Assessing contemporary science

Effective communication is essential in science, but do you ever wonder whether articles written about science in the news are thorough, unambiguous and objective? Rigorous assessment is at the heart of good science. This free course, Assessing contemporary science, will introduce methods of examining reports and reaching the ‘science behind the news’.It will explore the ways in which scientific knowledge develops, undergoes peer review and is communicated. The second half of the course will focus more closely on a specific scientific topic – plastics – and give you a chance to practise these skills by considering the topic's social impact, building a glossary of unfamiliar terms, and evaluating relevant information sources.

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 Why science matters
• 1 Why science matters
• 2 What is contemporary science?
• 2 What is contemporary science?
• 2.1 The applications of contemporary science
• 3 Perspectives on contemporary science
• 3 Perspectives on contemporary science
• 4 How contemporary science works
• 4 How contemporary science works
• 5 Communicating contemporary science
• 5 Communicating contemporary science
• 6 Interpreting science news
• 6 Interpreting science news
• 7 Introducing plastics in society
• 7 Introducing plastics in society
• 7.1 Some aspects of the science of plastics
• 7.2 Preparing a glossary
• 8 Evaluating reported information
• 8 Evaluating reported information
• 8.1 The PROMPT criteria
• 8.2 Applying PROMPT to an online article
• 9 Scientific research continues to develop
• 9 Scientific research continues to develop
• Conclusion
• Glossary
• References
• Acknowledgements