Scaffolded Curriculum for Developing Science Communication Skills in Life Science Undergraduates ^†

Abstract

Strong communication skills are essential for future science professionals, but practical training has not been featured strongly in undergraduate curricula. To better train diverse life science majors in communication theory and skills, we created a foundational 200-level course and an advanced 400-level science communication course. Here, we outline the strategy, including lesson plans, assignments, and grading rubrics, for these courses. The science communication assignments presented are diverse in terms of audience, including communication to fellow scientists, to clinicians, and to the public, as well as in terms of format, including written, oral, and visual modes. We also provide suggestions for placing assignments designed to build upon each other into preexisting courses in a scaffolded manner to promote mastery of science communication skills.

Teaching undergraduates to develop concise and compelling scholarly communication through storytelling

“…By learning how to create formats outside of research papers effectively, students will be able to engage in the learning experience more authentically. However, these communication skills are often neglected within the undergraduate curriculum by disciplinary faculty and librarians, despite reports by many disciplines that better communication skills are needed within the workforce and are critical for career success (Pedwell et al, 2017;Cavanagh et al, 2019;Kelp and Hubbard, 2021).…”

“…Undergraduate and graduate programs have increasingly adopted three-minute thesis (3MT) or three-minute research presentations (3MRP), two-minute talks, and elevator pitches as a way for students to share their research and practice oral communication (Werner et al. , 2017; Hu and Liu, 2018; Kelp and Hubbard, 2021). The creators of 3MT, the University of Queensland (n.d.) in Australia, encouraged students to avoid jargon and speak as though speaking to a friend, telling a story with a “beginning, middle, and end,” and using metaphors to explain the research.…”

Using remote seminars to teach animal behavior

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the well-known importance of science communication skills (Kelp & Hubbard, 2021) Students choose the topic, as well as the target audience. Similar assignments could be included in a variety of undergraduate and graduate animal behavior courses.…”

“…The COVID‐19 pandemic has highlighted the well‐known importance of science communication skills (Kelp & Hubbard, 2021), thereby underscoring calls to integrate science communication more fundamentally into science education and training (Dahm et al, 2019). Various universities either encourage or require students to gain work‐based experience in communicating scientific ideas.…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the well-known importance of science communication skills (Kelp & Hubbard, 2021) the course, students have to create a ~3-min public-facing video.…”