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PhD Course on Applied Science Outreach
Provider: Faculty of Science

Activity no.: 5927-16-12-31 
Enrollment deadline: 01/10/2016
PlaceNatural History Museum of Denmark,
Date and time08.11.2016, at: 09:00 - 13.12.2016, at: 14:00
Regular seats20
ECTS credits5.00
Contact personAnne Katrine Gjerløff    E-mail address: anne.katrine@snm.ku.dk
Enrolment Handling/Course OrganiserAnne Katrine Gjerløff    E-mail address: anne.katrine@snm.ku.dk
Written languageEnglish
Teaching languageEnglish
Semester/BlockBlock 2 ¤ Block 3
Scheme groupUden for skemastruktur ¤ Uden for skemastruktur ¤ Uden for skemastruktur
Scheme group noteThe course runs over a period of five months, starting every November.
Exam requirementsThe course is passed based on active participation in the two day introduction and the following outreach activities specified by the course coordinator after the two days of introduction.
Exam formCourse participation
Grading scalePassed / Not passed
Exam re-examinationThe introduction does not have to be taken again if the outreach activities are not conducted in the originally planned semester.
Course workload
Course workload categoryHours
Lectures15.00
Practical Training60.00
Guidance5.00
Preparation45.00
Sum125.00
Content
The Natural History Museum of Denmark offers a practitioners course teaching PhD students how to communicate their specialized research to non-specialists. We move the teaching out of the classroom and let PhD students engage in public outreach by sharing their knowledge through various outreach programs at the Museum.

Effective dissemination of research results is no longer only a question of doing conference and poster presentations or writing publications for academic journals. Rather, a world of multifaceted types of outreach has emerged in which broader communication skills are required.

The objective of the course is to train PhD students in different types of outreach and science communications for different target groups e.g. collection based teaching, presentations for high school students, citizen science projects, family events, Science Night and talking to the media. This will be done on a basis of theories introduced by outreach professionals and scholars. The overall aim of this is to improve PhD students’ communication skills through a combination of theory and practice.

The course runs over a period of fivemonths, starting every November where an initial introduction to outreach and communication theory is given and debated with a number of outreach professionals, in combination with hands-on exercise and assignments.

Following this theoretical part of the course, all PhD students will take part in two or three of the museum’s outreach programs. In this practical part of the course, PhD students will e.g. present their research at science events at the Zoological Museum in the winter holiday or at Science Night in March or give talk to high school students at the Geological Museum. Other possible outreach programs for PhD students to be involved in could be the Botanical Garden Day, Geology Days, BioBlitz, geological fieldtrips, teacher inspiration days, etc.

Learning outcome
Participants will after the completion of this course be able to:

- Take part in public outreach programs

- Teach outside classrooms

- Communicate their own research

Customize presentations to different types of audiences, e.g. primary school pupils, museum visitors, high school students and journalists.

Literature
Selected articles will accompany the lectures during the two days of introduction. Students will receive these in advance.

Teaching and learning methods
15 hours of introduction, including lectures and dialogue on e.g. What is science communication? performance and rhetoric when presenting scientific material, how to understand your target groups, collection-based science education, body language and communicating in informal settings.

Between and after the days of introduction the student should be prepared to spend time preparing presentations and receive feedback. All outreach activities carried out by the PhD students will be supervised by an outreach professional. The Students must be prepared to take part in these outreach activities during e.g. weekends, holidays and after work hours.

After each activity, the efforts and performance of each PhD student will be evaluated in a dialogue between the PhD student and the outreach professionals attached to the specific outreach program. This way, the PhD students’ practical skills are continuously developed and improved throughout the course period.

Decisions on what outreach programs the individual PhD student will take part in is made by the course coordinator, and will depend on the student’s experience, skills and field of research. The practical outreach workload amount to 60 hours.

Remarks
Lecturers:

Experienced science communication professionals from the Public Outreach Department at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.

The course lectures takes place on November 8th, November 17th, December 8th and December 13th at the Geological Museum. You must be prepared to spend about 3 weeks in total on preparations, feedback, presentations and participation in science outreach activities during November 2016-March 2017.

The course has a limited number of students.

To apply:

1) Please click on "Apply" and

2) Send an email with your one-page CV and a short outline of your science communication experience and interests to the course coordinator Anne Katrine Gjerløff (anne.katrine@snm.ku.dk) no later than October 1st.

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