Sigma BioBlogs

Today we interview with Bora Zivkovic, Blog Editor at Scientific American, where he manages the coordination of blogs from Scientific American writers, and blogs from scientists “in the trenches”.

Bora (or BoraZ) is an educator who is very good at getting the word out on topics he is passionate about, like chronobiology, science education, and using social media to communicate and collaborate.

In our interview, Bora talked a great deal about how getting people involved with science starts in school, and can extend even to people who didn’t know they were interested.

What kind of work do you do with science education?

Most directly, I teach Biology 101 to non-traditional students – adults – at North Carolina Wesleyan College. I have been doing this for about a decade now, teaching both lecture and lab as separate courses. My lecture notes are online, on a blog, and much of the homework involves finding specific items online and verifying their reliability.

More indirectly, as Blogs Editor at Scientific American (SciAm), I make sure that there is plenty of content that is appropriate as educational material: in schools, for homeschooling, or for general outreach. Some of the bloggers I chose are specifically doing this (e.g. Budding Scientist, focused on raising science literate children and Urban Scientist with a focus of science outreach). Others provide educational material occasionally. I sometimes highlight an interesting educational or outreach organization, activity or event on one of the SA blogs (e.g., The Network Central, The SA Incubator, Expeditions, or the Guest Blog).

SciAm itself has devoted quite a lot of resources into its Education, Citizen Science, 1000 Scientists in 1000 Days, Bring Science Home, and other related projects.

Are there any exciting projects around science outreach and education that you would like to highlight? 

What I really like is the fact that thousands of people are getting into science outreach in one way or another. Some volunteer at the museums. Some organize events of their own, or events attached to existing non-science events. Some diverse examples are Science Cheerleader , The Story Collider and Guerilla Science and World Science Festival and HHMI’s Ask a Scientist. Some are blogging, producing videos and podcasts, or making art, photography and cartoons. Some are good at curating other people’s work and pushing it to a wider audience. It is hard to single out any one particular project, but let me try to highlight a few concepts I find most important, even if they are mostly not attached to any single organization or person.

First – Citizen Science People get to engage actively with science as opposed to passive listening/watching/reading is a plus in my book. Also check out the Science Cheerleader’s Citizen Science information and SciAm’s Citizen Science Center. Everything that gets people interested in science wanes soon after a lecture ends, but it becomes sustained whenever one actually takes part in it and participates in the discovery of new knowledge. It is addictive!

Second – Open Science and Open Access. These movements are incredibly important for education and outreach. As more papers and data become freely and easily available, more the general audience (including students in classrooms) can access the science and see how science is really done, without filters from media or textbooks. With true Open Access, the material is free to re-use, thus class projects can be based on existing data and papers, taking students well beyond vinegar volcanoes.

As more scientists should realize how Open Access publishing leads to media coverage…and media coverage leads to exposure to readers outside their peers…and that attention leads to MORE citations.

After realizing these benefits, more scientists will start writing their manuscripts with a broader audience in mind. The papers will become easier to read, and there will greater emphasis on making sure the papers contain good graphics, audio/video files, interactive “games” etc. to make the material more approachable and easier to comprehend by non-specialists.

Third – Media watchers and critics. Often using blogs and social networks, scientists are very good at dissecting and critiquing bad coverage of science in the media. This, after the initial dismay and sometimes comically inept defensiveness on the part of the journalist, actually leads to better reporting by the same person further down the line. Even if getting schooled and put in one’s place is unpleasant, the lessons stick. As a result, I can already detect a slow improvement in science coverage by a number of outlets and individual reporters. Of course, I would be remiss if I did not mention specialized sites that do analysis of science reporting well, e.g., Knight Science Journalism Tracker Tabitha Powledge at NASW, and CJR Observatory .

Fourth – Science in Entertainment -Nothing reaches more people around the world than a summer Hollywood blockbuster or a hit TV show. Thus, nothing is more important than the work by The Science & Entertainment Exchange, which puts together moviemakers and scientists, who then work together to make sure that the movies portray the science and the scientists in as realistic and positive way as it is possible within the constraints of the movie-making art. It is good to see that Hollywood is increasingly doing it right – see the following articles: Are Scientists Geeks or Hero’s? and Scientists are heroes .

Fifth – Social Media. Science channels on cable TV, science programs on radio, science festivals, science museums, popular science magazines, science sections in newspapers, science websites and blogs… all of those are primarily attended to by people who seek scientific information anyway. This is the “pull” method of outreach – you pull in the people who are already looking for science content. If you provide a good experience, they’ll come back. That is all fine and well. But that leaves out the majority of the population.

We need to ask, “How do you push science information on unsuspecting audiences – people who do not know yet that science is fun (or relevant to them)?” One way is to force it on kids in schools – that is a very captive (literally) audience.  Another way is to force the mass media to incorporate science news into their general news programming, e.g., into the mix with politics, celebrities, sports, etc.

Another way is with Science Cafes – taking cool science to where people are – in restaurants and bars. Another way is by word of mouth – let people who enjoyed your science content let their friends know about it, recommend it to them, suggest they also give it a try. Nothing works better than a gentle encouragement by someone you personally trust. Online social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are fantastic ways to push science content onto unsuspecting audiences who will look at the stuff you post because they know you and trust you, say “Gee, this is cool!” and then go on and look for more.

You do a lot for the entire community with regards to science education.  Do you get time to work with kids and teenagers?

It seems I do not have much time and energy left at the end of the day to do much in this regard on a regular basis, on top of what I try to do with a day job and the blog network. I do sometimes go to talk to high school science classes (either my kids’ school or other local teachers who may invite me). And I make sure that there are several ScienceOnline attendees younger than 18 each year, participating equally with their elders, and themselves moderating at least one session each time.

What are the major challenges facing educators that you feel need to be addressed locally? What about globally?

Unfortunately, science and scientists don’t have much say here. It is a combination of limited finances, misguided political will, and the entrenched, outdated educational system originally designed for producing obedient and skilled industrial workers, not thinkers. It will take a disaster of some kind for the entrenched political, financial and educational interests to be forced to make necessary changes. We can only agitate and criticize them (and make sure that as much of the population is as cognizant of these structural problems as possible) until then.

What was your favorite science subject as a kid?

As a little kid I always loved animals, but did not make a connection between loving animals and becoming a biologist until much later (see http://www.lablit.com/article/88 ). So I started with a love of chemistry (I had a great chemistry set that my brother brought me from his trip to the UK one summer), moved to biochemistry (naively thinking that being a biochemist meant making living organisms out of non-living matter in a test-tube), and from there to Biology (I had quite a high quality microscope at home as a kid).

What is your favorite science subject now that you’re an adult?

Definitely Biology. Though, since I started studying Biology, it seems that one of its most interesting sub-disciplines, Neuroscience, has separated from it as an independent discipline, so I’d have to claim interest in both. I like to be integrative and comparative in my own work as well as when I read about the work of others: physiology, behavior, evolution, development, ecology – I want to see all levels of organization, temporal scales and angles of inquiry applied to a problem if that is at all possible.