Communicating science to underserved communities is important. Scientists can play a key role by contextualizing science and making it relevant and relatable through storytelling. Ciencia Puerto Rico is a model for this, as it leverages the scientific community to produce crowdsourced science content in Spanish for Puerto Rican media and communities. It has helped increase students' interest in science by providing local and relatable examples.

1. Communica)ng
science
to
underserved
communi)es
Mónica
I.
Feliú-­‐Mójer,
Ph.D.
Ciencia
Puerto
Rico
University
of
Washington
Department
of
Biosta)s)cs
@moefeliu
@CienciaPR
#scio14
#scioCONVERGE

2. Tectonic Plates

3. hFp://jan.ucc.nau.edu/rcb7/

4. hFp://jan.ucc.nau.edu/rcb7/

5. Puerto Rico was
born in the Pacific.

6. Puerto Rico
Pacific Ocean

10. Context matters.

11. Scientists can play a key role in
contextualizing science.

12. Ciencia Puerto Rico
www.cienciapr.org
• ~7,000 members
• Scientists, students,
educators
• 48 states, 50
countries
• 100+ scientific
disciplines

13. Lack of contextualized
science content
• Media
(e.g.
radio,
newspapers)
important
source
• General
lack
of
science
content
• Lack
of
contextualized
science
content
in
par)cular
• Lack
of
access
to
original
sources
for
validity/
accuracy
verifica)on

14. 424
lay
science
ar)cles
213
podcasts
Crowd-­‐sourced,
by
scienBsts

15. Storyteller
Story
Language
Context

16. • Positive change in students
perception of science
• Observed an increase in
their interest in
• science essays
• science class
• Puerto Rican science
• scientific discoveries at
the local and
international level

18. A model to reach
underserved communities
• Leveraging scientific community to reach
underserved communities
– Outreach
is
facilitated
Storyteller
– Visibility
• Relevance and relatability
Story
Language
Context

19. CienciaPR Team
Daniel A. Colón Ramos
(Yale University)
Giovanna Guerrero
(Ciencia Puerto Rico)
Wilson González Espada
(Morehead State
University)
Greetchen Díaz Muñoz
(U. of Nebraska)
Marcos López Casillas
(Fundación Cardiovascular de Colombia)
Yaihara Fortis Santiago
(AAAS/NSF)
Samuel Díaz Muñoz
(UC-Berkeley)
Jacqueline Flores
(UPR-Medical Sciences
Campus)
Francis González
(Indep. Consultant)
Paola Giusti
(UNC-Chapel Hill)
Alexis Valentín Vargas
(U. of Arizona)
Reyna Martínez De Luna
(SUNY-Upstate)
Edwin Rosado
(UPR-Rio Piedras)
Uldaeliz Trujillo
(UPR-Rio Piedras)
Elvin Estrada
(Pontifical Catholic
University of PR)

20. Thank
you!
www.CienciaPR.org
facebook.com/CienciaPR
@moefeliu
@CienciaPR
moefeliu@cienciapr.org
contact@cienciapr.org