My colleague, Dr. Jennifer Bauer, and I have developed and curate an education outreach and science communication website called Time Scavengers. The website is designed for the general public and teachers to inform and explore climate change and evolution, two topics which are currently in the public spotlight. We explore these topics through the lens of paleontology, and aim to increase the public’s awareness of the science behind climate change and evolution, how we obtain our data and what those data are, and how we test our hypotheses.
The site have over 40 static pages, including introductory material to help the public understand basic geologic principles and concepts. There are currently 6 blogs that Jen and I, along with our 14 collaborators, contribute to. These include ‘Meet the Scientist‘, where we showcase a new geoscientist biweekly; ‘Field Excursions‘, a place where we explain what we do in the field or on field trips; ‘Education and Outreach‘, a blog to highlight the outreach work we do and why it’s important; ‘Science Bytes‘, where we talk about specific aspects of our research and hypothesis testing; and ‘Climate and Paleo News‘, where we break down and simply (as possible) explain the findings behind important papers published pertaining to climate change science and evolution. Our newest blog, ‘Byte of Life‘, highlights our experiences in science and navigating our way through academia.
Jen and I, along with our site collaborators, have been and continue to conduct research into the best practices scientists can utilize on social media to reach a broad audience. We track our user data and post performance through Google Analytics and social media statistics. We have also experimented with Facebook paid posts to assess the best ways to increase climate change and evolutionary theory literacy.
Publications Related to Science Communication & Outreach
Lam, A. R., Bauer, J. E., Fraass, S., Sheffield, S. L., Limbeck, M. R., Borden, R. M., Thompson-Munson, M., Fraass, A., Hils, J. M., Muskelly, C. O., Bryant, R., and Hartshorn, K., 2019. Time Scavengers: An Educational Website to Communicate Climate Change an Evolutionary Theory to the Public Through Blogs, Web Pages, and Social Media Platforms. Journal of STEM Outreach 2(1), doi: 10.15695/jstem/v2i1.05
Abstracts Related to Science Communication & Outreach
Limbeck, M., Bauer, J. E., Lam, A. R., and Sheffield, S. L., 2020. Time Scavengers: Reaching the public through science blogs and determining what content performs best on social media platforms. Northeast/Southeast GSA Meeting, Reston, VA. (Conference canceled)
Borden, R., Lam, A. R., and Bauer, J., 2019. Engaging the public through featuring diverse and international scientists on a science outreach website. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
Bauer, J. E., and Lam, A. R., 2019. Building an educational online community through social media (INVITED). GSA Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ.
Resnick, C., Bauer, J. E., and Lam, A.R., 2019. Building 2YC students’ science identities through digital media to broaden participation in the geosciences. GSA Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ.
Lam, A. R., Bauer, J.E., Muskelly, C. O., Borden, R. M., Hils, J. M., Desai, D., Limbeck, M. R., Fraass, A., Sheffield, S. L., Thompson-Munson, M., Fraass, S., Hartshorn, K., 2019. Twelve to tango: Avocational and professional partnerships to increase public understanding of paleontology through informational pages, blogs, and social media platforms. North American Paleontological Convention, Riverside, California.
Bauer, J. E., and Lam, A.R., 2019. Promoting visibility and participation of diverse scientists through a digital science communication platform. North American Paleontological Convention, Riverside, CA.
Muskelly, C. O., Bauer, J. E., and Lam, A. R., 2018. Time Scavengers: Social media outlets allow for effective communication of geoscience education. Submitted to the Southeastern Section GSA Meeting, Charleston, SC.
Lam, A. R., and Bauer, J. E., 2019. Using social media paid advertisements, sharing, and engaging posts to reach a wider audience and increase climate change and evolutionary theory literacy. GSA Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN.
Sheffield, S. L., Bauer, J. E., and Lam, A. R., 2018. Making geology accessible through engaging blogs: Using photos to bring the outdoors in. GSA Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN.
Bauer, J. E., Lam, A. R., Fraass, S., Fraass, A., Hartshorn, K., Borden, R. M., Muskelly, C. O., Sheffield, S. L., Thompson-Munson, M., Hils, J. M., and Limbeck, M. R., 2018. Time Scavengers: A collaborative endeavor to disseminate complex science to increase public literacy on climate change and evolution. GSA Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN.
Lam, A. R., Bauer, J. E., Sheffield, S. L., Muskelly, C. O., Thompson-Munson, M., Limbeck, M. R., Hils, J. M., Hartshorn, K., Fraass, A., Fraass, S., and Borden, R. M., 2018. Time Scavengers: A Website to Disseminate Climate Change and Evolutionary Principles to Increase Public Literacy. AGU Fall Meeting, Washington, D. C.
Lam, A. R., Bauer, J. E., Bryant, R., Fraass, A. J., Golder, K., Hartshorn, K. R., Hils, J. M., Limbeck, M., Sheffield, S. L. 2017. Time Scavengers: A website for the public to learn about climate change and evolution through the experiences of scientists. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Louisiana, USA. Online
Bauer, J. E., Lam, A. R., Bryant, R., Fraass, A. J., Golder, K., Hartshorn, K. R., Hils, J. M., Limbeck, M., Sheffield, S. L. 2017. Time Scavengers: A collaborative website for exploring climate change and evolution through scientists’ experiences. Geological Society of America Meeting, Abstracts with Programs, 49(6). Online
Bauer, J. E., Lam, A. R., Stigall, A. L. 2014. Ordovician Atlas of Ancient Life: Developing tools for paleontologists, educators, and the public. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 46 (6). Online
Bauer, J. E., Stigall, A. L., Lam, A. R. 2014. Ordovician Atlas of Ancient Life: From fossil identification to the classroom. IGCP 591 Annual Meeting, Tartu, Estonia.
Stigall, A. L., Bauer, J. E., Brame, H.-M. R., Dani, D. E., Helfrich, S. R., Lam, A. R., Sickel, A. J. 2014. Oceans of Ohio: Opportunities for engaging K-16 students via local geology. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 46 (3). Online
Stigall, A. L, Bauer, J. E., Lam, A. R. 2014. Ordovician Atlas of Ancient Life: A tool for paleontologists and the public. 4th International Palaeontological Congress, Mendoza, Argentina.
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