Science Communication: A Practical Guide
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this course on communicating science to non-specialist audiences, covering fields such as theoretical physics, genomics, neuroscience, climate change and evolution. Students work through projects in speaking and writing, learn to act as an expert witness, prepare briefings for policy-makers, write blog posts, and give live interviews for broadcast. A capstone project has students design an interactive exhibit for display in the MIT Museum, forcing them to translate technical material into something a walk-up visitor can grasp in seconds. Materials include the syllabus, assignments, and project guidelines from MIT's own classroom, taught as part of its Science, Technology, and Society curriculum. The course treats communication as a craft with distinct skills for courtrooms, newsrooms, policy offices, and public exhibits rather than a single generic skill, and grades students on producing real deliverables in each format.