Writing Arguments in STEM Student Resource

Public Literacy

Introduction

Public literacy is the ability of the public to understand science and technology, contribute to the field by being citizen scientists, and being able to make informed decisions in society with their scientific knowledge and understanding. A literate public would have enough medical knowledge to make healthy decisions, know enough about car mechanics to change a flat tire or fix a dead battery, and understand the science behind the atmospheric greenhouse gas effect and how climate change is being addressed by governmental bodies. A Publicly Literate STEM student must be someone who understands enough about science to comprehend the consequences of scientific advancements and legislation. (Bernnard et. al, np) The ability to develop a pros and cons list about a scientific concept and form an original, untainted opinion from available data is key. Scientific writing that is unethically documented and presented negates the ability to become publicly literate. The emphasis on public literacy is imperative in technical scientific communication because it involves the dissemination of research to the broad public. University technical writing must present information in an accessible and clear manner, understand the intellectual level of the target audience, and their ability to contextualize presented information within broader political and social issues. The following examples will analyze pieces of scientific writing and their effectiveness regarding the promotion of public literacy.

Importance

Public understanding of STEM-related topics is extremely important, considering the complex implications of these topics on individual consumers. There is a multitude of new information coming out daily from various sources, but the public is not always equipped to assess or seek out what is reliable. An experiment from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the State University of New York at Buffalo determined that the media plays a large role in public perceptions of STEM-related topics. The experiment assigned nearly 4,500 Americans to read a news story about science and concluded that “exposure to stories highlighting problems reduced trust in scientists and induced negative beliefs about scientists” (Annenberg). The findings of this experiment emphasize the problem surrounding public literacy: if the public reads a single news story about a negative aspect of science, negative beliefs and distrust in scientists may follow. To solve the problem of public literacy, media outlets must make sure information is reliable, trustworthy, and presented at a level that the public can understand. When articles or data surrounding STEM topics is published without evidence or at a level that is too advanced for the average person, it is likely that negative opinions from the public will ensue, as found in the study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

Comparing and Contrasting

Writing articles demands a solid ethos between the author and the reader to appeal to public literacy. This validity of ethos must be preserved by including ethical sources and ethical documentation to prove claims made in any article writing that provides consumers with specific information. For example, Hannah Tuomisto's "The Eco-Friendly Burger" is a fascinating and well-researched article that explores the environmental impact of the beef industry and highlights how in vitro agriculture functions. She successfully argues, "Livestock, in particular, is a major environmental stressor as it produces an estimated 15% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions” (Tuomisto). Tuomisto effectively provides evidence to support her claim that the beef industry is harmful to the environment by citing "Tackling climate change through livestock: a global assessment of emissions and mitigation opportunities" by Gerber PJ. This study constructively shows how they collected data per the methodology and accurately concluded the total impact of the meat industry on GHG emissions. Conversely, Sudha Sundaram's article "Stem Cell-based Cultural Meat: No Longer Science Fiction" unethically presents information without providing citations or references to support their claims. Failing to cite sources hinders a reader's ability to know whether or not to trust the data presented in the article. For example, Sundaram claims that "several companies are already working on bringing [stem cell-based] cultured meat products to market" (Sundaram). While the development of cultured meat is accelerating, the failure to provide a source disallows the reader to judge the current state of affairs. Tuomisto’s ability to include information bolstering her argument while ethically portraying evidence is the standard that should be met. Sundaram’s negligence in citing sources ethically breaks the trust established between an author and their reader, thus hindering public literacy of clean meat.

Figure 1. An effective image at exemplifying the production process of cultured meat. 12 March 2021 (Tuomisto).

Visual Representations

Visual representations are a practical element of STEM-related articles. Graphics utilized in STEM public literacy aid in providing a visual representation of a possibly complicated scientific process, visualizing the data on a graph to emphasize causation, or providing a visual of the object or organism in a discussion. Furthermore, images can reduce lengthy writing in an article, which may cause readers to skip over the pictures. Stem Cell meat is a topic that is confusing to the public if the readers do not understand the sustainability or the production process. The production process of Stem Cell meat is essential to ensure that consumers recognize what they may choose to put into their bodies and the benefit of this production process compared to the meat industry. Figure 1, to the left, is an image in the “The Eco-Friendly Burger” article. This image is high quality and uses colors that effectively appeal to the eye and accompany the exemplified process. The color of items that illustrate parts of the pig is all a shade of pink. This color code is effective and necessary because it successfully portrays all of the “ingredients” that go into the production of the edible product (meat) in a simplified way enabling comprehension from a broader range of readers.

