Honors 220 A- Storytelling in the Sciences
Course Description: "Storytelling is ancient, effective, and satisfying, but using stories to communicate the nuances and ambiguities of science can be a challenge. Clear and accurate science communication is crucial to understanding our world and how it changes. In this course students will craft presentations that reflect their personal interests, as viewed through a scientific lens. In the end they will learn how to effectively use evidence to support their presentations in any field."
Honestly, this is one of the most practical classes I have ever taken at the UW. We learned not only how to craft intriguing and understandable oral presentations, but how to engage your audience, how to handle difficult questions after a presentation, and how to make small talk about complicated topics. After this class I feel so much more confident in my public speaking skills and, for the first time in my life, actually look forward to giving oral presentations in my future classes. Professor Oliver Fraser was a fantastic teacher who was always passionate and excited about every topic he discussed in class with us; I'd highly recommend taking this class or any astronomy courses taught by him if offered the chance.
Course Description: "Storytelling is ancient, effective, and satisfying, but using stories to communicate the nuances and ambiguities of science can be a challenge. Clear and accurate science communication is crucial to understanding our world and how it changes. In this course students will craft presentations that reflect their personal interests, as viewed through a scientific lens. In the end they will learn how to effectively use evidence to support their presentations in any field."
Honestly, this is one of the most practical classes I have ever taken at the UW. We learned not only how to craft intriguing and understandable oral presentations, but how to engage your audience, how to handle difficult questions after a presentation, and how to make small talk about complicated topics. After this class I feel so much more confident in my public speaking skills and, for the first time in my life, actually look forward to giving oral presentations in my future classes. Professor Oliver Fraser was a fantastic teacher who was always passionate and excited about every topic he discussed in class with us; I'd highly recommend taking this class or any astronomy courses taught by him if offered the chance.
This is my first Honors class without a final paper. Instead, the major projects in this course were two presentations that could be done on any scientific topic. As an environmental science major, I chose to do presentations on the effects of invasive barred owls in the Pacific Northwest and on Spain's endangered Iberian lynx. One of the best parts of this class was that my fellow students were all from different majors and backgrounds, so it was very refreshing (but somewhat intimidating at first) to be able to explain these subjects I am so passionate about to people who were unfamiliar with them. There was a great diversity of presentation topics throughout the class, from stem cells to statistics, and it was nice to learn about topics completely new to me as well.
My two presentation subjects: the barred owl and the Iberian lynx.