Hello fellow students of Science 300 and valued readers of science.
My name is Bruce Wayne and when I grow up, I want to be like Bill Nye. Well that’s what I would say if I was younger and was not a multimillionaire entrepreneur, but that’s not really the point.
Picture of Bill Nye during the 90's, Image by Ace Online Schools
For those who grew up in the 90’s like myself, Bill Nye is a very familiar name. For those who are unfamiliar with Mr. Nye, he is a science educator that became popular in the 90’s for his science television show Bill Nye the Science Guy which ran from 1993 to 1998. It was an education show for preteens with good humour and pop culture references. What was different about his show was that Nye made science fun and enjoyable, but also relate-able as well, something that most education shows seem to miss out on. Each episode focused on a number of different topics such as the Earth’s crust, sound, blood circulation. The theme song was also incredibly catchy. There have been many times in high school where I have chanted “Bill Bill Bill!” under my breath while writing science exams. It was that catchy. For those lucky enough to grow up in the 90’s, Bill Nye was the reason to why science was cool and why wearing a bowtie was cool as well.
Bill Nye the Science Guy, Image provided by Escapist Magazine
So why am I writing about Mr. Nye? Well being in a course that teaches how to communicate science to the population, I thought it would be perfect to write about the my childhood figure who taught me the wonders of science. Communicating science right?
I truly admire Mr. Nye’s ability to clearly communicate science to the general public in a way that everyone can understand. Not only that, Bill Nye is also incredibly talented in presenting science to multiple age groups and audiences. In fact, he has created a few shows such as Bill Nye the Science Guy and his more recent, The Eyes of Nye that dealt with more politically relevant topics such as global warming, genetically modified food, and antibiotics.
In the following clip, Bill Nye explains the dangers stemming from explosion of a nuclear plant in Japan that happened in last year March. For someone like myself who is not very well versed in nuclear physics, I found I could follow much of what Nye was trying to explain pretty easily. What helped a great deal as the fact that Nye talked clearly and slowly. He explained using comparisons and even took time to explain background science essential to understanding further concepts such as explaining what “aftershocks” and what that has to do with the “epicentre”. He also did not use exclusive jargon, but used words the general public would apprehend. It’s a pretty valuable thing to be able to speak in front of thousands and make most of the people understand science in a casual and intelligent way.
YouTube clip provided by FoxNewsInsider
Taking this course and learning about how to communicate science reminded me of times when I was younger the Saturday afternoons of watching Bill Nye the Science Guy. It’s cool to think that right now I am learning the skills to perhaps someday create my own show about science on a local cable network.
Cool right?
I’d probably call my show “Bruce Wayne the Scienceman”.