Figure 2. An example of an effective graphical visual representation to be included in a STEM article. 12 March 2021 (Tuomisto).

Another image included in the same “The Eco-Friendly Burger” article, figure 2, pictured below, functionally conveys data to provide proof of the sustainability of this stem cell meat.Statistics and data written in paragraphs need to be clarified and often lead to hard-to-read lengthy sentences. To further emphasize the effectiveness of color choices, this graph uses three easy-to-read colors to color code each chart. This assists in separating the three leading causes of global warming that cultured meat reduces, resulting in a deeper comprehension of this data from the readers. These graphs also are formatted correctly, which is critical when presenting scientific data to consumers. Labels on each axis, equal spacing down columns and across rows, and equal numerical increments are crucial elements to produce or provide an ethical representation of data. The graphs provided in figure 2 are composed of each of these elements. An image is beneficial when it is compatible with a wide range of readers. Ensuring that the image is high quality, uses effective colors, and has all of the ethical features mentioned above will provide for a well-written article emphasizing public literacy.

Conspiracy Theories

There have been many failures of public scientific literacy in recent history, like The Flat Earth Society, a relatively popular group of people for whom scientific literacy is not a concern. As their name suggests, they believe that the Earth is not a sphere but a flat disk, ignoring hundreds of years of consensus between experts in the fields of astronomy and physics. Their website espouses a selection of literature which can safely be considered misinformation because their central premises refute years of observations and empirical data, like the book “Is Newtonian Astronomy True?” (The Flat Earth Society) The superficially academic reading list and the well-done website seem to be the result of a developed and supported scientific theory, which can entice people who do not have adequate background knowledge. The public needs more science education so they can develop intuition about the validity of scientific claims like those made by the Flat Earth Society. Furthermore, other groups in America also hold beliefs that are not in accordance with those of traditional scientific literature. According to the Pew Research Center, “31% say humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time” (Anon) meaning these Americans do not believe in evolution. A question as fundamental as the origin of mankind has an answer that is not accepted by over 30 percent of the US population, even when that answer is supported by almost irrefutable proof from a proven system. Furthermore, 9 percent of Americans believe the covid vaccine implanted a microchip, 10 percent believe that the earth is flat, and 12 percent believe that the moon landing was faked (Hamilton). These conspiracy theories involve contentious science, and that predisposes the people who believe in them to distrust established science entirely. Scientific thought was established as an unbiased way of determining the truth about the universe. Unfortunately, science is often villainized or misunderstood by bad actors like conspiracy theorists and religious fundamentalists to the detriment of the scientific acumen of the public.

Health and Public Literacy

An article from Natural News titled “Data shows COVID-19 vaccine is the MOST DANGEROUS vaccine ever made” by Arsenio Toledo states “the FDA is withholding autopsy reports from people who died within hours or days after getting vaccinated” (Toledo). A quick Google search finds that the FDA legally cannot share medical files, citing it “would constitute as a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” (Stieber). The article goes on to say if COVID-19 vaccines were not the reason for deaths there would be no reason to block the autopsy reports. This statement ignores public privacy, which every citizen has a right to. Toledo’s article is filled with misinformation and has no citations for any of the facts presented. Considering the dangerous impact of the virus, this misinformation is scary. The Covid-19 pandemic is just one example of an ongoing topic that the public must be properly educated on. The Natural News article has the potential to severely alter an individual’s understanding of COVID-19 if they do not have the skillset for good public literacy. Misinformation in the media is dangerous, especially when it involves public health and safety. The threat to public literacy is ongoing because there are many different news sources that may have “fake news”. The usage of social media only increases this threat because anyone can post anything they want anonymously without any repercussions. In our society today public literacy involving health is as important as ever, and we must be able to distinguish between what is reliable versus untrustworthy through educated public literacy.

