Scisnack

??? leading a Turspor group in Dovre, Norway in 2012.

Participants in a Turspor excursion in 2012.

Turspor is an exciting outreach project developed by researchers at the Bjerknes Center for Climate Research in collaboration with the Centre for Science Education at University of Bergen. Turspor integrates scientific knowledge with educational applications to bring the Norwegian landscape to life and give a deeper understanding of the processes at play. Together with the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT), Turspor plans to place permanent markers out in the Norwegian countryside. Trekkers will have the opportunity to upload interesting information about the geology and climate of their surrounding area. Teachers, educators and guides will be able to print the information and use it during school trips and outings. Questions and challenges will also be included to encourage more involvement from pupils and other enthusiasts.

From 16-20^th September, The Norwegian Research School for Climate Dynamics (ResClim) will hold a communications course at Finse, Norway. The PhD participants will work on improving their communication skills. After a series of lectures and seminars, participants will apply their new knowledge to specific tasks. One group will work on the Turspor concept and develop the information markers that will later be located in the surrounding landscape. Towards the end of the week, school classes from Bergen are invited to Finse. The Turspor group will lead excursions, and tell the scientific stories of the surrounding countryside.

The key to Turspor is clear communication skills through writing and presenting. We have to know our audience in order to communicate the relevant scientific information concisely and understandably. For this reason ClimateSnack has teamed up with Turspor for the ResClim communication course. All of the Turspor articles will be posted on the ClimateSnack.com website afterwards. We hope that the Turspor snacks will encourage constructive feedback about how we can improve the way we communicate these scientific stories to a wider audience.

For more information about Turspor, you can contact Kerim Nisancioglu.