Week 11 - Tuesday, February 10th 2015: Metaphors

Tuesday was all about communicating science. A recap of last weeks museum scavenger hunt started off the session, followed by some researching about lead and then some activities involving using metaphors to communicate the findings.

Some of the metaphor ideas the teens came up with.

The interns and teens split into their respective groups to research these topics: how Pb (lead) works in the body; how Pb affects growing plants; how Pb moves through air, soil, and water; and what kind of research is being done about Pb.

Next, the groups collaborated to create metaphors used to more easily communicate the research findings. After everyone agreed on their best metaphors, they were tested on the other groups to see if they were easily communicated and memorable in a "pass it on" fashion.

One of the teens explaining her groups research and metaphor.

Then, a representative from each group explained the metaphor and its connection to their research to everybody else. After the short presentations, the groups reformed for some brainstorming. Ideas for how to incorporate the metaphors into the existing exhibit components were discussed. Before ending session, there was a brief discussion of the importance of creative communication in the sciences which will continue into the next session.