Angling for Ideas in Science Communication to Hosting a Photo‐essay Workshop for Teens: Implementing the Winning Idea from Wiley Publishing's First Impact‐a‐thon

Abstract

We present a pilot curriculum for engaging high school students in photojournalism, combining a field trip and a photo essay that can be expanded by fisheries professionals for their own education and outreach efforts, whether in conjunction with annual meetings or stand‐alone events. At the 2018 American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the leadership of the Science Communication Section and Resource Policy Committee presented a training session focused on scientific communication tools for fisheries professionals that could be learned quickly, practiced during the session, and applied after the conference. Wiley Publishing sponsored the continuing education session (August 19, 2018), because it met the outreach goals of Wiley and AFS, and fit the theme of the conference, “Communicating the Science of Fisheries Conservation to Diverse Audiences.” The training session was divided into two parts: an active learning session about public messaging and a team competition for a US$7,500 award to execute a science communication idea to benefit fisheries science. Our winning idea from the team competition was to design a workshop for teens that included photography to explore aquatic environments and learn about the work of fisheries professionals, which was held on July 16, 2019 at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The students, with assistance from Shedd Aquarium staff, completed photo essays as teams or individuals. The winning photo essays are published at the end of this article.