Science Communication Prizes
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Science Communication Prizes
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How do you know if you have gained effective feedback?
Use the checklist below to help make sure that your entry includes all the main elements of good feedback.
1. SURVEY FORM Design a survey form or interview guide or feedback sheet that you that you can use to gather feedback on your project presentation. Think about what questions you would like to ask members of your target auidence to make sure that your project is saying what you inetended it to. Your survey could involve a half sheet of paperwith five questions about your project that you could hand out during a science fair at your school. Maybe you could ask a class of students to raise their hand to show they understand each of your main points, and record the results in table. Or you may have a sheet that lists four questions that you asked scientific professionals after they read your report.
2. LIST WHO WAS SURVEYED / INTERVIEWED Make a list and describe the people whom you could ask for feedback. Will you survey a class of students, interview several scientists, or just talk to your relatives and teachers? Who will be most insightful? Remember, feedback from your own teachers and relatives is useful, but it may not give you a good idea of how well your project reaches your target audience. You need to find people who fall into your target group and see what they think.
3. 21 PIECES OF LAY FEEDBACK If your project involves conveying information to a lay audience (such as a story or display for ordinary, non-scientific people), then you should collect twenty-one (21) pieces of feedback. Twenty-one pieces means, for example, twenty-one completed survey forms or a table indicating answers of twenty-one people. You need enough feedback so that the opinions of one or two people will not bias the changes that you consider making in your project. It is as though the people whom you ask are voting, and you want to make sure that you know what a majority might be thinking. Why 21 pieces and not 20 pieces? Technically, there is not much difference. However, you can more easily remember 21 pieces … Now, there is a lesson in science communication!
4. ALTERNATIVE / 3 PIECES OF EXPERT FEEDBACK If your project involves a study that is intended for a scientific audience, then you need to have feedback from three (3), relevant experts, especially scientific professionals. It may take some effort to locate three scientific professionals. The effort that you make, though, will pay off, as the feedback you will get will be specific and useful. For example: If you are reporting to local environmental authorities on fish populations affected by pollution, then you might get feedback from an environmental officer for the local council, from a biologist who teaches at a nearby TAFE, and from someone from the local fishing industry. So, an ‘expert’ or ‘scientific professional’ is someone who really knows a lot about the problem that you studied. They can tell you whether your report will be taken seriously or if you need to make changes.
5. USE A SCIENCE COMMUNICATION PARTNER Two heads are always better than one! Recruit a classmate to assist you in gathering feedback. If science communication really interests you, then you can serve as the ‘science communication partner’ for a classmate. Or, if you are not very strong when it comes to communication, get a classmate to help you! Teamwork helps, as it is asking a lot for one person to have the time, energy, and personality to collect detailed scientific data AND to be confident enough to get feedback from strangers. Science communicators tend to have varying degrees of scientific ability. In fact, some people would argue that expert science communicators are often pretty ordinary at doing science itself. That means that forming a team combining scientific skills with an ability to communicate and get feedback can produce a 'winner'.
In Summary ... remember these five points: 1. Create a sample survey form Making sure that you have done all of these things will help you tremendously to improve your project. But how do you know if you have covered each point fully? Here are some guidelines to help you achieve
your best. The best of luck in your work to become an effective scientist-communicator! |
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