CoSTEP: Communicators in Science and Technology Education Program
There is a communications in science course that I would like to share. This past summer, I heard about a Japanese researcher named Dr. Gensei Ishimura, and I found through his website that he is one of the leading members of a program for training effective science communicators. This program is called CoSTEP, or Communicators in Science and Technology Education Program. This effort started out in Hokkaido University in northern Japan. It also received international attention through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) held in Boston in 2008.
In an interview, Dr. Ishimura shared some methods of getting people involved in science communication.
- Sapporo Kanko Science Map (Sapporo Tourism Science Map)—This project explored how to use the web to communicate information, a similar aim to this SCIE300 course blog assignment. The CoSTEP teaching team preferred blogs as a blog format offers a simple method of updating information on the web. Dr. Ishimura reasoned that since there is so much information on the web, he must make his blog stand out by emphasizing the aspects unique to CoSTEP. Students enrolled in CoSTEP are mostly residents of Sapporo city with a science background, so they were asked to write feature articles on aspects of science found in various locations around Sapporo and to organize them into a map. As a final assessment, they compiled a manual for creating the science map and made it accessible to the public.
This shows that the content of the blogs as well as the method of creating it is important to learn about communication.
- Newspaper publication—In this component of the CoSTEP course, students learned how to write and publish newspaper articles. There were four workshops in total to understand and expand on the publishers’ ability to communicate to readers through newspapers. An example of the questions explored was “where do people pay attention to on a newspaper?” This type of data turned out to be a novel finding even for the publishers. Students also modeled a grocery store management group and presented on the advantages of posting an advertisement in a high school newspaper. This aimed to connect high school students and the publishers.
Newspapers are another popular mode of communication. This activity seems to address important ideas such as layout and targeting a specific audience.
Dr. Ishimura himself is a science communicator. His previous experience in the management of science museum exhibits shows a career where science communication skills directly apply to the aims of the institution.
References
Hokkaido University. (2008, January 29) Ishimura Gensei san ni kiku – Hokkaido Daigaku, AAAS e [Asking Mr. Ishimura Gensei – Hokkaido University, to AAAS]. Message posted to http://fox231.hucc.hokudai.ac.jp/AAAS2008/2008/01/post-6.html
IFES-GCOE Kankyo Kyoiku Kenkyu Koryu Suishin shitsu [Regioinal Education and Outreach Promotion Office. HokkaidoUniversity]. (2011). Ishimura Gensei san – “Watashi” no Kenkyuusha Zukan [Mr. Gensei Ishimura – “My” Researcher Encyclopedia]. Retrieved September 30, 2011, from http://gcoe.ees.hokudai.ac.jp/mfrs/?p=1160&page=2
