Health & Sciences Seminar (425-0-20)
Instructors
Abigail M Foerstner
Meeting Info
Meets in Non-General PurposeRm: Tues 1:00PM - 3:50PM
Overview of class
The Health and Sciences Seminar teaches you to take command of a technological world with strategies to find, interpret and communicate complex science stories to general audiences. You discover and apply techniques to make the stories accessible and to emphasize the impact of science news on people's lives, families and communities. You meet with diverse scientists, reporters and other stakeholders to better understand the science, policy decisions and social equity implications critical and you and your audiences. You learn to distinguish good science from bad, to analytically evaluate studies and to translate the relevance of even the most complicated research. Plan on investigating just how AI is reaching into every field. Plan on discovering technology innovation and technology disruption. Plan on field trips to explore a national laboratory and other labs pursuing cutting-edge research. Plan on in-class presentations interspersed with press conference-style discussions of the ethics and accuracy of science in the news. Because science is vast and you each have unique interests, assignments may be satisfied with work focused on medical advances, public health, technology, the environment, space exploration, physics or other areas of your choice. You can approach health-related stories from wide-ranging perspectives, including the increased risks in neighborhoods of Chicago and elsewhere with high pollution levels, solutions to improve health access, innovative treatments and diagnostics, consumer angles, research wizards, or how new pandemics might emerge. Some assignments for this class will be pitched and published.
Class Materials (Required)
Required course materials include modules of readings, databases, segments of books and online tools for producing dynamic interactive graphics and maps. All materials and resources will be provided through the Northwestern library, the Knight Lab and online assets at no cost to you.
Class Attributes
Attendance at 1st class mandatory