In the age of infodemics, science information literacy is no longer an optional skill. The misrepresentation and misinterpretation of scientific findings ultimately serves to erode public confidence in science. While science librarians can address some aspects of scientific communication through classroom instruction, other urgent topics and required skills (e.g. database searching) often take priority. Another challenge manifests in the responsibility of the science librarian: science majors tend to be our primary responsibility, but the need can often be greater for non-science majors. Finding an approach to address all types of students with different skill sets and backgrounds is an overwhelming prospect.<br/><br/>To address this broad need, an in-person workshop was created two years ago and was later altered in several ways for the synchronous online environment. The workshop has continued to enjoy a steady stream of participants from within and outside of the sciences (including Chemistry) and faculty have also begun to attend in order to learn approaches to science information evaluation that can be incorporated into their own classes. When the global pandemic hit in early 2020, the author’s institution identified a need for some workshops to become tutorials that could be embedded in classes or taken asynchronously by anyone with an interest in the topic and the Science & the Media workshop was reimagined as a tutorial. <br/><br/>All iterations of the workshop as well as the tutorial, address basic scientific principles and terminology, how science is communicated, and how and why the scientific message is sometimes lost in translation. Armed with provided methods to separate science from hype, attendees dissect a scientific claim made in the media and provide reflection on “what went wrong”. Finally, participants explore what scientists can do to improve scientific communication and bring clarity to their research. The proposed presentation will provide an outline of the workshop, in all its forms, as well as takeaway materials that allow attendees to adapt a similar workshop at their home institutions for broad uptake or modified for Chemistry students only.

Separating science from sensationalism: A workshop in three modalities

ACS Fall 2021

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