Science in Context

This subject is not offered in 2016.

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It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study and reasonable steps will be made to enhance a student’s participation in the University’s programs. Students who feel their disability may impact upon their active and safe participation in a subject are encouraged to discuss this with the relevant subject coordinator and the Disability Liaison Unit.

As a Scientist, one of the main challenges is to communicate scientific knowledge to the wider community. Whether the issues are big or small, communicating complex scientific knowledge needs to be ‘context relevant’. Increasingly, scientific knowledge also has to be communicated in a global and cross-cultural environment. This subject aims to equip you with some of the skills that you will need to analyse cross cultural contexts and communicate scientific and technical knowledge effectively across a wide range of sectors and communities.

This subject explores how scientific knowledge is perceived by a diverse audience, including the media, corporations, governments and across cultures. Topics include the place and perception of the sciences across cultures, communicating scientific knowledge successfully and intercultural communication. At the completion of the subject, students should:

• understand how different non-science sectors work and how they view scientific knowledge;
• understand the relationship between science and cultures;
• be familiar with some techniques of contextual analysis;
• have explored the process of communicating with diverse audiences appropriately;
• understand the range of actions that can be taken to facilitate successful scientific knowledge communication across different contexts.

• Seminar discussion and participation, requiring approximately 13 - 15 hours of work (10%)
• Two individual reports (500 words each) (2 X 10%) Due in Week 6 and 10 respectively, requiring approximately 13 - 15 hours of work per report
• One group report (2000 words), requiring approximatley 25 - 30 hours of work (20%), due in week 11 and/or 12, and 1 group presentation of up to 30 minutes based on group report, requiring approximaterly 35 - 40 hours of work (30%)
• End-of-semester submission (2500 - 3000 words),requiring approximately 45 - 50 hours of work (40%).

Note that there are no textbooks in this subject. Required readings are in the Subject Reading Pack available from the Bookroom. Supplementary readings may be suggested in class.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Students should acquire a range of generic skills. They should:

• enhance their ability to formulate and articulate rational argument through seminar and online discussions;
• develop further their abilities to engage critically with lecture material and the subject literature;
• improve their time management skills by planning and delivering assignments as required;
• learn to apply theory to practice in seminar discussions and assessable tasks;
• improve their cross-cultural analytical skills - specifically the adoption of appropriate frameworks for problem identification, information handling, communication and critical thinking through engagement with case studies.