This volume argues for the use of storytelling in formal and informal educational settings to inspire excitement about science and cultivate public trust.

Drawing on experiences in classrooms, outreach centers, discovery zones, clinical settings, advocacy organizations, and the wider community, an interdisciplinary team of authors demonstrate how storytelling creates greater engagement between speakers and audiences, how it can forge connections between audiences, and how these connections can be leveraged to create change. The chapters move from storytelling in formal classrooms, to informal learning environments, to clinic and community settings, to public spaces (clinics and communities) to national and global narratives. Together they show how people use stories to understand science, connect with one another, and imagine different futures.

This book will interest those working in STEM or science communication fields as well as researchers and academics who study storytelling and narrative.

Katherine Rogers-Carpenter is an associate professor in the University of Kentucky’s Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies, US. She teaches rhetoric and epidemics as well as technical and science writing. Her research focuses on medical history, rhetoric and disease, and her recent work addresses strategies for combatting science misinformation.