Science Communication: Video Examples
Videos are great tools for conveying information. I use a variety of styles to tell my science stories.
For a more complete listing of my videos, please SheRockScience on YouTube and subscribe for the latest updates. You can find many of them listed with a summary on https://sherockscience.com/videos divided into categories like the coronavirus, science, science + adventure, adventure, and art.
Below are some sample outreach activities I have done over the years. They include:
- Technical Seminar to specialists at an academic conference
- Outreach Tour to high school students in the field
- Sample educational piece on Sound and Vibration for children
- Comedy set performed at a bar in Scotland
- Fame Lab pieces (Scotland heat and Finals Round) about animal communication while giving a 3 min stage show.
- Every Day Outreach when I see something I can share.
1. Technical Seminar
This is a technical talk I gave at the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) conference in May 2018. The talk was part of the Plant Bioacoustics session. The research talk covers work that focuses on the insect call as it is transmitted along a plant.
* Note, in the beginning of the talk there are a few technical glitches and one can see how I cope with them.
2. Outreach Tour
As part of my regular practices, I show students and adults how we do recordings in the field. This is an example of an outreach event–to high school students.
3. Sound and Vibration
This video is a combination of an acoustics art project (see Artwork) and how I present the sound and vibrational material to middle and high school children. The magic of showing them how their voices translate to a visual, moving display usually transfixes their attention. They ask great questions and learn a bit too.
The video ends with the students who “scream with delight. It is as if they are applauding themselves. Someone entering the room would have thought this was a pep-rally in support of Science and be led to feel that all of these students will enter the fields of Science…” ~Craig Wilson, Ph.D., Director USDA Future Scientists Program.
4. Bright Club Comedy
In 2013 I participated in bringing science to the stage…at a bar…in Glasgow, Scotland.
This is a comedy set I put together about spider sex and insect hearing.
5. Fame Lab
Fame Lab is an international organization that teaches people to effectively communicate science to a broad audience. In 2011, I participated in the Scotland heat, making it to the finals round. I strive to continually improve how I can reach people of all ages and backgrounds and the training from FameLab has helped me recognize how to keep it simple and fun.
6. Every Day Outreach
I enjoy teaching children advanced tidbits of science whenever I can. For example, in New Hampshire, the neighborhood children were excited by my moth collecting and what flies at night. So, I shared my enthusiasm and taught one 5-year old child about moths, hearing to avoid bats, and how to tell if it is a male moth (by looking for fanned antennae). She drew me a picture of a Luna Moth we saw at her light one night–even remembering to draw it as a male!
In addition, years I have participated in many outreach activities where I bring insects and spiders to the public to teach them and let them handle live animals. These events include activities such as: S.O.S. Day—Scary Oozy Slimy, Charlotte’s Web Spider outreach, ‘Eat a Bug’ lunch, and booths at university and nature center events. I have also been a summer camp’s naturalist teaching ages 4-14 the fun niches in their backyard.
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