Making your science understandable

Science is fundamental to people’s lives and engaging in civic duties increasingly requires scientific knowledge. If science isn’t accessible to people looking for information, we open the door for misinformation and pseudoscience to spread. Yet, scientific research is communicated in increasingly complicated language and hence, only available and understandable to a small fraction of the population. Therefore, we as a community need to consider how to ensure the public receives accurate and understandable scientific information. In this talk, I’ll share strategies for scientists to think about methods to disseminate their findings to general audiences and how they can ensure their research is understandable to audiences of diverse backgrounds. I’ll also share my work with PERbites, an American Astronomical Society supported blog devoted to making the results of discipline-based education research accessible to all.