The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science just released its latest video in a series designed to help scientists prepare for The Flame Challenge™, an annual contest that challenges scientists to communicate familiar yet complex concepts in ways that are understandable to an 11-year-old. But for this particular video, the Alda Center enlisted help from an unlikely source — the University Police Department.
Alda Center and Stony Brook alum Steven Jaret introduced his game, Jargon Police, by taking Stony Brook faculty and researchers to the back of a police car and charging them to talk about their science without using any scientific jargon. “It’s all about taking what you know about your audience and letting that change the way you communicate,” said Video Host Nancee Moes, an improvisation instructor for the Alan Alda Center and coordinator for The Flame Challenge™ 2018.
The video features faculty members Troy Rasbury and Timothy Glotch from the Department of Geosciences, Kathleen Flint-Ehm from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Patricia Wright from the Department of Anthropology, as well as SBU graduate researcher Greg Carbonetti from Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
It’s Your Turn to Play Jargon Police
The Alda Center invites Stony Brook faculty, graduate students and researchers in the STEM fields to play this game, sharpen your communication skills and then take The Flame Challenge™. Send in a recording of yourself playing Jargon Police and you might be featured on the Flame Challenge website and social media. More details about submititng your video can be found on the website.
Watch and play Jargon Police.
Read more about The Flame Challenge in a feature on the Scientific American blog.
Add comment