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1. What prompted you decide to participate in the "JSPS Science Dialogue" program?
Primarily, the opportunity to stimulate young people's interest in science. Also, I believe this dialogue program provided me, as JSPS fellowship recipient, a way to give something back to the JSPS in return for providing me with such a wonderful opportunity to do my research here in Japan.
2. To what did you give greatest attention in preparing and giving the lecture?
To try and make the students aware of how crucial the oceans are to life on this planet.
To let them see that science is about discovery and learning new things.
3. Did you find it difficult to give a lecture in English to Japanese students? Could you give some advice to future lecturers on how to facilitate communication with Japanese students?
Yes, I did. Even with the use of Japanese explanations in the text, I recognized students struggled to follow my English. Even though I thought I was explaining things slowly, it was perhaps still too fast. My advice: GO SLOW!
4. Could you give your impression with regard to participating in this program?
Excellent program! Such programs are fundamental in stimulating young people's interest in science as well as realizing that their career options are endless.
5. Was it meaningful in terms of your fellowship activities?
Yes. To be able to present to a different type of audience is very useful in developing ones communication skills. A very worthy experience!
6. In what ways do you think the students benefited from the program?
The students really were stimulated by the connection between the lecture material and the experiment/demonstration. Until performing the experiment I don't think the students really believed what I was telling them, but when they saw the demonstration they were surprised and intrigued with the results. I think this provided the students with a fun practical way of learning about science.
7. Could you give some overall advice or comments to future participants in the program?
Keep it simple, go slow and definitely use a practical demonstration to capture the student's attention and stimulate their interest. Demonstrations also work very well to include those who are initially not interested.
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