With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility—A Personal Philosophy for Communicating Science in Society

Zehr, E. Paul

doi:10.1523/eneuro.0200-16.2016

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In Grenada, WI, the effective collaboration of the K-12 education system, St. George's University, the government and the Church provides neuroscience education to their eager students (Myslinski, 2018) In Brazil, high school and postgraduate students worked together to create robots that demonstrate sensorimotor integration. Whereas popular media in books, cinema and the internet have occasionally portrayed science and scientists in a negative light, they have also excited, inspired, and motivated future neuroscientists (Zehr, 2016). Advocates, such as Dr. Paul Aravich, are vocal and passionate about engaging local and national communities and governments about the importance of the human brain and neuroethics (Myslinski, 2007a) (Shields, 2003).…”

Section: Neuroscience For Everyonementioning

confidence: 99%

Why Wait? Neuroscience Is for Everyone!

Myslinski

2022

eNeuro

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: Neuroscience is not just for neuroscientists. It is for everyone, but it is absent from our high schools. High schools have a huge investment in STEM, but do not include neuroscience, even though neuroscience is more interesting and relevant to a person's daily life than most other sciences. However, neuroscience opportunities are increasing for teenagers outside the standard curriculum. Significance Statement: The neuroscience community and the education community must provide more opportunities in neuroscience education for teenagers. Introduction By its nature, neuroscience is one of the most fascinating and relevant sciences on earth. As a result, teenagers from around the world are inherently attracted to it. Unfortunately, neuroscience education opportunities in high schools are wanting. High school students ask their teachers for neuroscience courses, and are told that it is taught in medical schools, that it is not a high school course. They are told that they have to wait for college. "Wait? Why wait? We want to learn about the human brain now," I am told by students from around the world. They should not have to wait. Teachers and the educational community have a huge investment in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) but do not include neuroscience in their curricula, even though neuroscience is more interesting and relevant to a person's daily life than most other sciences. As we shall see in this commentary, neuroscience opportunities are increasing for teenagers outside the standard curriculum, even though they are slow to develop inside the curriculum (Myslinski, 2001). Neuroscience for NeuroscientistsThe size and diversity of neuroscience as a separate biomedical entity has increased ever since the mid-20 th century. The International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) followed by the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) gave structure and identity to neuroscience as a separate field. President George H. W. Bush declared the 1990s as the Decade of the Brain, and as a result, funding for the National Institutes of Health doubled. Subsequently, other organizations, university departments, and academic journals focused on neuroscience were created -but these were mainly in the realm of biomedical professional schools. Neuroscience then became more visible at the undergraduate level with the advent of courses and degrees in neuroscience. As a result, the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) was created. This growth led to the creation of The Association of Neuroscience Programs and Departments, which gave strength in numbers for fund raising, political influence, publications, and public Neuroscience for TeenagersDespite the top-down evolution of neuroscience awareness, high schools have been resistant to integrating it into their curricula. As a result, extracurricular clubs and organizations have grown up to fill the gap, including such international organizations as The International Brain Bee (IBB), and the International Youth Neuroscience Organization (IYNA) (Mysli...

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Section: Neuroscience For Everyonementioning

confidence: 99%

Why Wait? Neuroscience Is for Everyone!

Myslinski

2022

eNeuro

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“…Moreover, avoiding controversial topics in the immediate term may render individuals more apt to entertain scientific explanations in the future, which better supports the popularization of neuroscience in the long term. The neuroscientist E. Paul Zehr has written about how incorporating elements of popular culture into science communication can be used to bring diverse audiences together in an appreciation of scientific insight (25). Although Zehr's preferred pop culture element is superheroes, pop culture elements overall have the potential to become vectors that positively communicate neuroscience knowledge.…”

Section: Teaching Beyond the Institutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevating neuroscience literacy and an approach for physiologists

Haynes

Jakobi

2021

Advances in Physiology Education

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The field of neuroscience has made notable strides that have contributed to progress and change in a number of academic pursuits. However, the lack of understanding of basic neuroscience concepts among the general public is likely to hinder, and in some instances possibly even prevent, the appropriate application of scientific advancements to issues facing society today. Greater neuroscience literacy among the general public is necessary for the benefits of neuroscientific discovery to be fully realized. By actively enhancing neuroscience literacy, scientists can dispel falsehoods established by early research that harmed underrepresented communities, ensure that public conversations concerning neuroscience (e.g., legalization of psychotropic substances) revolve around facts, and empower individuals to make better health decisions. The widespread implementation of communication technologies and various forms of media indicate there are numerous means to engage classroom learners across disciplines and age cohorts and the public to increase neuroscience knowledge. Thus, it is not only necessary but timely that neuroscientists seek meaningful ways to bridge the widening knowledge gap with the public.

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“…making the information personally relevant to receivers (Jucan and Jucan, 2014) or using metaphors and/or pop-culture icons (e.g. the science of superheroes) to provide a familiar frame of reference (Pramling and Säljö, 2007;Zehr, 2011Zehr, , 2014Zehr, , 2016. Storytelling and personal narratives are also commonly employed, effective methods for science communication (Dahlstrom, 2014).…”

Section: Science Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using cross-disciplinary knowledge to facilitate advancements in animal communication and science communication research

Hebets

Anderson

2018

J Exp Biol

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Although humans may have more nuanced reasons for communicatinge.g. to teach or inform, to share or change opinions or attitudesall animals engage in communication with members of their own as well as other species, and there are more similarities than differences between non-human and human communication. All communication systems are composed of the same basic elements and all face comparable challenges. In this Commentary, we explore the extent to which research investigating how non-human animals communicate with each other (animal communication) overlaps in questions and approaches with research focused on how humans communicate with each other. We place a special focus on human communication involving scientific content, i.e. science communication. We begin with a brief review of the fields of animal communication and science communication. We next synthesize literature from each field to examine the roles, impacts and potential interactions of communication system elementssignaling environments, signalers, signal form and receiverson effective communication. We find that research examining animal and human communication, including science communication, often has different emphases. Animal communication research, for example, tends to focus more on the role of the signaling environment through quantification of receiver responses. In contrast, science communication research currently emphasizes relationship building between signalers and receivers, and quantifies aspects of the receiver's psychology. Informed by our cross-disciplinary assessment, we propose potentially productive avenues of future research in both animal communication and science communication.

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With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility—A Personal Philosophy for Communicating Science in Society

Cited by 7 publications

References 11 publications

Why Wait? Neuroscience Is for Everyone!

Why Wait? Neuroscience Is for Everyone!

Elevating neuroscience literacy and an approach for physiologists

Using cross-disciplinary knowledge to facilitate advancements in animal communication and science communication research

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