Going Back to School (by sarah)
I have been applying for and organising stuff so that I can go back and study - this morning I got a congratulations email from UWE so it looks like I am going 🙂 It is a Post Graduate Certificate in Practical Science Communication. The course itself I have been looking at for the last few years but wasn't really in a position to attempt it - I am nervous about my pervious attempt to go back but feel it is different this time. For a start it is not me going back it is me moving forward and combining the skill sets I have into one area - Science Communication.
I have craft, art, writing, stage skills and so on not too mention a certain degree in geology, I am desperate to show the world the wonder of science and after a week working at the science festival I am even more convinced that the world needs science communicators. The general public are still frightened of many aspects of science, child are still being told they are not the right gender/class/religion to become a scientist. Scientist who have spent their entire time in accademia often fail to realise that they are not portraying information in an easily accessible way even when they are trying to do out reach which doesn't help with it seeming a scary thing.
I am aware that scientists and academics in general tend to get annoyed with what they see as the masses being encouraged to think that science isn't hard that every body can do it - but that is the point a lot of people could do it if they had been caught early enough and in fact I know many people who have retrained into science later in life. People need to see that science is accessible but to become a 'scientist' takes hard work. Also there is still alot of 'science is boring' going around not too mention the confusion over memorising 'facts' and what what science actually is. It is still regarded by many as a dead subject with no room for thinking and innovation - those within science know that this couldn't be further from the truth which is one of the reasons I think this sort of work is important.
I loved doing Science Show Off last year and that raised another communication issue - scientists tend to be specialists these days but really they do need to have some idea of what is going on in different fields - something one day maybe relavent to what they are trying to work out. Not really sure I want to go down the government and policy route to be honest - I want to do public facing, activities for kids, stuff in museums etc... maybe even more festivals though they would have to get behind the general craft and writing workshops/performances I do.
The course should help me with the science journalism I've been wanting to do and just so much more.
The course is part time and done in intense blocks which works much better for me - so I am hopeful.
Excited/Scared 🙂
Thu 13th Jun 2013 6:53 pm 
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