EINSTEIN SAID ONCE FROM A LECTURE DELIVERED AT OXFORD, JUNE 10, 1933, TO EXPLAIN SCIENCE is not easy, and scientists have to
"MAKE THINGS AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE BUT NOT SIMPLER."
It is important in terms of communication to know exactly what the target audience is when a scientist wishes to talk about science to the general public. The message will not be the same if delivered to children, educated people, amateurs or people totally light years away from science. This is what the Science Communicator at the Royal Observatory first explained to us.
Sitting around a table, we listened attentively. A screen was at the back of the room and a power point presentation was the material used to illustrate what the Science Communicator wanted to convey. He is part of a very active research group working there with a technical team. Both groups are very enthusiastic to communicate complex concepts to the general public.
Perhaps the most important point is that the scientist has to have a message whether it be through activities or through talks or videos, and it has to be interesting.
To that end we experienced that what the Science Communicator said, he did it.
He took into account our background knowledge as well as our gaps in knowledge. He pitched from our low background knowledge to build up more complexity and to checked out with us before keeping up.
The messages conveyed through visualisation (PPS) helped us to figure out what we had to understand. The aim was clearly to democratise science and to develop a culture in science with a simple approach, so that even if not a scholar in science we could have a global conversation about astronomy and technology for the future (about the E-ELT the European Extra Large Telecospe which the ERO is involved in, or the expansion of the universe, or how gravity affects light, bending it...).
Some graphical examples were hard to understand.The Science Communicator broke them down into individual steps, into manageable champs to make it user friendly for us. His use of analogies triggered mental images (the shape of the stars are like fried eggs back to back, like a disc, and the star is blurred toward the middle - the yoke). Models in terms of tools can be used to demonstrate a few concepts. (a pop-up planetarium to anchor the presentation in reality or to guide through using objects via funny activities).
Sitting around a table, we listened attentively. A screen was at the back of the room and a power point presentation was the material used to illustrate what the Science Communicator wanted to convey. He is part of a very active research group working there with a technical team. Both groups are very enthusiastic to communicate complex concepts to the general public.
Perhaps the most important point is that the scientist has to have a message whether it be through activities or through talks or videos, and it has to be interesting.
To that end we experienced that what the Science Communicator said, he did it.
He took into account our background knowledge as well as our gaps in knowledge. He pitched from our low background knowledge to build up more complexity and to checked out with us before keeping up.
The messages conveyed through visualisation (PPS) helped us to figure out what we had to understand. The aim was clearly to democratise science and to develop a culture in science with a simple approach, so that even if not a scholar in science we could have a global conversation about astronomy and technology for the future (about the E-ELT the European Extra Large Telecospe which the ERO is involved in, or the expansion of the universe, or how gravity affects light, bending it...).
Some graphical examples were hard to understand.The Science Communicator broke them down into individual steps, into manageable champs to make it user friendly for us. His use of analogies triggered mental images (the shape of the stars are like fried eggs back to back, like a disc, and the star is blurred toward the middle - the yoke). Models in terms of tools can be used to demonstrate a few concepts. (a pop-up planetarium to anchor the presentation in reality or to guide through using objects via funny activities).
SCIENCE: A universal languagE?
Equations delivered to different target audiences.
Universal, indeed for those familiar with mathematics. The first equation as seen on the picture opposite, cannot be explained to the general public.
The second equation is the scientific translation of the other one right below.
Funny enough different scientists from different cultural origins, would understand the equation in the middle, even if they do not communicate in the same language, but the language of mathematics is universal to them. On the other hand the last one makes no sense for a general audience of English speakers, even if it contains words that taken separately mean something to them, but when put together in the equation remain very obscure.
Universal, indeed for those familiar with mathematics. The first equation as seen on the picture opposite, cannot be explained to the general public.
The second equation is the scientific translation of the other one right below.
Funny enough different scientists from different cultural origins, would understand the equation in the middle, even if they do not communicate in the same language, but the language of mathematics is universal to them. On the other hand the last one makes no sense for a general audience of English speakers, even if it contains words that taken separately mean something to them, but when put together in the equation remain very obscure.
IS the scientific LANGUAGE ALWAYS NEBULOUS?
A word has a common meaning in everyday's language, but in science it can have a totally different one, because of the different mental images we have. When speaking about a Tarantula we almost have the same background knowledge: a tarantula is definitely a spider! Who would think it could be a nebula made of gaz and dust. (picture opposite)
What is the milky way composed of? Chidren would reply "Chocolate"! And the same can work for galaxy, where a Ford Franchisee would immediately associate it to the car he sells.
It is slightly different with the use of the word massive, which in astronomy refers to the density of a star and if not explained could be understood as big. Mental representations and sometimes our background knowledge have to be broken down to let the science in.
What is the milky way composed of? Chidren would reply "Chocolate"! And the same can work for galaxy, where a Ford Franchisee would immediately associate it to the car he sells.
It is slightly different with the use of the word massive, which in astronomy refers to the density of a star and if not explained could be understood as big. Mental representations and sometimes our background knowledge have to be broken down to let the science in.