Teaching Communication Skills: Experiences, Lessons, and Resources

One of the most important life-changing experiences for me was my time as a mentor at the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program in Norman, Oklahoma (1998–2006). Another major impact on my life was my PhD research with Profs. Lance Bosart and Daniel Keyser. My time as Editor and Chief Editor of Monthly Weather Review was also influential in my career development. Two of the principal lessons that I learned from these experiences was the power of research as an educational tool and the importance of scientific communication skills. My book Eloquent Science: A Practical Guide to Becoming a Better Writer, Speaker, & Atmospheric Scientist grew out of those experiences and transformed the way that I teach, do research, supervise students, and engage in peer review. The synergy between these different activities motivates this presentation. I will discuss various experiences with teaching communication skills over a nearly 25-year career. These experiences include development and delivery of a laboratory course on communication skills, getting first-year geology students engaging with the scientific literature and publishing, reducing plagiarism in student writing assignments through training how to read the scientific literature, and providing more effective feedback in writing assignments, among others. I will also discuss my favorite resources for students, teachers, and supervisors for communication skills.