Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Hart and I'm really excited that you've chosen to do some science learning with me today, so let's get going.

Welcome to today's lesson from the unit Living things in the environment.

This lesson is called How scientists communicate with the public, and by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to describe different ways in which scientists communicate with the public using the media.

These are the key words that we're going to be using in today's lesson, media, result, table, chart, and communicate.

You might already know some of these words or perhaps they're new to you, but don't worry because you can come back to this slide if you need to see what they mean, or I'll explain them to you as we go through the lesson.

Today's lesson is made up of two parts.

The first part is called How scientists communicate with the public, and the second part is Scientists in the media.

So let's get started and find out more about how scientists communicate with the public.

Izzy and Sam are having a chat about something they've seen in the news.

Izzy says, "Did you hear that scientists have discovered a huge dinosaur skeleton on a local beach?" And Sam replies, "Wow, that's so exciting.

How can I find out more about this?" Do you know any ways in which Izzy and Sam could find out more about this discovery? Pause the video now and talk to your partner.

Sam could look at different types of media to find out more.

Do you know what media is? Different types of media include television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the internet.

The media gives the public information and news.

You might get your news perhaps through an internet website or from reading newspapers or perhaps from watching the television.

Sam watches a TV news programme and then reads an article from an online news website to find out more about the dinosaur.

And here, we can see the television news programme that Sam's watched, and we can see the online news website that she read.

It says, "DAZZLING DINO DISCOVERY.

Scientists have discovered the skeleton of a huge dinosaur on the Jurassic Coast of England.

Teams are working around the clock to carefully excavate and remove the enormous skeleton." So Sam has done a really good job of finding out more about the dinosaur on the local beach.

Well done, Sam.

Sam's sister says, "I have seen more information about the dinosaur on social media." And in this image, we can see some of the icons of different social media websites.

You might recognise some of these, but do remember that in the UK, you must be 13 years or older to have a social media account.

Here's our first check for understanding.

True or false? Scientists are only able to communicate with the public through TV news programmes.

What do you think? Where did Sam find her information? Pause the video now, talk to your partner, and come back when you've decided if this is true or false.

So what did you decide? This is false, but why? Again, talk to your partner and come back when you've decided why this statement is false.

So this statement is false because scientists talk to the public via TV news programmes, newspapers, and social media.

There are lots of different ways that they can communicate with the public, so well done if you said something like that too.

Aisha says, "Some discoveries made by scientists that they want to share with the public are really hard to understand." Alex says, "Scientists use different ways to help the public to understand the results of their investigations." Because sometimes science topics are difficult even for adults to understand, so scientists need to find ways that they can communicate clearly so that people can understand the message that they're trying to send.

Do you know any ways in which scientists use different ways to help the public to understand? Pause the video now and have a chat with a partner.

Alex says, "Scientists can use simple language," so words that aren't too complicated, "photos, tables, drawings, and charts to help the public to understand their results." The results are the things that they've found out.

And here's an example of a photo, a table, a drawing, and a chart.

These are ways in which scientists can communicate their results easily and clearly with the public.

What do scientists use to help the public to understand their results? Is it A, simple language, B, photos and drawings, or C tables and charts? Pause the video now and have a chat with your partner.

So which of these are ways in which scientists can help the public to understand their results? Well, it's all three of them.

Scientists use simple language, photos and drawings, and tables and charts, like the examples we just saw, to help the public to understand their results.

And well done if you said that all three of these are correct.

Lucas is asking, "Why is it useful to know about the work that scientists do?" What do you think? Pause the video now and talk to your partner.

Well, what did you decide? The results of scientists' tests can be used to help the public to lead healthier and safer lives.

Did you say something like this? For example, discoveries in medical research have led to new treatments, vaccines, and cures for diseases.

Research on nutrition is used to create guidelines for a balanced diet, helping to prevent illnesses.

Did you think of something like this? Or maybe you said something slightly different.

Studies about natural disasters, like earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, help people to predict them better and to get ready for them.

This means earlier warnings can be given and better plans can be made to keep everyone safe when these disasters happen.

This is another way in which scientific research can help to make people's lives safer.

And the image shows us a hurricane, and scientists have worked to help better predict when these natural disasters might occur and therefore help to protect people who might be in their path.

Here's our next check for understanding.

True or false? The results of scientists' studies and tests are not useful for the everyday lives of most people.

Pause the video now and talk to your partner.

What did you decide? Is this true or false? Well, this is definitely false, but why is it false? Again, pause the video and talk to your partner about why this is a false statement and come back when you think you have your answer.

Well, this is false because the results of scientists' studies and tests are used to help the public to lead healthier, safer lives.

As we looked at earlier, perhaps that could be through researching new treatments for illnesses, finding out more about the nutrition of food, which can help us to lead a healthier life, or even developing early warning systems for natural disasters.

Perhaps you said something like that too, so well done to you if you said similar to this.

And now it's our first task.

And I would like you to create a poster with information about how scientists communicate with the public.

Izzy says, "Can you remember the different types of media that scientists use to communicate with the public?" So different ways in which scientists communicate with the public.

Alex says, "Don't forget that scientists use simple language, photos, tables, drawings, and charts to help the public to understand their results." So your job now is to create your poster all about how scientists communicate with the public.

Don't forget to include this information, and I can't wait to see what you decide to create.

Off you go.

How did you get on? Did your poster look something like this maybe? It might have had some information about the different types of media, such as magazines, newspapers, the internet, or radio.

Perhaps you remembered to include the different ways in which scientists help the public to understand their investigation results, perhaps through drawings or photos or charts, simple language.

You might have thought about why it's useful for us to know about what scientists have discovered and the work that they do.

So perhaps you included something about the ways in which this can help us to lead healthier and safer lives.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that activity.

and now we're onto the second part of our lesson.

