IN PROGRESS | Greetings from my Research

IGC Capstone Project | Interfaces of Global Change

Greetings From My Research: A Postcard Activity for Communicating Across Disciplines

Student Members:

• Sophia Smith, Biological Sciences
• Kesevan Veloo, Planning, Governance and Globalization
• Courtney Werner, Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Faculty Mentors:

• Dr. Dara Wald, School of Public and International Affairs

"Greetings From My Research" makes interpretation of research visible through a classroom sequence in Communicating Science (GRAD 5144): a live, paired workshop (Part A) followed by an individual course assignment (Part B). 

The team will pilot the sequence with up to 36 students across two course sections. In Part A, one partner serves as the speaker and explains their research while the other serves as the listener-drawer, who listens, asks clarifying questions, and draws what they understand from the conversation. Partners debrief, switch roles, and repeat the sequence with a second partner. By completing both roles with two partners, each student sees how two listeners understood their explanation and practices translating two peers’ explanations into images. 

Part B will be a course assignment in which each student creates one postcard communicating their research to a non-specialist audience.

Using anonymous feedback and facilitator notes, the group will prepare a facilitation guide and summarize pilot findings. They will archive any cards that students choose to contribute and document the project in their capstone summary. Pilot findings will guide decisions about next steps.