Chemistry plays a critical role in daily life, impacting areas such as medicine and health, consumer products, energy production, the ecosystem, and many other areas. Communicating about chemistry in informal environments has the potential to raise public interest and understanding of chemistry around the world. However, the chemistry community lacks a cohesive, evidence-based guide for designing effective communication activities. This report is organized into two sections. Part A: The Evidence Base for Enhanced Communication summarizes evidence from communications, informal learning, and chemistry education on effective practices to communicate with and engage publics outside of the classroom; presents a framework for the design of chemistry communication activities; and identifies key areas for future research. Part B: Communicating Chemistry: A Framework for Sharing Science is a practical guide intended for any chemists to use in the design, implementation, and evaluation of their public communication efforts.

Contents

• The National Academies of SCIENCES • ENGINEERING • MEDICINE
• COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATING CHEMISTRY IN INFORMAL SETTINGS
• BOARD ON CHEMICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY
• BOARD ON SCIENCE EDUCATION
• Preface
• Acknowledgment of Reviewers
• Summary
  • THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATING CHEMISTRY NOW
  • THE BASIS OF THIS REPORT
  • A FRAMEWORK FOR COMMUNICATING CHEMISTRY
  • THE GUIDE
  • FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
  • REFERENCES
• A. THE EVIDENCE BASE FOR ENHANCED COMMUNICATION
  • 1. Introduction
    • STUDY APPROACH
    • WHAT IS CHEMISTRY COMMUNICATION?
    • CHEMISTS ENGAGING IN COMMUNICATION
    • CHALLENGES OF CHEMISTRY COMMUNICATION
    • TOWARD IMPROVING CHEMISTRY COMMUNICATION
    • STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT
    • REFERENCES
  • 2. Why Chemists Engage in Communication
    • CHEMISTS' GOALS FOR COMMUNICATING SCIENCE
    • THE ROLES OF CHEMISTS IN COMMUNICATING IN INFORMAL SETTINGS
    • WHAT CHEMISTS GAIN FROM THEIR COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES
    • POTENTIAL BARRIERS TO ENGAGING IN COMMUNICATION
    • ENGAGING IN COMMUNICATION
    • REFERENCES
  • 3. The Current State of Chemistry Communication
    • PREVALENCE OF CHEMISTRY COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES
    • CHEMISTRY CONTENT
    • DURATION AND VENUE
    • PARTICIPANTS
    • THE ROLE OF MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY
    • REFERENCES
  • 4. Evidence-Based Research on Learning and Communication
    • INSIGHTS FROM RESEARCH ON INFORMAL SCIENCE LEARNING
    • LINKING INFORMAL SCIENCE LEARNING AND COMMUNICATION
    • CHALLENGES FOR CHEMISTRY
    • PRINCIPLES FOR CHEMISTRY COMMUNICATION IN INFORMAL ENVIRONMENTS
    • REFERENCES
  • 5. Evaluation to Refine Goals and Demonstrate Effectiveness
    • WHAT IS EVALUATION?
    • WHY EVALUATE?
    • OVERARCHING CONSIDERATIONS
    • DEVELOPING AN EVALUATION PLAN
    • METHODOLOGY: DESIGNING AND CONDUCTING THE EVALUATION
    • DATA COLLECTION
    • REPORTING AND USING THE EVALUATION
    • EXAMPLES OF CHEMISTRY COMMUNICATION EVALUATION
    • SUMMARY
    • REFERENCES
    • ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
  • 6. Communicating Chemistry: A Design Framework and Research Agenda
    • A FRAMEWORK FOR COMMUNICATING CHEMISTRY
    • KEY AREAS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
    • RECOMMENDATIONS
    • REFERENCES
• B. COMMUNICATING CHEMISTRY: A FRAMEWORK FOR SHARING SCIENCE
  • WHY COMMUNICATE?
    • What motivates chemists?
    • What do chemists gain?
  • THE FRAMEWORK FOR EFFECTIVE CHEMISTRY COMMUNICATION
  • WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO EVALUATE? AND WHY DO IT?
  • USING THE FRAMEWORK
    • ELEMENT 1
    • ELEMENT 2
    • ELEMENT 3
    • ELEMENT 4
    • ELEMENT 5
  • CONCLUDING COMMENTS
  • REFERENCES
• APPENDIXES
  • A. Data Collection Instruments
  • B. Committee Member Biographies

Suggested citation:

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Effective Chemistry Communication in Informal Environments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21790.