Delta Roundtable Tackles a Tough Question: How can productive scientists engage in informal education and outreach?
Melissa Tully

The March 1, 2006, Delta Roundtable Dinner: Informal and Outreach Science Education, drew a large crowd of interested STEM graduate students, professors, and faculty.  Steve Ackerman (Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences), Sharon Dunwoody (School of Journalism and Mass Communication), and Greta Zenner (Materials Research Science and Engineering Center) are co-instructors of the Delta course, “Informal Science Education for Scientists: A Practicum," and were this month’s guest speakers.

The monthly roundtable dinners are a way for Delta participants and those interested in learning more about the program to engage with the greater Delta Community.  Each dinner revolves around a different topic related to teaching and learning and the Delta mission.  To get conversation started, guest speakers briefly present their thoughts on the topic and introduce questions for each table to discuss over dinner and desert. 

Ackerman, Dunwoody, and Zenner began the Informal and Outreach Science Education Roundtable with brief introductions of their informal education and science outreach experiences and quickly turned the discussion over to the guests.  This Roundtable had a special format: each table had a facilitator to guide the dinner discussion and record what the group talked about.  To wrap up the dinner, the facilitators took turns reporting what their table discussed to the entire group.  There were a variety of topics discussed at each table ranging from, how to get the public engaged with science, to how to affect policy making, to how to remain a respected researcher when dedicating time to outreach.  Some of the broader questions that came up were: What responsibility do scientists have to contribute to society? How can scientists communicate effectively with the general public without reducing the complexities of the material? How can scientists balance their research with their outreach efforts?  Overall the Roundtable allowed people to discuss their successes with outreach, their desires, their fears, and their willingness to continue informal and outreach science education.

The Delta Program in Research, Teaching, and Learning at the University of Wisconsin- Madison is a program of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL). To learn more about the Delta Program visit http://www.delta.wisc.edu/.

To learn more about the Informal Science Education for Scientists course visit http://www.delta.wisc.edu/Courses/InformalEd/IE.html.

CIRTL
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Madison, WI 53706
ph.: 608.263.0630
fax: 608.265.0538