Communicating with scientists – interview techniques and protocols

Connecting scientists with students can have substantial educational benefits. Classroom visits, online communication, interviews and field trips make science relevant. Preparing students beforehand regarding interview techniques and etiquette serves multiple purposes. It gives students the time (and the purpose) to develop their science knowledge. It also helps to establish a professional relationship between the students and the science expert. The interview techniques are effective for both face-to-face and online interactions.

Learn more about connecting students and scientists in the resource Scientists talking to students through videos.

In this activity, students work through a framework to develop and organise questions and interview protocols prior to interviewing or communicating with a science expert.

By the end of this activity, students should be able to:

• identify some of the science concepts and questions they want to discuss with an expert

• prioritise and group interview questions

• identify the difference between open-ended and closed questions

• discuss how working through an interview framework helps to develop their questioning skills

• establish shared etiquette protocols to make the best use of the expert’s time/interview.

Download the Word file (see link below) for:

• background information for teachers

• teacher instructions

• student instructions.