Live Chat #2: Scientific Outreach and Advocacy in Latin America- October 27 12 p.m. EDT

[ccheatham]

Dr. Gladys Maestre from the Universidad de Zulia in Venezuela will discuss Scientific Outreach and Advocacy in Latin America. Post any questions that you have in advance of the discussion tomorrow.

[gladysmaestre]

What do you think are the ongoing public discussions in Latin America and the Caribbean regarding the brain?

[Raquel Maria Campos]

What would be the most effect ways to approximate all kind of people to science discussions?

[gladysmaestre]

Welcome to our Live Chat on Scientific Outreach and Advocacy in Latin America and the Caribbean. I am Gladys Maestre, professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at University of Zulia in Maracaibo-Venezuela, and Associate Research Scientists at G.H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia University Medical Center in NY.

[gladysmaestre]

Hi Raquel, my first reaction to your question, is to highlight that there is not one single strategy to communicate with “all kind of people”. Perhaps you meant general public? or there is something else you have in mind?

[Raquel Maria Campos]

On Brazil every year grows the attempt to make science more accessible to all kinds of people with theme weeks promoting science fairs for all

[Raquel Maria Campos]

I meant general public, sorry, the same on may next comment

[luluara]

Hello. I have worked with scientific journalism/scientific disclosure when I was an undergrad. However, as a grad student, I am finding it difficult to continue working with scientific outreach, since I do not know any professor or project that involves graduate students, only undergrads… at least in my university.

[gladysmaestre]

Brain Awareness Week campaigns are popular, fun and are one of the strategies to communicate with general public. Still you need to decide in advance WHY you want to communicate and to WHO. So you can really taylor your sessions and you get the highest impact possible!
Have you participated in one of the BAW? if so What worked the best?

[gladysmaestre]

Luara, thanks for sharing that. Where are you based? Why do you think is important to bring Latin American public closer to neuroscientific advances? Based on this, perhaps we can envision some strategies.

[gabmh89]

Hi! Here in México, specifically where I’m from Cuernavaca, Morelos, there’s science fairs in museums where elementary and middle school kids go as field trips. The people who organizes the fairs are mostly researchers from the state.

[Raquel Maria Campos]

Yes, I did. Me and colleagues went to schools and teach some basic concepts of neurobiology for kids and also did some games

[gladysmaestre]

Hi Gabriela, that is awesome! Why do you think youth programs are one of the favorite ways to disseminate neuroscience?

[cebacio]

The simplest answer to this I think is increase general education. With more education people will search for, and use more scientific knowledge in their lives and work sectors.

[luluara]

Hello, Gladys. I am at the federal university of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Well, I think promoting science here in Brazil is important because our public education system is not that strong and education in general is a challenge here. Neuroscience is a really broad theme that can captivate lots of people, we can talk about any animal, diseases, emotions, ethics, behaviors and still talk about neuroscience. It would be interesting therefore to promote this kind of knowledge to the general public.

[Raquel Maria Campos]

Last week Brazilian Public University organized the National Week of Science and Technology. This time numerous schools came to the university campus and we demonstrated some of the research lines

[gladysmaestre]

Cesar, this is an excellent point. It gives me leverage to talk about some conceptual concepts regarding public dissemination of science.

[erzimmer]

Hi to all! Here in my department in Brazil. We have a recently stablished post-graduation program in Education and Scientific diffusion, which has been crucial for spreading scientific knowledge to the general public.

[gladysmaestre]

Have you heard of the deficit model? The deficit model is the idea that if people had more information, they would agree with scientists and make better decisions. But that is not how people make decisions. Many argue is that better explanation by scientists and better listening by the public is not the answer to the science communication problem. What do you think?

[quimtox]

I did that too with my colleagues last year. I think the first thing to do is uncomplicate the science for the general population (improving the scientific journalism skills and professionals). I think it involves several variables and it depends on the social context of the countries.

[Raquel Maria Campos]

I agree, but uncomplicate science is not a simple thing to do

[luluara]

Yeah, this seems as a one-way strategy.

[gabmh89]

I’ve always thought that the best researchers are the kids! They ask more questions than examiners in an PhD exam. I’ve experimented in first hand the astonishment in their faces when you tell them how neurons communicate! In a way it’s personally satisfactory

[gladysmaestre]

Importance of simplification when communicating: People use mental shortcuts to make sense of excessive and complex information. Simplification then has to do with the type of words we select, how many words and how we put them together so the main point is not loss in details!

[cebacio]

And what is the differential approach erzimmer?
How do your research or dissemination deal with the educational gap btwn general public and scientific knowledge?

[gladysmaestre]

This is so true! One of the reasons lots of scientists select to work with kids is because of their enthusiasm and joy they bring. They are valid reasons, however do you think there are other reasons to bring neuroscience to kids?

[gladysmaestre]

Cesar, what do you mean by education divide? in the context of Latin America and how is this different from the context of the US for example?

