Professor: Dare Baldwin

credits 4.00

• CRN 22683: Wednesday, 9:00-11:50am @ CHA 102

Science is in the midst of radically reshaping itself in the direction of openness and transparency. This shift has widespread implications for scientists themselves, but also for all the many institutions and industries linked to science, including academia, publishing, health-care, technology innovation, educational practice, science-based policy-making, and science-oriented funding structures. Students in the Public Science seminar will gain a window on forces driving this “open science” movement and explore its implications for human well-being. Writing assignments will engage open science issues within a variety of genres, ranging from public-facing science journalism (such as what one might encounter in Scientific American, a New York Times science journalism piece, or The Conversation), to book reviews, science writing for children, and science-oriented blog posts and/or pod casts. Class meetings will emphasize workshop discussion and peer editing of student products. In sum, students will gain exposure to societal benefits of scientific transparency and put open-science principles to work in their science writing.