This blogging thing...

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I am of the opinion that science education (e. g. outreach) is an integral part of scientific progress - just as an experiment is worth nothing if the results are not reported, scientific research loses its purpose if it remains hidden from the public, since science is ultimately a human endeavor. Papers are getting harder to read (Plavén-Sigray et al., 2017), many are behind a paywall (that includes those published in "top" journals such as Science and Nature), and the sheer number of papers published per unit of time makes it hard to keep up if you aren't part of the scientific community, so the role of science communicators is a crucial one.
It's common knowledge that social media use continues to rise - because of this, it's been recognized that there's an actual potential to utilize these "new platforms" as educational tools in one way or another (Greenhow & Robelia, 2009; Evans, 2014; Moll & Nielsen, 2015). So what is this all about? I certainly do not claim to be the new Carl Sagan, but as someone directly involved with scientific research I can do my part: I'm starting a blog about the most awesome field in all of the sciences ever zoology! Yes, there are zoology blogs in existence already, but you can never get enough of it - besides, I will try to make things more interesting by writing about related fields like paleontology and ecology. Stay tuned for taxonomic trouble, evolutionary madness and giant cephalopods! :D

Refs:
Evans, C. 2014. Twitter for teaching: Can social media be used to enhance the process of learning? British Journal of Educational Technology, 45(5), 902-915.
Greenhow, C. & Robelia, B. 2009. Informal learning and identity formation in online social networks. Learning, Media and Technology, 34(2), 119-140.
Moll, R. & Nielsen, W. 2017. Development and validation of a social media and science learning survey. International Journal of Science Education, 7(1), 14-30.
Plavén-Sigray, P., Matheson, G. J., Schiffler, B. C. & thompson, W. H. 2017. The readability of scientific texts is decreasing over time. Preprint. doi:10.1101/119370.
© 2017 - 2024 Jeholbird
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