It is explained below:

/in /by

Politicians and Science Communication.Full Name____________


Visit and become familiar with the website PolitiFact. This is an independent fact-checking journalism website aimed at bringing you the truth in politics. HERE are their principles.

Your assignment is to find examples of politicians on both sides of the conservative/liberal spectrum that have given both truthful and false statements regarding the earth, its resources, climate change or the environment.Use the Truth-o-Meter/By Subject page to find topics along these lines.The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate that though politicians can communicate good scientific information, they also frequently misrepresent science, sometimes deliberately for political gains.In short, politicians are not a reliable source of scientific information.

Part 1:

For each of the 8 statements outlined below, you need to write a short paragraph (4 sentences) that:

  • Names the individual and describes their affiliation and position
  • Restates their quote
  • Summarizes why the quote is either true or false (or some shade in between)
  1. (40%) Conservative-side Politicians (typically republicans)
    1. True
  1. False
  1. (40%) Liberal-side Politicians (typically democrats)
    1. True
  1. False

Part 2:

(20%) Write a summary statement (4 sentences) that expresses why you think politicians struggle to communicate scientific information effectively. Is it mostly driven by conflict-of-interest, ignorance, or simply appealing to the opinions of their constituents? Use examples from your 8 statements above to support your statements. (20 points for Part 2: 10 points for statement about why student thinks that politicians struggle (only 6 points if completely unsupported); 5 points each for up to two examples from above that support the student’s explanation (only 4 points if the statements do not support their contention.

AND

Watch a geology disaster movie (Dante’s Peak, San Andreas, Geostorm, Volcano, etc.) and write a short assessment of 2 things that the movie gets right about geology and 2 things it gets wrong. Each point should be a full paragraph long, and your report should probably come in at ~2 pages double-spaced type.