Guidelines for Science Communication Project [ EAS 1601 ] This assignment is a chance for you to take concepts you are learning in class, interpret them in a new way, and share with the world! Communication is a critical part of any field, and in particular for science. But good science communication, or “outreach”, is difficult because it needs to be accurate, exciting, and engaging to non-scientists. You’ve probably experienced this in your own life, both good and bad communication of science. You’ve probably been reached by good science communicators, folks like Carl Sagan, Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Dian Fossey, Rachel Carson or Emily Lakdawalla. For the next few weeks, channel your inner “Science Person” and get involved. In order to complete this two-phase assignment, you will need to select: 1) A topic from one of the lectures or labs (either one that has already happened or that is listed as a topic for future classes) 2) Two or more popular science or scientific journal articles or other similar source that you find interesting about this topic (these must be scientifically accurate and from a credible source, see below). 3) A favorite “media” or “venue” for your project—this can be visual or electronic, but must be something through which you can share or display or disseminate information a. Traditional media: Videos, music, painting, drawings, etc. b. Modern media or venues: Blogs, Articles, Wikipedia, Instagram, other public media 4) A way to demonstrate how effective your communication has been by analyzing your own work and how people have responded. The goal is for at least 100 other people to “interact” with your work—but this can be accomplished in many ways. You’ll need: a. At least one credible reference on how to use your chosen media effectively. b. Documentation of your scientific communication and its impacts. The goal of this project is for you to take what you are learning in class, expand it a bit, and expand its reach by communicating in a creative, new way to people outside of class. Step 1, Thursday March 14 (5% of final course grade): Once you find something appropriate that interests you, write 2 pages (single-spaced, Times New Roman, 12point font, 1 inch margins): 1) Set a goal for the project! Make sure that you make this an obvious statement, underlined in the text. An example: “I would like to teach people in my home town Tucson, AZ about how glaciers in Greenland affect their lives.” Summarize the science in class and the two or more resources you are using in your own words and extending it to class and your experience (e.g., How might this research/knowledge be relevant to your life or impact society more broadly? Why did you find this particular topic interesting? What additional questions occur to you that might be interesting for further research?) 2) Tell us about the media you have picked. List out the generally accepted “best practices” for this media, citing at least one source (see links below for a start). This is important—there’s a difference between reposting an article online and making new content that draws people into a discussion about the science (and this is what we want!). 3) (Half a page at least) Tell us how you will implement your project. Tell us your plan over the next four to five weeks, weekly goals and metrics, and when you’ll check up on your work. How will you reach 100+ people? Step 2, Due Thursday April 18(10% of final course grade): Tell us what you did, and how well it worked. Over the 4-5 weeks in between, you should be developing your project, either figuring out a way to engage people in a discussion online, or creating a new Wikipedia article and getting it through the editing process, or producing a painting or video and showcasing it online or in a gallery (or…insert your own idea here). Write 2 pages including: 1) (at least 1 page) Measure your success rate! Did you reach your goal? How many people saw your work (or will see your work)? How did people react to your project? 2) What would you change if you did this again? Do you have any ideas for ways to make this type of exercise, both for class and for scientists in general, better? 3) Attach documentation of your work to demonstrate your conclusions above (does not count towards two pages). For example, if you made a new Instagram account, print out the account page, some examples of posts that did well and didn’t, etc. This would be a good place to include documentation of page interaction statistics, if relevant. Here are a few links to high-profile, interdisciplinary scientific journals, which often have news pieces and summary articles (“News & Views” or “Perspectives” articles) that summarize new research. If you’re feeling up for it, you can also pick a scientific article: http://www.sciencemag.org/ * the first papers from the Rosetta mission to comet 67P were published here this week…definitely relevant to the course materials! http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html * often a range of Earth and space science papers are published here, as well as potentially relevant papers on physics, chemistry, oceanography, etc. You could also go with a feed that links to press releases from scientific articles: http://www.eurekalert.org/ http://www.sciencedaily.com/ http://phys.org/wire-news/ These are just suggestions – we’re open to popular science articles and press releases from just about any credible news outlet (finding a paragraph on the internet, that is NOT enough!). This is an opportunity for you to expand your understanding of the material and make new connections between this class, your other courses, and the broader world. So feel free to think creatively! If you are unsure whether the topic or media/venue you’ve picked is appropriate, just ask. Here are some links to get you started in finding references for best practices in communicating science: Union of Concerned Scientists AAAS Medium.com The writing assignments will be graded based on the following criteria: Step 1: (1) format (length, spacing, etc.) (2) appropriateness of topic (is it relevant to the course materials?) (3) appropriateness of sources (is it credible or just some crackpot’s blog?) (4) overall plan (included step by step plan, found resources on how to use media/venue well) Step 2: (1) Effort and execution (2) Engagement (3) Analysis of the results Copying or cheating will not be tolerated. the *Drake Equation N = R ⋅ f ⋅n ⋅ f ⋅ f ⋅ f ⋅L p e l i number of planets, per star, with suitable environment for life c plate tectonics – the circulatory system of a habitable planet (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) ‘continental drift’ – basic observations seafloor spreading – creation of new crust subduction zones – destruction of old crust mantle convection – the engine of tectonics the rock cycle plate tectonics – the circulatory system of a habitable planet (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) ‘continental drift’ – basic observations seafloor spreading – creation of new crust subduction zones – destruction of old crust mantle convection – the engine of tectonics the rock