Climate Change (Example of Good Public Literacy in STEM Writing)

The article “Climate Change, health and Existential Risks to Civilization: A comprehensive Review (1989-2013),” by Colin D. Butler is an example of peer-reviewed scientific research that promotes public literacy by efficiently and simply presenting the facts surrounding the evolution and present state of the climate crisis. The article, which is published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, promotes active participation by the public in the form of citizen science, informing about the background of climate policy and how it has developed, and provides evidence-based recommendations to readers. In the abstract of the paper, the author clearly outlines that the purpose of the report is to perform a comprehensive literature review of all the scientific papers released between 1989-2013, the extent to which these papers have identified civilization-endangering health risks brought upon by climate change, is transparent with readers about his methods of using PubMed and google Scholar to identify articles and then rank them on a scale of global systemic risk, and finally he analyzed how many times these papers were cited by other scientists. (Butler, pp. 8-14) Using clear guidelines Butler discusses that the enormous expansion of the literature on climate change appropriately reflects the increased understanding that climate change reflects the health of our globe. This article promotes the ideology that critical STEM literacy is necessary for the public to engage in citizen science and be publicly literate. These principles are necessary for individuals to critique established bodies of power and be educated on topics that are holistically relevant.

Conclusion

Good public literacy is essential to resolve problems, such as the article by Tuomisto that provides a solution to sustainability through the use of stem cell meat. By providing accurate information to inform the public of potential solutions, consumers can make informed decisions about the products and services used in everyday life. Tuomisto offers clear, concise explanations without any basis and clear to where the reader would not make any generalizations. The examples on Health and Public Literacy and Conspiracy theories illustrate why the public must be critical of STEM publications. These articles use generalizations and take advantage of readers by classifying scientific issues as wicked problems of a sort. They treat the audience as unable to understand high-complexity problems, unable to challenge previously held social views, and not willing to critique government social policy decisions based on peer-reviewed research. These assumptions lead to writing that undermines public literacy and supports ignorance. Good public literacy gives the reader an understanding of what they have read, allowing them to retain the information for later discussion with peers.

Work Cited

Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. "How news coverage affects public trust in science: Negative stories without context can undermine confidence in science." ScienceDaily, 1 June 2021, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210601135747.htm.

Anon. “Americans, Politics and Science Issues.” Pew Research Center, 1 July 2015, p. 88.

The Flat Earth Society. https://theflatearthsociety.org/home. Accessed 26 Feb. 2023.

Hamilton, Lawrence. “Conspiracy vs Science: A Survey of U.S. Public Beliefs.” University of New Hampshire, 25 April 2022. https://carsey.unh.edu/publication/conspiracy-vs-science- a-survey-of-us-public-beliefs. Accessed 16 March 2023.

Stieber, Zachary. “FDA Refuses to Release Autopsy Results on People Who Died After COVID Vaccines.” The Defender, September 29 2022. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fda-autopsy-results-covid-vaccine-deaths-et/

Sundaram, Sudha. “Stem Cell-Based Cultured Meat: No Longer Science Fiction.” Labiotech.eu, 26 Aug. 2021, https://www.labiotech.eu/partner/stem-cell-technology-lab-grown-meat/.

Google Keywords: Science Says, Stem Cell Meat

Toledo, Arsenio. “Steve Kirsch: Data shows COVID-19 vaccine is the MOST DANGEROUS vaccine ever made.” Natural News, November 8 2022. https://naturalnews.com/2022-11-08-kirsch-covid-vaccine-most-dangerous-ever-made.html

Tuomisto, Hanna L. “The Eco-Friendly Burger Could Cultured Meat Improve the Environmental Sustainability of Meat Products?” EMBO Reports, vol. 20, no. 1, 2019, https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.201847395.

OneSearch Keywords: STEM Cell meat, Environment

Tuomisto, Hanna L. “The Production Process of Cultured Meat.” EMBO Reports, 12 March 2021, https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.201847395.

Tuomisto, Hanna L. “The Environmental Impact of Different Protein Sources.” EMBO Reports, 12 March 2021, https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.201847395.

Butler, D. Colin. “Climate Change, Health and Existential Risks to Civilization: A Comprehensive Review (1989-2013).” International

Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, MDPI, vol.15, no. 10, 16th Oct. 2018, pp. 1-21. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/10/2266. PDF Download.

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