First of all, I want to take
some blog space to say how utterly cool Dr. Hirsch-Pasek is. She seems like a pretty incomparable human,
and Ursinus was so fortunate to have her come to talk to us. I immensely enjoyed her talk, and wish that
she would come and hang out more often!
One of the most important things
that I took from Dr. Hirsch-Pasek’s talk is that it is of utmost importance to
make scientific findings (and the concrete benefits from those scientific
findings) available to the general public. The best way that she did this (in
my humble opinion) was to take her research findings about learning through
play and turn those findings into the basis for the Ultimate Block Party event
that is now traveling nationally and internationally. This is one of the ways that science can work
to “give” itself to the general population: by taking research findings and
translating them into actual policy changes, opportunities to improve the
general public’s lives, or a giant Block Party in Central Park. One of the best ways to give science away is
to give the general public direct access to the positive changes that science
can create. However, this is not
enough. People cannot just eat out of the
hand of the benevolent scientist, unaware of the science and theory behind the
policies, disease or behavioral interventions, or educational legislation. An understanding of the science behind the
everyday improvements is necessary—this is where the science writer comes
in. It is the science writer’s job to
make the science behind the Ultimate Block party interesting and compelling, because
(unfortunately!) Dr. Hirsch-Pasek cannot be everywhere at once.
Another way to “give away”
science involves the idea of humility and a desire to help others for greater
good. I think that the notion of “giving
science away” has a lot to do with setting aside ego and desire for
recognition. When an individual places
the interests of others above his own, it creates a community and a more
egalitarian relationship. Think about
every single research project that an Ursinus student does: when he or she
ventures off of the map a little, toward that shadowy place of foreign research
journals or “niche-y” subjects, toward the place where Myrin’s subscription
does not extend, there is a wall of paid subscription access. Why, if I am making a good-faith effort to
expand my scientific (or humanities or social science or music) knowledge, is
my access denied because of my lack of subscription to a journal? These kinds of partitions between the
knowledge and the knowledge-seeker are an enormous roadblock to seeking
knowledge. I think that the problem of
the unavailability of meaningful science writing is compounded by the
unavailability of general scholarly science materials. Even if the general public wanted to access
science materials, these kinds of elitist roadblocks would prevent them from
doing so without a subscription. While I think that scientists need to “give
away” their science, that is not enough.
They need to be the ones who are involved in bringing it to the
people. Scientists and scientific
disciplines must work to change the public perception of science as an elitist
and “scary”. It is not enough to “open
the doors” to science; scientists and science writers should make the general
public want to step over the threshold and enter a world where they can
challenge themselves and discover a different way of thinking. As a science writer, I think it is supremely
important to give science away—to make science exciting and engaging and to
encourage people to pursue their scientific interests further. But, if institutions, academic journals, and
individual scientists are not going to do their part in “The Great Science
Giveaway”, it will be a long road.
On a related
note, one of my favorite ways that some top universities are giving science
away (and other disciplines!) is through access to their course materials,
called Open Courseware. Check out MIT’s
open courseware offerings here: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/find-by-topic/
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