Introduction

Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;

I have loved the stars too truly to be fearful of the night
Twilight Hours (1868) by Sarah Williams

Science is complicated and often tedious in its execution. However, it is also interesting, inspiring and has the potential to change people’s lives. While most scientists spend their time researching in their respective fields of interest, it is also their duty to keep the public informed about recent developments and findings. This will raise public awareness and interest in science, influence their attitudes and behaviour as well as address social problems. On a larger scale, science communication also informs policy decisions made by governments that have far-reaching consequences in society.

Schematic overview of the field and the actors of science communication. Science communication is informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments. Science communicators and audiences are ambiguously defined and the expertise and level of science knowledge varies with each group. The two types of science communication are outward-facing (or science outreach; science journalism and science exhibition typically conducted by scientists or science journalists to non-expert audiences) and inward-facing (or science “inreach”; scholarly communication and publication in scientific journals via expert to expert communication).
Fig 12. 1 Schematic overview of the field and the actors of science communication according to Carsten Könneker

While we have already explored how scientists share information between themselves (through peer-review), in this chapter, we will discuss how scientists share information with non-scientists. The forms of science communication can vary in form from science journalism, health communication, podcast appearances, and public workshops and exhibitions. There are also people who popularise scientific subjects through documentaries, films, and popular-science books. They can include scientists (like Richard Dawkins or Neil deGrasse Tyson) as well journalists and filmmakers (like David Attenborough). Such communicators may focus on specific topics that are of interest to them (evolution for Richard Dawkins; language and thinking for Steven Pinker; or Astrophysics for Neil deGrasse Tyson) and help raise awareness about these topics.

A photo of Richard Dawkins A photo of Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Fig 12. 2 Richard Dawkins and Neil DeGrasse Tyson are popular communicators of science. In addition to their peer-reviewed publications, they have published numerous popular science books aimed at the general public.

Thomas and Durant (1987) state that increasing scientific literacy has numerous advantages from the economic competitiveness of having more engineers and scientists in a nation to the individual benefits of understanding critical thinking and technology. In addition, an informed electorate can promote greater democratic values in a society (Gregory & Miller, 1998).

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Critical Thinking Copyright © 2026 by Dinesh Ramoo, Thompson Rivers University Open Press is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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