Strategic Science Communications
Science from a wide array of disciplines offers us a wealth of information and evidence that can help policymakers, community leaders, and other change agents shape decision-making to support healthy development.
We aim to offer clear, compelling, science-based content in a variety of formats and languages that can break through the noise, offering actionable, solution-oriented information for changemakers looking to implement policies and programs that support children and their caregivers.
Yet science does not always speak for itself. While scientific research can add much-needed clarity to important public debates, misunderstanding science can lead to confusion. In our modern ecosystem where misinformation and disinformation thrive, the risk for misunderstanding—and misrepresentations of—scientific information has only increased over time. This can contribute to a lack of trust in the scientific community, which already has longstanding roots for many communities of color in the United States due to a history of racist practices in scientific and medical research.
With this in mind, we strive to present the synthesized science put forward by our councils in clear, accurate, and compelling terms while considering both historic and current ways that racism shapes children’s developmental environments.
We aim to offer clear, compelling, science-based content in a variety of formats and languages that can break through the noise, offering actionable, solution-oriented information for changemakers looking to implement policies and programs that support children and their caregivers.
Over time, we’ve found that the most effective science communication has the following characteristics:
- It’s clear. The language is free of jargon and uses explanation and metaphor to aid understanding.
- It’s accurate. The science comes from a synthesized, multidisciplinary body of knowledge, not just the latest study.
- It’s relevant. It shows how science, lived experience, and other sources of knowledge connect to current issues.
- It’s credible. It gives people enough information and explanation to trust research methods and findings.
- It’s carefully framed. It’s presented in ways that help people hear, understand, and act on the science through a solution-oriented lens.
Framing Effective Science Communications
Framing is everywhere. It’s present in our choices about what to say, how to say it, what to emphasize, and what to leave unsaid. It affects how people hear us, what they understand, and how they feel and act as a result. It also affects whether people think of an issue as something an individual needs to solve for themselves or as something we face together that demands collective action.
At the Center, we work closely with our longtime partners at the FrameWorks Institute to bring the science of framing into our communications. FrameWorks conducts empirical research to investigate and illuminate public thinking patterns around key social issues related to our work, including early childhood, racism, and climate change. We leverage those insights to ensure we are communicating effectively about these issues, presenting science-based knowledge and narratives in ways that are clear, actionable, and solution-oriented. With this approach, we aim to build knowledge that can catalyze change in policies, services, and funding across a wide array of sectors to work toward developmental environments where all children can thrive.
Resources Developed in Partnership with the FrameWorks Institute
- Strategies for Effectively Communicating About Toxic Stress
- How to Talk About Early Childhood Development to an International Audience
- Talking About Children’s Mental Health
- Talking About Toxic Stress
Additional Related Materials
- Collective Caregiving: A Frame for Talking About What Kids and Families Need to Thrive
- Talking About Racism in Child and Family Advocacy
- Reframing Early Childhood to Strengthen Systems that Impact Children and Families
About the FrameWorks Institute
The FrameWorks Institute helps progressive organizations and movements frame their communications to shift discourse, deepen understanding of issues, and advance policy change. The interdisciplinary FrameWorks team conducts empirical research to investigate patterns in public thinking about social issues and how effective framing can shift and broaden the way we see the world—and how we can make it better. Visit FrameWorks