Initial Publication Date: March 30, 2022

Community Meeting 2

Key Idea Synthesis

These are the takeaways from the second community meeting of the MCC Educator Community of Practice (CoP) on March 29th, 2022. The meeting was led by the Executive Director of MOST Policy Initiative, Brittany Whitley, who introduced Science Notes and their use in education. This summary was written by Sarah Fortner after the meeting. For the recording of the meeting, visit the Program page.

  • Science Notes are a nonpartisan style of communication directed toward legislatures or policymakers. Each note includes a short summary, a list of highlights, and researched background providing the referenced detail documenting the highlight, limitations, and references. They help present the peer reviewed science needed for policymaking through methods like discussing limitations of science (e.g. scope, scale) to build credibility with policy makers. While originally designed in response to legislature request, these can also be generated to initiate discussions with policymakers. Timeliness and relevance to policy opportunities are important. 
  • The MCC Educator Community of practice broke into groups by educational interests (K-12, Higher Education, Community Organizations/Informal Education) to discuss how to use Science Notes in those settings and the learning they might support.  
    • Leadership development & organizational change: Many thought Science Notes were a useful tool for discussing science opportunities with school boards, informal education boards, or other decision makers besides the policy target.  These could also be used to onboard new educator audiences in the scientific background of topics they will build education around.
    • Teaching and public engagement activities: Science Notes could be incorporated into semester-long research projects or writing activities as a way to connect scientific understanding to decision-maker use. Elements of community science notes could be used to inform shorter activities like postcard activities or to support exploration of bias/unbiased scientific communication. The differences between Science Notes and advocacy are worth considering for the audiences you engage. Community organizations or individuals may come from a place of advocacy and desire to not address topics through a politically neutral lens. In this case, it might still be possible to share notes to gather and learn perspectives for specific change. 
    • Learning supported through activities:  Producing, editing or reading science notes could help students communicate succinctly and to separate statements of fact from policy recommendations. Science notes could scaffold students' or community members' ability to engage in conversation about an issue, to lead community engagement activities, or to communicate with policy makers bridging the gap between knowledge and the use of that knowledge.
  •  The MCC is interested in expanding the use of Science Notes through the Midwest Climate Ambassadors program. If you are interested in working to bring Science Notes to your state please contact Heather Navarro: hnavarro@wustl.edu.