cycle (1) continental drift – basic observations Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) suggested in 1915 that Earth’s continents ‘drift’ through time, repeatedly coming together into ‘supercontinents’ and then breaking apart (1) continental drift – basic observations (1) continental drift – basic observations (1) continental drift – basic observations fit of the continents was used to suggest that all continental land masses were once together in a single ‘supercontinent’ called Pangaea (1) continental drift – basic observations (1) continental drift – basic observations (1) continental drift – basic observations fossil distributions suggest some continental areas now separated by ocean basins were once continuous land masses (1) continental drift – basic observations (1) continental drift – basic observations radiometric dating, sediment packages, and tectonic setting imply some mountains now widely separated were once found within a single continuous mountain range (1) continental drift – basic observations distribution/ages of glacial deposits (1) continental drift – basic observations problem: no coherent mechanism Wegener thought that continental masses moved through oceanic crust…which is…kind of crazy plate tectonic theory Earth’s lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) is broken into a series of rigid plates, and activity along plate margins (boundaries between tectonic plates) creates, destroys, or processes pieces of Earth’s crust plate tectonics – the circulatory system of a habitable planet (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) ‘continental drift’ – basic observations seafloor spreading – creation of new crust subduction zones – destruction of old crust mantle convection – the engine of tectonics the rock cycle (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust distributions of earthquakes (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust Mary Tharp (1920 – 2006) Bruce Heezen (1924 – 1977) maps constructed via depth soundings from travel time of sound waves first detailed map of the North Atlantic – 1957 (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust Mid-Atlantic Ridge: enormous submarine ‘mountain chain’ extending ~16,000 km (~10,000 miles) from the Arctic Ocean to the southern tip of Africa (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust global mid-ocean ridge system (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust many naturally occurring minerals (particularly Fe oxides) are magnetic, and will align themselves with an imposed magnetic field (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust when crystals of these minerals cool and solidify from a magma, they will align themselves with Earth’s magnetic field (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust magnetic reversal: the polarity of Earth’s magnetic field periodically reverses (on average every ~450,000 years) (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust new crust mantle (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust we can use these magnetic reversals to map the production of ocean crust at divergent margins and quantify rates of seafloor spreading (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust (2) seafloor spreading – creation of new crust if new ocean crust is constantly being created at divergent margins, either: (1) the Earth must be expanding; or (2) crust must be destroyed somewhere else on Earth’s surface plate tectonics – the circulatory system of a habitable planet (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) ‘continental drift’ – basic observations seafloor spreading – creation of new crust subduction zones – destruction of old crust mantle convection – the engine of tectonics the rock cycle plate tectonics – the circulatory system of a habitable planet (1) (2) (3) (4) ‘continental drift’ – basic observations seafloor spreading – creation of new crust subduction zones – destruction of old crust mantle convection – the engine of tectonics (3) subduction zones – destruction of old crust distributions of earthquakes (3) subduction zones – destruction of old crust what’s happening here? (3) subduction zones – destruction of old crust oceanic crust ~2.9 g/cm3 continental crust ~2.7 g/cm3 (3) subduction zones – destruction of old crust (3) subduction zones – destruction of old crust where two plates meet at a convergent margin, the more dense oceanic crust will become subducted beneath the less dense continental crust (3) subduction zones – destruction of old crust (3) subduction zones – destruction of old crust (3) subduction zones – destruction of old crust if two pieces of continental crust meet at a convergent margin, neither will be subducted – mountain building and uplift occurs (3) subduction zones – destruction of old crust overall, the Earth’s surface exists at an approximate steady state – rates of crust production at divergent margins are roughly balanced by crust destruction at convergent margins plate tectonics – the circulatory system of a habitable planet (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) ‘continental drift’ – basic observations seafloor spreading – creation of new crust subduction zones – destruction of old crust mantle convection – the engine of tectonics the rock cycle (4) mantle convection – the engine of tectonics three ways to transfer heat: (1) radiation – EM energy (2) conduction – ‘particle to particle’ heat transfer (3) convection – heat transfer by mass motion of a fluid (4) mantle convection – the engine of tectonics ‘Rayleigh number’ α gΔTh Ra = ηκ 3 a = coefficient of thermal expansion g = gravitational constant DT = temperature difference between the top and bottom h = height h = viscosity k = thermal conductivity Ra > 2000 Convection will occur Ra of mantle ~106 (4) mantle convection – the engine of tectonics (4) mantle convection – the engine of tectonics (4) mantle convection – the engine of tectonics (4) mantle convection – the engine of tectonics (4) mantle convection – the engine of tectonics ‘mantle plume’ (4) mantle convection – the engine of tectonics (4) mantle convection – the engine of tectonics plate tectonics – the circulatory system of a habitable planet (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) ‘continental drift’ – basic observations seafloor spreading – creation of new crust subduction zones – destruction of old crust mantle convection – the engine of tectonics the rock cycle (5) the rock cycle oceanic crust ~2.9 g/cm3 continental crust ~2.7 g/cm3 (5) the rock cycle (5) the rock cycle oceanic crust is relatively young: * recycled in less than 200 million years * (5) the rock cycle (5) the rock cycle continental crust is very old: * up to ~3.8 billion years * (5) the rock cycle igneous rocks (5) the rock cycle sedimentary rocks (5) the rock cycle metamorphic rocks (5) the rock cycle (5) the rock cycle (5) the rock cycle (1) (2) (3) (4) controls the composition of the atmosphere regulates global climate on long timescales recycles nutrients required for life capable of catalyzing mass extinction
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