Effective Communication of PER

What’s working, what we ought to know, and what we need to do better

G e t t i n g t h e w o r d o u t

Stephanie ChasteenPER, University of Colorado @ Boulder

+science journalist + podcaster

Illustration: Tom Tomorrow

This is not based on my own research, but rather a synthesis of the message of some of the current research. I bring a somewhat unique perspective since I work on PER, work with faculty on incorporating new instructional techniques, and I have a background in science journalism and communication. So, the purpose of this talk is to briefly describe some parallels I see between science communication and PER communication, and what we might learn from the communication field. This is a 1 hour talk condensed to 10 minutes, so hold on to your hats.

My points for today

My points for today

Good communication is important

My points for today

Good communication is important

We can learn best-practices from the science communication field

My points for today

Good communication is important

We can learn best-practices from the science communication field

But our message is incomplete, and communication isn’t a panacea

The earth is warming

Data: IPCC, Opinion Research Corporation

Americans who believe that there is solid evidence of climate change:

Those who believe that it’s caused by human activity

57%

36%

Denver commuters who carpool

only 31%

Student-centered instruction helps students learn

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0.08 0.14 0.20 0.26 0.32 0.38 0.44 0.50 0.56 0.62 0.68

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f Courses

traditional lecture! interactive engagement!

fraction of

courses !

normalized learning gain! less learning more learning!

Those who use at least one RBIS

Physicists who are aware of 3 or more RBIS’s 68%

Users of “peer instruction” who include peer discussion

only 27%

49%

Hake, “A 6,000 student study....”, AJP 66, 1998Dancy & Henderson, “Pedagogical Practices and instructional change of faculty,” AJP 78(10), 2010.Henderson & Dancy, “Impact of PER on the teaching of introductory qualitative physics in the US,” PRST-PER, 5, 020107, 2009.

We have a similar problem to climate change scientists -- we have data that we think should effect behavior change, but that doesn’t happen.

How can we get our message across

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0.08 0.14 0.20 0.26 0.32 0.38 0.44 0.50 0.56 0.62 0.68

Fractio

n o

f Courses

traditional lecture! interactive engagement!

fraction of

courses !

normalized learning gain! less learning more learning!

Some parts of our message are getting across, but some aren’t.

We have a lot in common with climate change in this, plus cultural and scientific.There is a vast literature that we can take advantage of in this area, on persuasion and how people make decisions

Climate change-we want people to act based on this information. We want to persuade people.- Both issues are both cultural and scientific. So, apt analogy.- But unlike climate science, we don’t have an active skeptic campaign

- The ways to communicate well, and how this can lead to action, are all part of the science communication literature. Why do Americans keep buying SUV’s when they know about climate change? They are struggling with many of the same things that we are. We can take advantage of this literature to create persuasive messages.

How can we get our message across and enable behavior change?

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0.08 0.14 0.20 0.26 0.32 0.38 0.44 0.50 0.56 0.62 0.68

Fractio

n o

f Courses

traditional lecture! interactive engagement!

fraction of

courses !

normalized learning gain! less learning more learning!

Some parts of our message are getting across, but some aren’t.

We have a lot in common with climate change in this, plus cultural and scientific.There is a vast literature that we can take advantage of in this area, on persuasion and how people make decisions

Climate change-we want people to act based on this information. We want to persuade people.- Both issues are both cultural and scientific. So, apt analogy.- But unlike climate science, we don’t have an active skeptic campaign

- The ways to communicate well, and how this can lead to action, are all part of the science communication literature. Why do Americans keep buying SUV’s when they know about climate change? They are struggling with many of the same things that we are. We can take advantage of this literature to create persuasive messages.

How can we get our message across and enable behavior change?

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.08 0.14 0.20 0.26 0.32 0.38 0.44 0.50 0.56 0.62 0.68

Fractio

n o

f Courses

traditional lecture! interactive engagement!

fraction of

courses !

normalized learning gain! less learning more learning!

Can we learn from science communication?Some parts of our message are getting across, but some aren’t.

We have a lot in common with climate change in this, plus cultural and scientific.There is a vast literature that we can take advantage of in this area, on persuasion and how people make decisions

Climate change-we want people to act based on this information. We want to persuade people.- Both issues are both cultural and scientific. So, apt analogy.- But unlike climate science, we don’t have an active skeptic campaign

- The ways to communicate well, and how this can lead to action, are all part of the science communication literature. Why do Americans keep buying SUV’s when they know about climate change? They are struggling with many of the same things that we are. We can take advantage of this literature to create persuasive messages.

a success story

Image by Tomasz SienickiWong & McMurray, Framing communication: Communicating the antismoking message effectively to all smokers. J. of Community Psychology, 30(4) (2002).

