Communication in Science and Technology

Code:

DIP4004

Acronym:

DIP4004

Level:

400

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Personal and Communicational Development

Instance: 2020/2021 - 1S

Active?	No
Responsible unit:	Department of Biology
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Applications in Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
M:ABBS	0	The study plan from 2019/20	1	-	3	21	81

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

At the end of the course, students should be able to: understand what is Science; understand what is a Problem, a Hypothesis and how to elaborate a Plan to test (validate or reject) the Working Hypothesis and establish Proof of Concept and formulate the Thesis; elaborate scientific reports, articles, project proposals, and alike.

Another major goal of this course is to raise students’ awareness towards the importance of Communication skills in Science and Technology, namely, in what regards adapting the speech to each particular audience, which may be composed by either specialist peers or by general public from different age groups and/or socio-cultural context

Learning outcomes and competences

The course program will allow students to deepen their knowledge and strengthen their skills in Communication in Science and Technology. To this end, general concepts in Science and the Scientific Method will be addressed, to familiarize students with the current vocabulary in this area. Additionally, students’ awareness regarding how different types of scientific documents are planned and prepared, following more or less established general rules. We will address the construction of a scientific work, from its genesis to its final presentation to the scientific community. We will also stress the importance of gaining Communication skills in Science and Technology, and of their adequacy to different target audiences.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Concepts of: Science, scientific knowledge, and scientific method (observation, hypothesis, experimentation, thesis). The Problem.

Bibliographic survey – traditional and online approaches; Databases; Bibliographic metrics (ISI Web of Knowledge, JCR data, SJR).

Planning and organizing scientific works: projects, papers or oral/poster communications.

Communication in Science and Technology: the relevance of making specialists and non-specialists aware of the key role of Science and Technology in the search for effective solutions for the current societal problems and challenges. Actions for dissemination of scientific and technological advances, and their adaptation to the specific target audiences.

Mandatory literature

Robert A., ed. lit. Day; How to write and publish a scientific paper. ISBN: 0-521-36572-4
Reis F.L. ; Como elaborar uma dissertação de Mestrado segundo Bolonha, 2019
Madeira A. C. & Abreu M. M; Comunicar em Ciência - como redigir e apresentar trabalhos científicos, 2004
Marconi M.A. & Lakatos E.M; Fundamentos de metodologia científica, 2003

Teaching methods and learning activities

Students will attend both lectures and tutorial sessions, on the subjects to be addressed in this course. We will foster deep analysis and wide discussion of different kinds of scientific documents, from works for peer review (theses, papers, communications, grant applications) to presentations for the general public, through the media. In this connection, team work will be privileged, and teams will be invited to make an oral presentation on an assigned specific topic/document. Also, a written individual examination will take place by the end of the course.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Exame	50,00
Prova oral	50,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	4,00
Total:	4,00

Eligibility for exams

25% presence in the classes

Calculation formula of final grade

50% oral presentation + 50% writen exam

Classification improvement

Upgrade classification will be done only in the writen exam, the oral presentation grade will be valid for the all lective year.