Abstract
The key to communicating new facts and findings from science is in enhancing the public’s understanding of both the scientific method and the conceptual framework underpinning empirical research questions and conclusions. However, much communication currently focuses only on disseminating facts to the public. This thesis examines alternative approaches to communicating neuroscience to the public.
In the academic component, literature from science communication and neuroscience is reviewed. The models of science communication are used as a framework to discuss communication issues specific to neuroscience and relatable to other new or controversial scientific fields. In the creative component, the social consequences of neuroscience and communication of scientific ideas are explored through a fictional narrative. The emphasis is on the type of contemporary science communication outlined by Burns et al. (2003), that is, a communication or activity that helps create awareness, enjoyment, interest, opinions and understanding of a scientific issue, rather than one which expressly sets out to disseminate facts or provide an exhaustive coverage of an issue.
This thesis concludes that to foster understanding of complex scientific concepts, such as those found in neuroscience, science communicators need to encourage the public to consider the empirical basis of scientific ideas and look at them in the context of society, individual and ‘the everyday’. Further, to encourage this, science communicators need to be finding new and creative ways to portray the scientific method and scientists as well as be perpetually improving the critical thinking informing science communication and the public’s reception of these communications.