The second part of our lesson is called Scientists in the media.

Sam says, "I used to see scientists on the television every day during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They explained why when we had to stay at home and have our school lessons online.

We weren't able to see our family, teachers, or friends in person." And there's an image of somebody doing some homeschooling.

Do you remember when you had to do that? Why do you think Sam saw scientists on television every day during the COVID-19 pandemic? Pause the video now and have a chat with your partner about this.

Did you have a chance to talk to your partner? What kind of things did you discuss? Jacob says, "During the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists were often on the news giving the public information and advice on how to stay safe." Did you say something like that? And you can see a picture beneath of social distancing, and this was when people were advised to keep at least two metres apart.

Sam says, "I remember! They told us that we should stay at home and only meet friends outdoors to try to stop the spread of the virus." And well done if you said something similar to this, Scientists had to use simple language to explain tricky scientific information to the general public.

Jacob says, "Scientists used graphs and charts and drawings to show us how COVID-19 was spreading and how many people were unwell." You might remember seeing this on the news each evening when they would show a chart of how many people were unwell, and the chart helped us to see easily whether that number was increasing or decreasing.

And you can see a graph beneath Jacob's speech bubble, giving some information about how many people have been unwell with COVID.

Sam says, "They explained how the virus could be spread from person to person in the air." And that was also very useful for people to know because then they could understand why scientists were advising them to keep away from each other and to socially distance with two metres between each other.

Here's our next check for understanding.

Who do you agree with? Laura says, "Scientists appeared on TV every day to help the public to stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic." Jun says, "Scientists appeared on TV every day to make the public feel worried.

during the COVID-19 pandemic." And Sofia says, "Scientists appeared on TV every day to tell the public how clever they are during the COVID-19 pandemic." Who do you agree with? Pause the video now and come back when you've decided who you agree with.

What did you decide? Well, I'm hoping that you agreed with the Laura.

Scientists appeared on TV every day to help the public to stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why they were giving advice and sharing information in order to help people to stay safe, and well done if that's what you said as well.

Andeep is in the school library.

He observes lots of science books.

They are all written by people who are experts in science.

Perhaps in your library, you have lots of science books.

You can find lots of books written by different science experts.

Andeep says, "I wonder why so many science experts and other people who communicate about science write books." That's an interesting question, Andeep.

What do you think? Pause the video now and have a discussion about what Andeep has just said.

Come back when you think you might have some ideas as to why so many science experts and other people who communicate about science decide to write books.

Did you have a chance to have a chat about this question? What did you decide? Let's see, shall we? Science experts and communicators write books to share their knowledge about science and help the public to understand the world around them.

Did you say something like this? And we can see here a child who's reading a book about the human body.

This is one of the ways in which scientists share their knowledge with us.

How else could they do this? Pause the video now and have a discussion about how science experts or communicators, a communicator is someone who uses different ways of communicating ideas to people, about how these people could communicate their ideas with the general public.

So we know that they can write books about their knowledge to help us to understand their work, but how else could they do this? Some science experts also present television programmes to tell the public more about their work and what they have discovered.

Are there any science programmes that you enjoy watching? This is a scientist you might recognise.

Do you know his name? This is Brian Cox.

Brian Cox is a scientist who is known for his work in physics.

He's a professor at the University of Manchester and is famous for making tricky scientific ideas easy to understand through television series, such as "Wonders of the Universe" and "Wonders of the Solar System." Brian Cox is often on the television, so I wonder if you've seen him on any other programmes.

This is Liz Bonnin, and she's known for her work in communicating scientific and environmental issues.

And she's also presented many television programmes, including "Blue Planet Live" and "Bang Goes The Theory." You might have seen her on other programmes too.

Her work aims to raise awareness about the impacts of human activity on the natural world and to promote sustainable actions.

Here's our next check for understanding.

It's a true or false check.

Scientists communicate with the public.

What do you think? Pause the video now and talk to your partner.

Is this true or false? What did you decide? Well, I'm hoping you said this one was true.

We've just talked about how Brian Cox and Liz Bonnin are examples of scientists who communicate through television programmes and writing books.

So I'm hoping you knew that this is true.

Well done if that's what you said.

And here's your next task.

Imagine you have written a science book.

Write the blurb for the back cover of the book to explain what the book is about and to entice people to read it.

So you haven't got to write a whole science book, but I would like you to pretend that there's a science book you've written.

So you're going to need to think about what your book will be called and what it will be about, and then the blurb is going to convince people that they want to read it.

So think about the book you'd like to write, think about what it's going to be about, and then think about what you would like to put on the blurb to convince people that this is the book for them.

I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Well, how did you get on? Here's an example for you.

Yours might look like this, or perhaps it's a little bit different.

"Discover how our planet is transforming in amazing ways.

'Our World in Change' shows how small actions like planting trees and recycling can help animals find new homes and make our air cleaner.

Perfect for young explorers, this book teaches children how they can beat Earth heroes and make a big difference one step at a time." What did you decide that your book was about? What title did you think of for your book? Did you write something persuasive for your blurb to convince people that they would like to read your book? I hope you did.

I'm sure you'd be an excellent science communicator.

Well done, everybody.

So here's what we've learned in our lesson today, How scientists communicate with the public.

Scientists can communicate with the public through many different media.

Can you remember any of them? Perhaps the radio, television, or online.

Scientists use simple language, photos, tables, drawings, and charts to help the public understand their findings.

Results of scientists' tests can be used to help the public to lead healthier and safer lives, and hopefully, you can remember some examples of these.

Science experts and communicators help the public understand the world around them.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed our lesson today, and hopefully, you would like to be a science communicator when you grow up now.

I think you'd be great at that job.

It was great to see you again and to learn with you today.

Until next time, bye.