Communication skills for chemists seem to fall into two broad categories: professional/scientific communication and outreach to children or younger students. Communicating via oral presentations for fellow scientists is a necessary skill for professional chemists. Engaging outreach activities for youth generate interest and are part of building the pipeline of future scientists. A third important audience, however is often neglected by popular communication efforts. This group is non-scientist adults. Adult non-scientists may have had poor prior experiences with science that pushed them to pursue other careers. Or they may carry erroneous ideas or may be unaware of certain scientific issues. Regardless, adult non-scientists are affected by science—by medicine, climate change, and new technology—and influence it—with public policy and by electing officials. In a senior seminar, students gained subject-matter knowledge about nanomaterials which they converted to outreach presentations for adult non-scientists by using the book Don’t Be Such a Scientist. Important themes from the book and how students implemented them in their projects will be discussed. Also, a more limited application of this communication concept to a course in inorganic chemistry will be discussed.

Communicating chemistry to adult non-scientists with concepts from Don't Be Such a Scientist

2019 Spring National Meeting

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