[Raquel Maria Campos]

Every new information is something to increase someone knowlege. Also, it’s important kids know how what they learn in science class in school was discovery

[Raquel Maria Campos]

I think it aproximate kids from reality. Most of time they have no idea how someone now what is teach in school. They think it’s just something new the have to now for tests. But, when the experience how complex and curious something can be it become interesting for them

[luluara]

O tottaly agree with the idea of showing how the knowledge they learn in the textbooks was created. As a child, it always seems misterious to me how the content of the textbooks was made… =D

[cebacio]

Gladymaestre. From what I can understand this concept defines simple access to information is not the key. If I’m wrong please correct me.
In case it is this, I guess it still falls under the gap btwn public internalizing the knowledge, and being able to change their behavior (which requires, then, action) when doing so. Again, it falls under education necessary to connect the scientific knowledge to everyday world. Perhaps an effort to make the knowledge more general connectable is interesting as an strategy…

[gladysmaestre]

It is easy to agree that simplification and the use of plain language and conversational tone will go farther when you are communicating with the general public. However it is critical to remember, that there is no unframed information. All information is framed, regardless of intent of frame. So you need to make sure that your framework is clear, why are you sharing this particular piece of information with the people that is receiving your message? Do you want them to “know” something or to “act” based in the info you provided.

[maria_quintero_escobar]

Here from Colombia, I think that communication would improve if outreach is centered in simple questions most of people have, this is the
way of using the curiosity we all share with kids.

[Raquel Maria Campos]

for me, it’s important know something. The way this change someone life and choices, it’s a consequence

[erzimmer]

Hi Cebacio. Thanks for your reply. Essentially, this program is based on the idea of bringing “science” to young students in the public school. More specifically, this program aims to challenge formal education processes in the classroom by introducing innovative learning strategies.

[eva_ramos]

I think that kids need to learn neuroscience because it can produce in them an increase of options to decide and choose their future degree inside the science field

[quimtox]

yeahhh…I know it is far from being simple! And I think that not all scientific information are easy to teach (but basic information about general issues, such as the scientific method we use for example, are very explainable).

[gladysmaestre]

Cesar, yes, is like you know you need to sleep 8 hours per day, everyday. How much science you need to learn to make this a reality in your life or in the life of most people? Look at the obesity epidemics, or even stress…so besides knowledge transfer from scientist to public what else is needed? particularly in the context of Latin America and the Caribbean?

[amendez86]

Gladys. In Uruguay Neuroscience has come into discussion about public issues: lowering the age in which citizens can go to prison and making marihuana legal. I away concerned about how this worked, because I read no really complete experimental design that really gave a straight answer and in some point it makes sense, because Neuroscience won’t have all the ethical answers to what society we want to become. However, many big arguments holding Neuroscience as the answer to everything, what do you think about this? Probably the two topics are really different but they both raised the same concern to me.

[cebacio]

Sorry. It is not different. Maybe in Brazil the gap is bigger (in terms of amount of population more distant from knowledge). But the same idea applies, I’d say.

[gabmh89]

I’ve never heard of the deficit model, but I think it’s a good idea. If we can give neuroscience in a way it can be understood and help the kids make better decisions regarding what they want to be “when they grow up” and even regarding their body its self. I don’t know if a make sense.

[erickloi]

The way we scientists communicate to the public has to change and I am not talking about teaching concepts to children. Here in Brazil we are getting through a difficult situation when a drug is said to be the cure of cancer. There are no clinical trials to support this. The universities are trying to say that it shouldn’t be used, but the general public and even the government are making pressure to the distribution of the drug. People don’t know our scientists, so they do not believe them.

[erzimmer]

Hi Cebacio, I am not sure if I made myself clear. The idea is to introduce the scientific method very early on these kids life. Is this clear? This is the program website (in portuguese): http://www.ufrgs.br/ppgeducacaociencias/site/

[joselisa]

ccheatham:

Scientific Outreach and Advocacy in Latin America

Dear Dr. Gladys,
I don´t know if you will remember me, I´ve had the pleasure of meeting you at the last IBRO congress at Rio.
In recent years, I´ve taken part in itinerant exhibitions on Neuroscience, mostly based on the Brain Awareness Week. Activities usually take place at public parks, in which several neuroscience activities are performed for the passer-by public.
I´m also part of a community project at my university (Universidade Federal do ABC) designed for the elderly who complains about memory performance in their daily routine. The purpose is to teach them a little bit about the brain and some strategies for improving their memory performance. This experience has been very rewarding, but lacks public investiment.
So, I was wondering if maybe you could talk a little bit about on ways of raising money for these community projects and about any other neuroscientific outreaching ideas.

Thank you for the opportunity,
Joselisa

[vtramire]

Well, here in Chile (santiago) I am a teacher for low-income kids that are extraordinary smarts. They always want to learn more, and i can teach them almost everything.
I am agree that kids are more receptive to new topics and technology.

[erickloi]

A recent survey showed Brazilians can’t even name research institutions nor scientists in Brazil. As one of the most cited Brazilian scientists in the survey was Einstein!!!

[gladysmaestre]

Maria that is a very important point. You are talking about relevance, and you asume that people have questions and they will be more attracted to knowledge that can help them answer their questions, and perhaps address their needs. So the main message is that we need to know our audience, we just can not have as a goal to “transfer” something that we know. How do we get to know what the general public wants or needs to know?

[quimtox]

Agreed! It is a good example.

[erzimmer]

Hi erickloi. This is a very problematic situation that we are currently facing in Brazil. Yesterday I have read a full page in the newspaper discussing pros and cons of this drug.

[gladysmaestre]

Eva, thanks. In a way you are saying that public dissemination and programs directed to youth and children is a matter of equity. Or are you most concerned with the future of scientists in Latin America and the Caribbean?