Ten students ponder the headline projected at the front of the classroom: “LK-99 Isn’t a Superconductor—How Science Sleuths Solved the Mystery.” The wording suggests to some of us a Sherlock Holmes–like figure in a lab coat standing back from a corkboard of strung-together research papers, a grainy photo of the mysterious LK-99 compound at their center. Turning to the article itself, my classmates and I decide the author should have explained the relevance of important phrases like “sharp drops in its electrical resistivity” and “partial levitation over a magnet.” Then again, since the piece was published in the journal Nature instead of in a general readership periodical like The New York Times, we note, it makes sense that some unexplained scientific jargon is included.

Title appeal, jargon use, and the character of the publication—these are all factors the class Science Communication: Crafting a Science Think Piece teaches students to consider when consuming and conveying scientific information. The class is part of the Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse’s new Science Communication and Public Discourse (SCPD) undergraduate minor, first offered in the 2023–24 academic year.

The program responds to declining public trust in science: The Pew Research Center reports that, from April 2020 to November 2023, Americans’ trust in scientists dropped 14 percent. Pew notes that this drop coincided with the most acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, when crucial advice from health officials in the United States was undercut by disinformation campaigns and attempts to politicize science.

To regain the public’s trust, science communicators must learn to present technical information in a persuasive, engaging way. That demands scientific and media literacy—both of which SCPD aims to bolster through its courses.

Even if students don’t become professional scientists or science communicators, “people need to know how to navigate scientific discourse in public life,” says Jordan Bimm, a historian of space exploration and assistant instructional professor of SCPD. In his view, it’s an essential part of a liberal arts education and meaningful “training for the real world.”

Professor of neurobiology and faculty director of the SCPD program Peggy Mason notes the challenges science communication faces within academia. “There’s been this tradition of looking down on scientists who make forays into the public,” she says. Investing in a minor dedicated to public interaction combats that stigma and acknowledges why research is done: for the good of all people. It’s also worth remembering that most research is funded by the public, says Mason: “They’re our bosses, and they deserve a report.”

For Crafting a Science Think Piece, that report takes the form of a 2,000- to 5,000-word article from each student. The class meets twice a week and covers communication theories, journalistic practices, and analysis of other writers’ published think pieces. Students are expected to incorporate the theories they’ve studied into their articles as the quarter moves along. For example, if your article compares an upcoming space telescope to past projects, then the lesson on navigating federal archives under the Freedom of Information Act will be important. Students’ completed think pieces are polished products that fare well outside the classroom: A piece submitted by a student in the autumn 2023 class earned her first place (and $1,500) in the annual John Crerar Foundation Science Writing Prize for College Students.

Other courses in the minor include Producing a Science Video Story, Designing a Science Exhibit, and Producing a Science Podcast, providing students with experience in a breadth of different media that appeal to different audiences. The instructors’ diverse professions—the roster includes a science historian, a linguist, a research scientist, and an investigative journalist—demonstrate how widely science communication skills can be applied.

“It’s meeting the students where they are in terms of their interest,” Bimm explains. He hopes the program will attract “anyone who has an interest not just in science but in the relationships between science and society or history and science.” It’s succeeding already: Classes have accrued wait lists and earned high ratings from students.

So far, about 15 students have declared the minor. Bimm and Mason are eager to grow that number, because they believe their field will need more skilled spokespeople in the future. “Ten years from now, science communication is going to be even more important than it is today,” says Bimm. “I expect students who take these classes will look back on this training and be like, ‘Yes, this is something that I still think about, something that I still use, even more than I thought I would.’”