But it’s not all struggle.Successful mass media campaigns about the health risks of smoking have resulted in fewer smokers starting and more quit.Lots of research on health behavior in smoking and other areas, including the use of positive or negative frames to persuade smokers to quit smoking.Interesting to see how relates to PER

Henderson, Beach & Finkelstein, “Four Categories of Change Strategies...” Transitions and Transgressions in Learning & Education, accepted.

old model of science communication

We know model = transmissionist.Usually use when talk about why lecture ineffectiveSci-com = “deficit model”We do this in PER, this is the “develop-and-disseminate” model.

We know that people make choices for irrational reasons, but we keep trying to convince people with rational data. We expect the data to speak for themselves.But (a) people aren’t blank slates(b) people’s decisions aren’t rational. Information doesn’t necessarily lead to action.

Yet we do this in PER.

science

Henderson, Beach & Finkelstein, “Four Categories of Change Strategies...” Transitions and Transgressions in Learning & Education, accepted.

old model of science communication

We know model = transmissionist.Usually use when talk about why lecture ineffectiveSci-com = “deficit model”We do this in PER, this is the “develop-and-disseminate” model.

We know that people make choices for irrational reasons, but we keep trying to convince people with rational data. We expect the data to speak for themselves.But (a) people aren’t blank slates(b) people’s decisions aren’t rational. Information doesn’t necessarily lead to action.

Yet we do this in PER.

= the deficit model science

Henderson, Beach & Finkelstein, “Four Categories of Change Strategies...” Transitions and Transgressions in Learning & Education, accepted.

old model of science communication

We know model = transmissionist.Usually use when talk about why lecture ineffectiveSci-com = “deficit model”We do this in PER, this is the “develop-and-disseminate” model.

We know that people make choices for irrational reasons, but we keep trying to convince people with rational data. We expect the data to speak for themselves.But (a) people aren’t blank slates(b) people’s decisions aren’t rational. Information doesn’t necessarily lead to action.

Yet we do this in PER.

= the deficit model science

Henderson, Beach & Finkelstein, “Four Categories of Change Strategies...” Transitions and Transgressions in Learning & Education, accepted.

RBIS & pedagogy

old model of science communication

We know model = transmissionist.Usually use when talk about why lecture ineffectiveSci-com = “deficit model”We do this in PER, this is the “develop-and-disseminate” model.

We know that people make choices for irrational reasons, but we keep trying to convince people with rational data. We expect the data to speak for themselves.But (a) people aren’t blank slates(b) people’s decisions aren’t rational. Information doesn’t necessarily lead to action.

Yet we do this in PER.

= the deficit model

“The deficit model assumes that the public are empty vessels waiting to be filled with useful information upon which they will rationally act.”

Nerlich, Koteyko, and Brown, “Theory and language of climate change communication,” Wiley Interdisciplinary reviews, 1, 2010.

Henderson, Beach & Finkelstein, “Four Categories of Change Strategies...” Transitions and Transgressions in Learning & Education, accepted.

RBIS & pedagogy

old model of science communication

We know model = transmissionist.Usually use when talk about why lecture ineffectiveSci-com = “deficit model”We do this in PER, this is the “develop-and-disseminate” model.

We know that people make choices for irrational reasons, but we keep trying to convince people with rational data. We expect the data to speak for themselves.But (a) people aren’t blank slates(b) people’s decisions aren’t rational. Information doesn’t necessarily lead to action.

Yet we do this in PER.

but why bother?conceptual change is hard

We know how hard conceptual change is. We need sustained workshops to help instructors use these strategies. So why bother to give a good talk or article?Well, I went to what I consider the Carl Sagan of PER. He’s been tremendously successful in getting He said that the talk is motivational. And if we want to movitate someone to use something, we have to use good communication strategies, like stories, lack of jargon, and think carefully about the role of presenting data in our talks. Henderson, Dancy, and Turpen are starting to find that data may not be motivational, but rather used to justify the choice of an instructional technique. So the game is to find out how our audience thinks about good teaching, and fit our message into their existing beliefs, if we want to have a chance of affecting practice.

but why bother?conceptual change is hard

what can an article or a talk do?

We know how hard conceptual change is. We need sustained workshops to help instructors use these strategies. So why bother to give a good talk or article?Well, I went to what I consider the Carl Sagan of PER. He’s been tremendously successful in getting He said that the talk is motivational. And if we want to movitate someone to use something, we have to use good communication strategies, like stories, lack of jargon, and think carefully about the role of presenting data in our talks. Henderson, Dancy, and Turpen are starting to find that data may not be motivational, but rather used to justify the choice of an instructional technique. So the game is to find out how our audience thinks about good teaching, and fit our message into their existing beliefs, if we want to have a chance of affecting practice.

but why bother?conceptual change is hard

what can an article or a talk do?

