All Blog Posts (21)

Dumbing down Physics GCSE?

Michael de Podesta, a physicist and Science Ambassador at the NPL has stimulated a lively debate about the quality of the GCSE physics curriculum in a post on the "How should we teach science?" blog. He reports on a meeting he attended with the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, the QCDA, and… Continue

Added by Claire Ainsworth on January 26, 2010 at 6:21pm — No Comments

The "deficit model" is alive and well, on BBC Newsnight

As researchers, these days we are exhorted to take part in "public engagement" and "public dialogue", rather than "public understanding of science" (aka PUS) activities. PUS died because it relied on something called the "deficit model". The idea behind the deficit model is this: if the public are not enthusiastic about a science topic (e.g. GM), it is because they lack knowledge of it. So if you just address that "knowledge deficit" by giving them more information about the science involved, t… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on December 17, 2009 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Daily Mail returns to form

Ah, the Daily Mail. Recently I've noticed them actually getting some stories right, compared with other outlets. And that is a disturbing experience (as a result, I have been half-expecting the Four Horsemen to ride by at any moment...). So it's reassuring to see them return to traditional form with this one-sided, alarmist tripe: Is electro smog causing your headache? Continue

Added by Jon Copley on November 20, 2009 at 7:03am — No Comments

Goldacre vs Drayson: RI, Weds 16 Sept

Ben Goldacre and Science Minister Lord Drayson are squaring off for a debate on the state of science reporting by the UK media, at the RI on Weds 16 Sept (1900-2030h). The event is fully booked, but they are taking stand-bys (click here for details). Goldacre (for any who have not come across him?) is the author of Bad Science, the Guardian column and now book commenting on examples ranging from lazy churnalism to c… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on September 1, 2009 at 6:16pm — No Comments

Science A-level entries for 2009: "good news" or spin?

Once again, the director of the Joint Council for Qualifications, Jim Sinclair, has hailed the annual A-level entry statistics as evidence for greater uptake of sciences, saying: "It is particularly good to report improved uptake and outcomes for mathematics and science." And Mike Cresswell, director of the AQA, also comments that: "The three of the sciences are coming through strongly. It's a good news story for the sciences." But is it really a "good news story" for the sciences? Let's take… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on August 20, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Communicating uncertainty - a cautionary tale

Communicating uncertainty, via the media, is very difficult. Just ask the Met Office, which has found itself in something of a storm after revising its forecast of this summer's weather. And it's perhaps a cautionary tale for the rest of us. Back in April, a Met Office press release stated we were "odds on for a barbecue summer". But after a couple of weeks of widespread rain, and grumbling among those who chose to go on holiday in the UK this year, the popular press have scented blood in the w… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on July 29, 2009 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Science education "black hole" in Islington and Slough?

If you live in Islington or Slough, and can't afford to attend a private school, then the most significant human endeavour of recent centuries - science - may effectively be closed to you as a career option. That's the bottom line in new data published today on the numbers of state schools offering triple science - separate physics, chemistry and biology at GCSE. No pupils were entered for triple science GCSEs at state schools in I… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on June 3, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Making a career of a hobbie

Isn't that the perfect job?! Doing something you are passionate about and being paid for it! Our hobbies are the things we choose to do because we enjoy doing them. Wouldn't everyone like to be paid to do the things they love doing? Well I thought, foolishly it seems, that I could do just that. That I could realise my dream and become a full time communicator of science. It is my hobbie, my passion, and I am fortunate enough to have been able, on occassion, to make it part of my job! I recentl… Continue

Added by Emma Johnson on May 19, 2009 at 1:35pm — 4 Comments

Getting the balance right

As a full time postdoctoral researcher with a passion for Science Communication, I often find myself trying to balance the two in terms of time and money. It's no secret, that I am passionate about Science Communication to the point where I would like to make a career of it. This means that, like a moth to a flame, I am naturally attracted to the organisation and participation of outreach and enterprise events. This is great for the University and great for the scientific community, but I wond… Continue

Added by Emma Johnson on April 30, 2009 at 2:47pm — 1 Comment

Lack of scientific literacy, or lazy churnalism?

