Ode to Healthy Futures

Introducing the Resource: Ode to Healthy Futures

Health is personal. But health science can feel distant, complicated, and cold. How do we make space for the personal in science—and ensure that our personal ideas and decisions about health have a foundation in science?

Ode to Healthy Futures is a cross-disciplinary project designed to make health science stories accessible and relevant. At the same time, it offers a welcoming space to share personal connections to the science that shapes our lives. After exploring short texts and photos about a health topic, participants are invited to share their reflections, connections, and dreams for a healthier future through lines of poetry.

Ode to Healthy Futures can be navigated by students, educators, and community members without introduction. This workshop guide is designed to deepen participants' experience, facilitating in-depth reflection and purposeful contribution to the project.

Key Concepts:

Using this workshop plan and the Ode to Healthy Futures digital platform, students can explore these central understandings.

• Science can help explain the world, and can also help us envision a better future.
• Individual health is influenced by the health of one's community, society, and environment.
• Misinformation can have negative impacts on individuals' and communities' health.
• Storytelling, personal connection, and creative expression can be powerful tools in dispelling misinformation and tackling stigma.

Share Your Voice:

Students, educators, and community members are invited to contribute to Ode to Healthy Futures. Using the digital platform, you can choose a topic, explore a story, and then write lines of poetry in response. Poems submitted through this tool will be shared in a public gallery. (Participants can choose to share their names, ages, and locations, or to keep this information private.)

Workshop Guide: Dispelling Science Misinformation Through Storytelling

Step 1: Reflect on health information.

• What is something you do for the sake of your health? How do you know that this makes you healthy?
  • Extension: Ask students to write 3-5 sentences explaining why this habit is healthy, citing at least two health science sources. (Sources may include doctors, journals, universities, government institutes, etc.)
• Have you ever learned new information about health that changed how you thought or what you did?
• What health stories or information have you come across recently?
  • Where did you get this information?
  • Does this story/information relate to your personal health? Could it help you make decisions? Why or why not?

Step 2: Reflect on health misinformation.

Misinformation is inaccurate or misleading information.

• How can misinformation impact your health and other people's health?
• Can you think of an example of misinformation impacting people's health?
  • Need help thinking of an example? Check out the reporting project Smoking for the State by Jason McClure and Jude Chan. The journalists explain how Chinese tobacco companies are using a misleading marketing strategy to make consumers think their cigarettes are safer than they are. This strategy was also used by U.S. and other Western tobacco companies for decades before it was banned.
• When you see misinformation impacting people's health, what can you do?

Step 3: Addressing health science misinformation.

Harmful misinformation abounds in the world of health science. How can you help amplify true information that can help you and your community make healthy choices?

One common approach is debunking, a strategy that exposes misinformation as false and presents true information in its place.

Another approach is prebunking, the strategy of presenting true information before the misinformation has ever reached your audience. For prebunking to work, you don't necessarily need to bring up the myth you're countering. You can just present truth in a clear and compelling way.

Science communication researcher and professor Michael F. Dahlstrom writes that "[w]hen contrasted with scientific information, narratives often have a disproportionate influence on attitudes and behaviors." This means that journalists and creative writers have a real responsibility to craft stories that have a strong foundation in scientific truth. It also means that science can benefit from the power of storytelling to get its message across.

Now, visit Ode to Healthy Futures to get started exploring examples of stories that communicate true information about health science, and to share your own creative response. Once you are on the digital platform, follow these steps:

1. Choose a topic / photo that interests you.
2. Read the story. (You can also scroll down to play an audio recording.)
3. Reflect on the following:
   • What health science information do you learn from this story?
   • Can you think of any misinformation this story might address?
   • What personal connections can you make to this story or topic?
4. Read the writing prompt, which will ask you to respond to the story in a way that envisions a healthier future.
5. Write your response. While you write or when you review / edit your poem, consider the following:
   • Is the basic scientific truth at the core of my poem clear? (It should be a piece of health science information from the story!)
   • Do I repeat any misinformation in my poem? (If so, make sure you thoroughly debunk it!)
   • Have I shared a personal connection by writing about my own dreams, feelings, and/or experiences? (This will help harness the power of storytelling to communicate your message.)

Be sure to submit your poem to the Ode to Healthy Futures gallery to amplify scientific truths and share your vision for a healthier future.

Explore postcards with writing prompts for Ode to Healthy Futures below. You can also download a PDF version here.