We know how hard conceptual change is. We need sustained workshops to help instructors use these strategies. So why bother to give a good talk or article?Well, I went to what I consider the Carl Sagan of PER. He’s been tremendously successful in getting He said that the talk is motivational. And if we want to movitate someone to use something, we have to use good communication strategies, like stories, lack of jargon, and think carefully about the role of presenting data in our talks. Henderson, Dancy, and Turpen are starting to find that data may not be motivational, but rather used to justify the choice of an instructional technique. So the game is to find out how our audience thinks about good teaching, and fit our message into their existing beliefs, if we want to have a chance of affecting practice.

but why bother?conceptual change is hard

what can an article or a talk do?

create awareness

expose to new ideas

plant a seed

inspire

We know how hard conceptual change is. We need sustained workshops to help instructors use these strategies. So why bother to give a good talk or article?Well, I went to what I consider the Carl Sagan of PER. He’s been tremendously successful in getting He said that the talk is motivational. And if we want to movitate someone to use something, we have to use good communication strategies, like stories, lack of jargon, and think carefully about the role of presenting data in our talks. Henderson, Dancy, and Turpen are starting to find that data may not be motivational, but rather used to justify the choice of an instructional technique. So the game is to find out how our audience thinks about good teaching, and fit our message into their existing beliefs, if we want to have a chance of affecting practice.

So....We can create messages to get faculty

excited about using PER techniques

And data indicates that this type of communication has been relatively successful in getting the word out.People get fired up when they hear Mazur talk, and they want to go out and try his ideas. BUT . Faculty report knowing about RBIS’s but most don’t use them, or stop using them. Almost half stop using an RBIS after one semester. 30% of users stop using peer instruction. 50% stop using cooperative group problem solving.

Faculty get fired up when they hear Mazur talk, but then they go out and try to implement it and it all goes to hell. Getting a faculty to use your technique isn’t the end of the story.

So....We can create messages to get faculty

excited about using PER techniques

BUT

And data indicates that this type of communication has been relatively successful in getting the word out.People get fired up when they hear Mazur talk, and they want to go out and try his ideas. BUT . Faculty report knowing about RBIS’s but most don’t use them, or stop using them. Almost half stop using an RBIS after one semester. 30% of users stop using peer instruction. 50% stop using cooperative group problem solving.

Faculty get fired up when they hear Mazur talk, but then they go out and try to implement it and it all goes to hell. Getting a faculty to use your technique isn’t the end of the story.

So....We can create messages to get faculty

excited about using PER techniques

BUTAlmost half of faculty use an RBIS for only semester

And data indicates that this type of communication has been relatively successful in getting the word out.People get fired up when they hear Mazur talk, and they want to go out and try his ideas. BUT . Faculty report knowing about RBIS’s but most don’t use them, or stop using them. Almost half stop using an RBIS after one semester. 30% of users stop using peer instruction. 50% stop using cooperative group problem solving.

Faculty get fired up when they hear Mazur talk, but then they go out and try to implement it and it all goes to hell. Getting a faculty to use your technique isn’t the end of the story.

what goes wrong?

image from http://www.pandemiclabs.com/blog/viral-marketing/does-your-advertising-agency-get-it/

Faculty decide to use something, it doesn’t work, and they blame themselves or blame the method.But run into difficulties and challengesWe need more information about how to implement something in a local contextWe need to study secondary implementations to know what faculty come up againstWe need more informaation about what challenges people face in implementationAnd then we need to communicate about those challenges as part of our messageMaybe we’re afraid that they won’t try the technique if we tell them there might be challenges. But getting someone to try something doesn’t seem to be the big hurdle. It’s getting them to keep using it.

what goes wrong?

image from http://www.pandemiclabs.com/blog/viral-marketing/does-your-advertising-agency-get-it/

we need to know & communicate about the challenges of implementation

Faculty decide to use something, it doesn’t work, and they blame themselves or blame the method.But run into difficulties and challengesWe need more information about how to implement something in a local contextWe need to study secondary implementations to know what faculty come up againstWe need more informaation about what challenges people face in implementationAnd then we need to communicate about those challenges as part of our messageMaybe we’re afraid that they won’t try the technique if we tell them there might be challenges. But getting someone to try something doesn’t seem to be the big hurdle. It’s getting them to keep using it.

we don’t need to speak louder. we need to speak better.

1. health campaigns, climate change, and other science communication has information that we need. Why not consult with experts in those fields to write white papers for our practitioners?

2. We need more audience research and more development of effective messages and talking points for our community. What works? What speaks to people? What can we glean from the communication literature to more effectively hone our messages and become excellent communicators?

3. People have gotten the message that PER exists, and that interactive engagement is good, and we need to now focus our message on implementation. How can others get the gains that developers have? We need research to inform this message, and we also need to form structures - like modeling or CAE - that give teachers a safe “home” where they can work on their practice.

