to understand what scientists are saying but people also need to be genuinely interested in the topics being discussed even if they do not fully understand it. In order to create change, we need passion, and effective communication plays a large role in spreading and inspiring passion in others. In addition to maintaining an active audience, knowing how to talk to other scientists, employers, companies, etc is highly beneficial.
These are a few example slides from a presentation I completed in this class demonstrating an approach to describing science with uses of storytelling elements such as a protagonist and antagonist while incorporating data. I also illustrated a couple of the graphics in my presentation as a way for me to combine my love for the arts with my love for science. Also included is a reflection on the presentation as a whole as well as the scaffolding assignments leading up to the presentation.
In my Storytelling in the Sciences class, we were given the opportunity to pick a scientific topic and make a compelling and interesting presentation on it. For my second project I chose to study the effects prejudice has on peoples lives and whether or not early exposure to diversity and different cultures could lower the probability of developing implicit bias from the influence one's environment. I was able to draw from personal experiences of prejudice and in combination with scientific data, I anticipate an engaging presentation. As part of the project, we were prompted to make a blog post centered around a data graphic, learning how to extract and discuss information from a graphic.