Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences
BISC 587 Fall 2014
Course Description:
This course is for undergraduates (with approval) and graduate students in the Marine and Environmental Biology Section of the Department of Biological Sciences and undergraduates (with approval) and graduate students in other fields (Science, Journalism, Cinema, etc) with sufficient experience in science, interested in improving their ability to communicate scientific knowledge to informal audiences and improve their internalization of learning methods to facilitate better research question formulation. The curriculum will provide students the opportunity to explore and apply current learning theory, brain theory, and meta cognitive processes, facilitating both self-teaching and teaching in many environments. Students, working with university professors and educators at the informal science education institutions will participate in, and design an activity to be implemented at informal learning institutions. In addition, students, will learn about evaluation techniques, develop appropriate short presentations (“elevator talks”) to address various audiences, learn the basics involved in combining animation and intermedia learning tools with scientific concepts to enhance communication of science to non-science and informal audiences. The course will combine instruction in inquiry-based science teaching methods with 15 hours of supervised teaching science at either the Aquarium of the Pacific and/or the California Science Center. Students will practice communicating scientific knowledge, receive mentoring on how to improve their presentations. Lecturers will expose the students to a broad range of topics in effective communication of science to non-science and informal audiences.
Units: 4 semester units

Student and Faculty comments about the COSIA course, BISC587
The students say they are learning to refine complex scientific concepts and communicate the important points to the broader public. The benefit they speak of mostly is the confidence building experience of being introduced to the theory and then applying it in a safe environment. The course is like no other course they take in their career. -COSIA Instructor
The COSIA course changed my life COSIA is a class that taught research students like myself how learn to translate our science to nonscientists. It is one of the best courses I have ever taken at USC. The class structure was so intimate with less than 10 students, but we had over 7 professors teaching us over the course of the semester. The connection with the aquarium of the pacific was extremely valuable, it opened many doors for pursuing marine education as a career, and this connection led to a paid marine education internship inspired by the COSIA course, I was a COSIA intern. –COSIA Student
This was a great course that I would recommend all graduate students take at some point during their education. This was a very positive experience and the most applicable and useful class that I have taken to date. -COSIA Student
COSIA taught me how to communicate science effectively, it is a invaluable tool that will serve you well in any field you go into. In academia, I believe that it will make those research scientists well-rounded and effective communicators of their material. Fight on
Trojans!- COSIA Student
SOME IDEAS TO PONDER http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=falHoOEUFz0 http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/gamifying-education
It is currently taught nationwide at: University of California, Berkeley,University of California, Santa Barbara,University of California, Santa
Cruz.University of California, Los Angeles,University of California, San Diego,Scripps Institution of Oceanography,Sonoma State University,
California,California State Polytechnic University (Cal Poly), San Luis Obispo,Stanford University, University of Southern
California,Oxnard Community College,University of San Diego,Oregon State University,University of Oregon,University of
Washington,Western Washington University,University of Alaska, Fairbanks,University of Hawai’i-Manoa,University of Hawaii – Hilo,Maui
College,Hawaii Community College,University of Michigan,Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences,University of North Carolina at
Wilmington,Rutgers University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,Hampton University,George Mason University,Old
Dominion University,University of South Florida,Wilson College, PA,Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology,Yokohama National
University