(the links in this post were time-sensitive; see postscript below) Here's some hot science news. Contrary to what you were taught at school, sodium hydroxide, aka caustic soda, is an "acid" - at least according to several media outlets. The Press Association has issued a newswire about an accident in which a boy was badly burned after falling through a building roof into a vat of caustic soda. Their newswire, however, had the erroneous headline… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on April 17, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Another example...

...of some media coverage bending science out-of-shape: "Twitter can make you immoral, claim scientists" - headline of an article by Jenny Hope in today's Daily Mail. Wow, that's quite a claim - like any good headline, it draws you in to the story to find out what's behind it. It made me wonder how that claim was made; presumably some study actually involving Twitter and somehow measuring i… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on April 14, 2009 at 8:30am — No Comments

Decline in science journalism and rise of the science bloggers

Good round-up article on Nature's website about the cuts in "traditional" science journalism - and the rise of "citizen-journalist" science bloggers. What do you think? Do "new media" tools that allow scientists to engage mass audiences directly offer a great opportunity? Is a decline in science journalists worrying, if it results in more cutting-and-pasting of press releases by mainstream reporters? Nature ha… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on March 31, 2009 at 3:30pm — 1 Comment

Headlines and hype

This week's New Scientist has an article by Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge, about recent misreporting of his research in the media. The Guardian article that he complains misreported his work is here. And… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on March 28, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments

To hypothesise or not to hypothesise?

Are there are times, perhaps, when one should not communicate with wider audiences - at least not via the media - unless one does so very, very carefully? The mainstream media (and I'm talking about journalists who are not science correspondents) have little understanding of the scientific method. As most are arts / humanities graduates, to them one "expert" opinion is just as good as any other. So when an "expert" scientist hypothesises, to the mainstream media their hypothesis has the same we… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on February 25, 2009 at 8:30am — 1 Comment

Ecognomospeak

Scientists are sometimes derided as poor communicators for using jargon, rather than plain English, when communicating with non-specialist audiences. There is another profession, however, that is as least as bad, if not worse: economists and bankers. But they seem to be seldom criticised for it. Here's an example – the public statement from Eric Daniels, Chief Executive of Lloyds Banking Group, explaining the unexpected £10 billion loss by HBOS: "HBOS's 2008 results have been adversely affecte… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on February 15, 2009 at 2:00am — No Comments

Tweeting Science

You may have noticed a new addition to the Connecting Science main page: Jon Copley’s Twitter feed, live from a deep-sea exploration expedition in Antarctica (Twitter page here). Jon is experimenting with using Twitter (a “micro-blog” service that only lets you post messages of 140 characters at a time) as a form of public outreach. The idea is to give people a feel for what the proce… Continue

Added by Claire Ainsworth on January 22, 2009 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Science video podcasts on the web: get involved!

I've just been chatting to Colin Murphy (on Twitter) about the Pulse Project. This is an online repository of science lectures, delivered by academics and presented as video podcasts. I've embedded one of their videos on Connecting Science here. Have a look and let us know what you think! The Pulse Project hope to "reflect and inform debates amongst academics, students, and the wider public… Continue

Added by Claire Ainsworth on January 20, 2009 at 3:04pm — No Comments

Evolutionary Gems

2009 sees the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, and institutions across the globe will be celebrating Darwin Year with a huge range of public engagement activities. But you don't have to be part of the official outreach events to take part--use the bicentennial as an excuse to share one of the most profound insights into the workings of the natural world with family, friends, kids, the world in general. To help you out, the journal… Continue

Added by Claire Ainsworth on January 6, 2009 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Teddies in space

I think this is a great schools outreach add-on to a project: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1091896/Out-world-British-teddy-bears-strapped-helium-weather-balloon-reach-edge-space.html ...and with those pictures, it has recieved widespread media coverage (107 items on Google News and counting; and a nice example of pictures hel… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on December 6, 2008 at 9:30am — 1 Comment

30+ members and growing!

Well, we're at 30+ members and growing, which is great. Welcome to all who have recently joined! Please do join groups that interest you, or start new ones (can't remember whether only admins can start groups, but if so, just let us know what groups you'd like to see); create and contribute to discussions; add blog posts about what you are doing, your views, or events / news that catch your interest. I'm hoping Connecting Science can help us stop "re-inventing the wheel" locally with many scienc… Continue

Added by Jon Copley on December 6, 2008 at 9:30am — No Comments