The word 'sabbatical' stems from the concept of the number seven, and it has been co-opted by academia to refer to a break that faculty take from their regular duties at roughly seven year intervals. In Australia, the term used is 'study leave', which is more descriptive and distinguishes it from long service leave or vacation. Sabbaticals are viewed as a way for faculty to rejuvenate careers, learn new techniques and approaches, and/or complete large projects (e.g., books).

Read more

Last month, President Obama coined the phrase Sputnik moment in regard to the race for new innovations in science and technology. Last night, he raised this issue again in his State of the Union address. The President asserted that in order to support innovation, advance alternate energies, compete in the new global economy, and create jobs, the country needs investments in research and education equivalent to those undertaken during the height of the Space Race.

Read more

One of our favorite teaching modules is about conceptual diagrams, and the activity associated with this module is called Conceptionary. It is a game in which teams of 4-10 people are formed and one team member is designated as the 'science illustrator'. The 'science illustrator' is given a card with an environmental concept explained and several key words are identified.

Read more

PART 8; Communicating Science Effectively poster … In real time, as the plenary talk was being delivered, Dr. Charlotte Young from Envision Synergy quietly recorded the seminar as a story board on a large colorful poster in the back of the room. Following the seminar, I was able to view her graphical interpretation of the talk.

Read more

PART 7; O Canada! So my conclusions are that conservation deals with complex problems. I think of it as simple problems are like following a recipe. Complicated problems are like building a rocket to the moon. It's complicated, but you can do it over and over again if you do the equations and follow them. Complex problems are like raising a child. You don't always have complete control. It's not easy, and no two are alike.

Read more

PART 6; Five step program for environmental report cards … Several basic steps are involved in producing report cards. Let me go through five steps of generating Report Cards that we've generated. And they are relatively simple and straightforward. First is to draw it, to create the conceptual framework. Second, is to choose the indicators. Third is to define the thresholds. Fourth is to calculate a scorecard. And fifth and most importantly, communicate it.

Read more

PART 5; Report card examples … Another aspect that I think has a lot of similarities to Ontario right now with your thirty-six conservational authorities doing these Report Cards, is that first in some areas where you don't have a lot of resources, that citizens and scientists become a really powerful tool. And we've developed a coalition around these citizen and scientist groups. An example is the Chester River, and citizen science group call themselves the Chester Testers.

Read more

PART 4; Environmental Report Cards … Let me talk about one science communication tool that we've been developing, that we think is really powerful, and this is the Environmental Report Card. They're really powerful for three big reasons. One is they are a really good peer pressure motivator, because peer pressure motivates human change. The story I'll give here is the Chesapeake Bay Report Card.

Read more

PART 3; History of Science Communication … There is a history of effective science communication that actually changed the world. If we think about the Copernican Revolution, Copernicus was a Polish astronomer, who published a book in 1543 on the movement of the Earth around the Sun, not the Sun around the Earth, which was the established belief at the time. And we call this the "Copernican Revolution".

Read more

PART 2; Incorporating visual elements … When I talk about using visuals, these are classes of visuals that we've tried to use in all of our science communication products. We try to use conceptual diagrams to provide context and synthesis. Historically, these were in the realm of graphic artists.

Read more