9:45 AM - 10:00 AM
[O04-04] The Practice and objective of "How to Communicate Science" course to employ COSIA (Communicating Ocean Science to Informal Audience) for outreach purposes.
Keywords:Ocean Literacy, COSIA, communication skill, active learning, pedagogical knowledge
Outreach activities by people with knowledge of ocean-related science (hereafter referred to as "ocean science") are important for communicating the appeal of the ocean to the citizens and for promoting ocean literacy. If these outreach learning opportunities are enjoyable, intellectually stimulating, and unforgettable, they will be valuable encounters with ocean science for participating citizens, and they will be motivated to learn more. Marine Learning Center (MLC) offers a "How to Communicate Science" course to help ocean science specialists and others who wish to communicate about the ocean create learning opportunities that motivate participants to better understand the ocean.
This course is based on the Communicating Ocean Science to Informal Audience (COSIA) program developed in the USA. COSIA aims to provide undergraduate and graduate students majoring in ocean sciences with the skills to communicate their knowledge to society through inquiry-based teaching methods and pedagogies of science education. The course was developed as a semester-long course, and consisted of classroom lectures, workshops, and outreach training at aquariums and schools.
In COSIA, based on research findings related to teaching and learning, communication is understood by the other (non-professional), and understanding (by the non-professional) is realized through active learning. Therefore, the communication skills learned in COSIA are "the skills to create opportunities encouraging active learning, regardless of the audience.
The "How to Communicate Science" course offered by MLC is an adaptation of COSIA. So far, we have offered courses to students in university teacher training programs, aquarium staff, and staff who teach classes on the ocean to the general public, with each course’s content tailored to the characteristics of the target audience (number of people, age, location, etc.).
COSIA consists of 12 sessions and each session is designed to allow learners to experience exemplar activities and reflect on key points. In the courses conducted by MLC, we also use a design that allows students to experience the exemplar activities and learn the key points of "how to communicate" by reflecting on them.
Following is an example of a two-day course designed for people who usually do not teach small children and must think from scratch about what and how teach to prepare. Recall the past learning experiences → Through the experience of learning the same concept with different approaches, become aware of the diversity of learning and teaching methods → Introduce learning structures based on pedagogy →Experience an exemplar scientific program and reflect as a learner →Design lessons through group work → Presentation and Critique; the course content is designed in such a way that participants can "reflect on their experiences as learners based on pedagogical knowledge and apply it to their teaching and communicating positions.
Participants commented that they were able to learn about the various teaching and learning patterns, how to construct the flow of a class, how to select teaching materials, and the importance of preparation not only the overall flow but also the dialogues. These comments indicate that the participants were able to understand what is necessary for communicative activities and that they were able to obtain a clear image of the actual activities through the specific planning and preparation work in the course. Furthermore, the participants achieved positive results in their outreach activities after attending the course.
This course is based on the Communicating Ocean Science to Informal Audience (COSIA) program developed in the USA. COSIA aims to provide undergraduate and graduate students majoring in ocean sciences with the skills to communicate their knowledge to society through inquiry-based teaching methods and pedagogies of science education. The course was developed as a semester-long course, and consisted of classroom lectures, workshops, and outreach training at aquariums and schools.
In COSIA, based on research findings related to teaching and learning, communication is understood by the other (non-professional), and understanding (by the non-professional) is realized through active learning. Therefore, the communication skills learned in COSIA are "the skills to create opportunities encouraging active learning, regardless of the audience.
The "How to Communicate Science" course offered by MLC is an adaptation of COSIA. So far, we have offered courses to students in university teacher training programs, aquarium staff, and staff who teach classes on the ocean to the general public, with each course’s content tailored to the characteristics of the target audience (number of people, age, location, etc.).
COSIA consists of 12 sessions and each session is designed to allow learners to experience exemplar activities and reflect on key points. In the courses conducted by MLC, we also use a design that allows students to experience the exemplar activities and learn the key points of "how to communicate" by reflecting on them.
Following is an example of a two-day course designed for people who usually do not teach small children and must think from scratch about what and how teach to prepare. Recall the past learning experiences → Through the experience of learning the same concept with different approaches, become aware of the diversity of learning and teaching methods → Introduce learning structures based on pedagogy →Experience an exemplar scientific program and reflect as a learner →Design lessons through group work → Presentation and Critique; the course content is designed in such a way that participants can "reflect on their experiences as learners based on pedagogical knowledge and apply it to their teaching and communicating positions.
Participants commented that they were able to learn about the various teaching and learning patterns, how to construct the flow of a class, how to select teaching materials, and the importance of preparation not only the overall flow but also the dialogues. These comments indicate that the participants were able to understand what is necessary for communicative activities and that they were able to obtain a clear image of the actual activities through the specific planning and preparation work in the course. Furthermore, the participants achieved positive results in their outreach activities after attending the course.