We don’t just need to speak louder. We need to speak better.PER is a leader in science education research. If we begin to do research-based communication to fully communicate our message, do it well, and to use that communication to draw people into a broader support structure, we can lead the SER community in this important work.

we don’t need to speak louder. we need to speak better.

1.We should consult the research in science communication and behavior economics to find how it relates to PER.

1. health campaigns, climate change, and other science communication has information that we need. Why not consult with experts in those fields to write white papers for our practitioners?

2. We need more audience research and more development of effective messages and talking points for our community. What works? What speaks to people? What can we glean from the communication literature to more effectively hone our messages and become excellent communicators?

3. People have gotten the message that PER exists, and that interactive engagement is good, and we need to now focus our message on implementation. How can others get the gains that developers have? We need research to inform this message, and we also need to form structures - like modeling or CAE - that give teachers a safe “home” where they can work on their practice.

We don’t just need to speak louder. We need to speak better.PER is a leader in science education research. If we begin to do research-based communication to fully communicate our message, do it well, and to use that communication to draw people into a broader support structure, we can lead the SER community in this important work.

we don’t need to speak louder. we need to speak better.

1.We should consult the research in science communication and behavior economics to find how it relates to PER.

2.We need to develop effective communication strategies for specific audiences, based on their prior beliefs.

1. health campaigns, climate change, and other science communication has information that we need. Why not consult with experts in those fields to write white papers for our practitioners?

2. We need more audience research and more development of effective messages and talking points for our community. What works? What speaks to people? What can we glean from the communication literature to more effectively hone our messages and become excellent communicators?

3. People have gotten the message that PER exists, and that interactive engagement is good, and we need to now focus our message on implementation. How can others get the gains that developers have? We need research to inform this message, and we also need to form structures - like modeling or CAE - that give teachers a safe “home” where they can work on their practice.

We don’t just need to speak louder. We need to speak better.PER is a leader in science education research. If we begin to do research-based communication to fully communicate our message, do it well, and to use that communication to draw people into a broader support structure, we can lead the SER community in this important work.

we don’t need to speak louder. we need to speak better.

1.We should consult the research in science communication and behavior economics to find how it relates to PER.

2.We need to develop effective communication strategies for specific audiences, based on their prior beliefs.

3.We need to broaden our messages to include implementation challenges.

1. health campaigns, climate change, and other science communication has information that we need. Why not consult with experts in those fields to write white papers for our practitioners?

2. We need more audience research and more development of effective messages and talking points for our community. What works? What speaks to people? What can we glean from the communication literature to more effectively hone our messages and become excellent communicators?

3. People have gotten the message that PER exists, and that interactive engagement is good, and we need to now focus our message on implementation. How can others get the gains that developers have? We need research to inform this message, and we also need to form structures - like modeling or CAE - that give teachers a safe “home” where they can work on their practice.

We don’t just need to speak louder. We need to speak better.PER is a leader in science education research. If we begin to do research-based communication to fully communicate our message, do it well, and to use that communication to draw people into a broader support structure, we can lead the SER community in this important work.

we don’t need to speak louder. we need to speak better.

1.We should consult the research in science communication and behavior economics to find how it relates to PER.

2.We need to develop effective communication strategies for specific audiences, based on their prior beliefs.

3.We need to broaden our messages to include implementation challenges.

4. We need to go beyond communication: creating support structures for PER- reform efforts, including systemic change.

1. health campaigns, climate change, and other science communication has information that we need. Why not consult with experts in those fields to write white papers for our practitioners?

2. We need more audience research and more development of effective messages and talking points for our community. What works? What speaks to people? What can we glean from the communication literature to more effectively hone our messages and become excellent communicators?

3. People have gotten the message that PER exists, and that interactive engagement is good, and we need to now focus our message on implementation. How can others get the gains that developers have? We need research to inform this message, and we also need to form structures - like modeling or CAE - that give teachers a safe “home” where they can work on their practice.

We don’t just need to speak louder. We need to speak better.PER is a leader in science education research. If we begin to do research-based communication to fully communicate our message, do it well, and to use that communication to draw people into a broader support structure, we can lead the SER community in this important work.

Thank you!

Many thanks to Melissa Dancy for useful discussions, to both Dancy & Henderson for their valuable work, and to the PER group at CU-Boulder, and my many mentors in science communication including those at the Exploratorium & NPR (particularly Paul Doherty, David Kestenbaum & Richard Harris).

I’m trying out these ideas myself: Learning About Teaching Physics

PERTG-funded podcast on PER for teachers.

http://perusersguide.org/podcasts

This talk is intended to be motivational. Please contact me with ideas or comments.

stephanie@sciencegeekgirl.com