Analysis of how scientists explain their research and parallels to how science teachers explain science

CHED 1658

Hannah Sevian, hannah.sevian@umb.edu, Departments of Education and Chemistry, W-4-181, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125 and Lisa Gonsalves, lisa.gonsalves@umb.edu, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA 02125.
In order for scientists to improve how they communicate science, they must be able to identify the elements of effective communication of scientific ideas and understand how to improve specific elements. We applied elements of the grounded theory method to analyze science graduate students' abilities to explain their own research to an audience of non-scientists, and we developed a rubric for assessing the quality of scientific explanations. We find that there are identifiable and quantifiable components of scientific explanations, there are specific patterns by which these components contribute toward effective presentations, and there are significant parallels between these components and three kinds of knowledge teachers possess - pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge. The rubric provides a mechanism for applying the research on effective science teaching to scientists communicating scientific research more effectively.
 

Communicating Chemistry
1:30 PM-4:55 PM, Tuesday, March 27, 2007 McCormick Place North -- Room N227B, Level 2, Oral

Division of Chemical Education

The 233rd ACS National Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 25-29, 2007