Science Cheerleader

We’re on a roll, team! Two years ago this month, ScienceCheerleader.com launched with three goals:

1) help increase adult science literacy (see Brain Makeover). [Check!]

2) raise the ranks of citizen scientists and create a shared space for researchers and the public to socialize and work together. (see ScienceForCitizens.net) [Check!]

3) open doors to public participation in science policy (see this breaking news item) [Check!]

Thursday’s ground-breaking announcement in Washington, D.C. marked an important milestone for us (we accomplished the third goal); but, more importantly, it has already started to alter thinking in Washington, D.C. and within the science community.

Two years ago, some folks thought I was “misguided,” “naive,” “nuts,” to push for this level of public participation in science. (It’s one thing to ask someone to help count fireflies or monitor water quality, but to suggest people might add value to critical science policy discussions sometimes drew reactions of shock and horror.)

In two short years, the reactions have changed considerably. On Thursday,  when we issued a report on how to build a 21st century technology assessment mechanism, and announced the formation of a network that will put the report into action, the response was incredible. From Beth Noveck at the White House, to representatives from the EPA and other government agencies as well as universities, museums–and, yes, even scientists–the reception was remarkably warm if not enthusiastic.

Here’s a virtual toast to everyone who helped make this happen. Now rest up because we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.

Posts have been less frequent because I’ve been prepping for the ScienceOnline 2010 conference in North Carolina where I’ll be speaking on the topics of Science in the Media (with Dr. Kiki); Adult Science Literacy; and Citizen Science.

Exciting news to add: I’ll be doing a soft launch of SciCheer’s sister site: ScienceForCitizens.net . It’s something my partner, Michael Gold, and I have been working on for a long time. Thanks to the generous support of Science House and help from our own Dr. John Ohab, the site is finally crystalizing! Known as “THE source for people who want to do science,” the site will serve as a Craigslist meets Match.com in the realm of citizen science. Interested in learning about or participating in research projects? We’ve got something for you (no degree? no worries! ). Looking to  find volunteers for your project? Just add it to our (soon-to-be extensive) database of projects.

Sign up to be notified when the site is live (Saturday morning) and consider joining us on Twitter (@sci4cits) and Facebook: Science For Citizens .

That’s right! These four Eagles cheerleaders are big fans of science (one’s even a math geek). This past week, I interviewed these brainy cheerleaders and we talked about what sparked their love of science…and much more.  Stay tuned for that video! (Thanks to the Eagles for making this possible.)

Come meet the Science Cheerleader team, see professional cheerleaders-turned-scientists and engineers as they dance and cheer on science, and get your hands dirty doing science with ScienceForCitizens.net activities!

At the USA Science and Engineering Festival
Festival Dates: 10/10/10 – 10/24/10
Expo on the National Mall: October 23 and 24, 2010 (more…)

What if the media covered baseball like it covers science?

Larry Husten, founder of CardioBrief.org , poses this question and presents some interesting scenarios following this line of thought. For example, the World Series would receive one article in each major paper– after the series ended–set in no context at all (a la the Nobel Prize).

Check out Husten’s piece.

You’ll see this sweet intro where he has this to say about Science Cheerleader’s Brain Makeover effort to increase adult science literacy and bring science to the public:

“Beneath the highly attractive surface here there’s something important going on. I don’t know if the Science Cheerleader can single-handedly reverse the course of scientific illiteracy, but she deserves all the cheers we can give her for at least giving it the old college try. (Thanks to USA Today reporter Rita Rubin for tweeting about this.)”

Yale’s official mascot (known as Handsome Dan XV11, or Sherman, if you live with him) was in Philly for the Yale v Penn game so I thought I’d help give him a science makeover with the help of Discover Magazine. He’s definitely an Ivy Leaguer. (Thanks, Keli, Churchill and Dana for your participation!)

See how Yale, Discover and the Templeton Foundation partnered up to explore this question: Does evolution explain human nature.

Thanks to ace reporter Nicole Brewer at CBS 3 in Philadelphia for putting this TV news feature together. In it, she talks about our efforts here on Science Cheerleader, to increase science literacy and raise the ranks of citizen scientists. GOOOOO Science! (Here’s a companion web feature.)

Part of the Brain Makeover, adult science literacy effort. People must fancy learning about the predictability of the universe (ok, Deidre’s easy on the eyes…there’s that, too).  Check it out.

Now THIS radio interview was fun. And, more importantly, the fact we’ve hit FOX national news, the Toronto Star , news media in Switzerland, Argentina and the U.K., and this hard rock station (WXRX) in the mid west, tells us we are accomplishing what we set out to do. Reach “real” people (outside the traditional science community) and turn them onto science!

The interview touches on the crisis of adult science literacy, efforts to push Congress and scientists to establish real dialogue with citizens, and plans to create a “Craigslist meets Match.com” for people who want to DO science (aka Citizen Scientists).

GOOOO Science.

Check out the 15 minute radio interview, here:

sciencecheerleadera

An interactive report from Sarah:

This week,  BBC News released findings from a poll indicating that 80% of British parents have been stumped by a science question posed by their children and 20% of those parents admitted to feeling silly when they were not able to produce an answer. Also, more than half of the 1,002 parents surveyed felt their children knew more about science than they did!

So, what’s the big deal if some adults just don’t know science?  Among other reasons, understanding some basic science principles allows citizens to participate in democracy more fully.  I could cite many political issues that are worth the effort it takes to research and understand the basic scientific principles involved in each of them. (”Effort” is very loosely defined here to include something as simple as watching these 76ers cheerleader videos and reading Professor Trefil’s related short blog posts on 18 big science ideas “every adult needs to know to be a science literate”.)  I’ve preached about this here on ScienceCheerleader.com but, until now–as a newlywed–never considered the possibility that knowing random scientific facts about the world around us will come in handy when David and I decide to have children. Because of our professions (we’re both researchers) we will be prepared to answer our child’s questions, such as: Why’s the sky blue? What makes a rainbow?  These were two of the top three most challenging questions in the BBC News poll.

I find this study both surprising and alarming because there are little resources to combat this problem.  Children will eventually get their questions answered by their teachers in school…but how will the parents brush up?  Short of going back to school, there are very few resources available for parents to learn more about the every day scientific wonders that surround us all…until now. (more…)