GOVPH

It has been a hectic schedule in the previous weeks for some students and faculty staff from the Governor Ferrer Memorial Integrated National High School (GFMINHS) in General Trias City in Cavite as they were preparing for the Division Schools Press Conference and in a few weeks from now, for the Regional Press Conference.

These competitions are the battleground for elementary and secondary students in the country as they slug it out to be top young journalists in different categories such as news, sports, and science.

On 25-26 May 2023, 60 Grade 7 to Grade 11 students participated in a science communication seminar workshop organized and conducted by the Department of Science and Technology-Science and Technology Information Institute (DOST-STII).

Its objective was to help the student qualifiers prepare for the upcoming RSPC and to give the student participants basic knowledge on crafting compelling and engaging stories related to science, climate change, and the environment.

"Initially, it was for the students to learn the basic 5 W's and H of science writing, but it exceeded our expectations. Through this training, we learned that science stories have a greater purpose than creating a good one," said Madonna Ferrer, faculty staff and School Publication Adviser from GFMINHS.

It was a two-day seminar-workshop under the "Science Journo Ako Advocacy" program of the DOST- STII, which aims to capacitate and enhance the skills of students, researchers, scientists, and the media in creating science content suitable for various platforms such as print, online news sites, and social media channels. However, beyond that is to have a better understanding and appreciation of the vital roles of communicating science and its benefits to the public.

One of the speakers was Krixia Subingsubing, a young but experienced science-beat reporter from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

She shared various tips on how to find a better or more compelling story angle out of that information culled from various sources such as published scientific journals, technical presentations, and expert interviews.

Subingsubing gave emphasis on choosing a story angle, especially related to science, and said that we should think of existing issues or concerns that these technologies or research could be addressed or provided appropriate and timely solutions.

"Writing science stories are all about connecting the scientists' or experts' suggested solutions to their intended beneficiaries. Out of those raw data or sets of information provided to us, let’s find those details and put it in your story," said Subingsubing.

She also added that you may evaluate your story ideas by asking these questions yourself. Does it offer new findings? Have others covered this story? It is significant to the public. Is this something your parents, siblings, or friends will find interesting? Does the story have high stakes?

Subingsubing also reminded the student-participants that in writing and reporting a science story, we should do our due diligence to research our topic and develop some sort of critical thinking in all the information that we receive from various sources.

"Our science stories play an important role as all the information that we shared, on how we presented those facts and data, could be the basis of everyone in making decisions to their everyday life," Subingsubing said.

The young and dynamic resource speaker also shared some tricks in conducting interviews with our scientists and researchers to make them comfortable with you to share necessary and interesting data and information about their products and research.

"Writing for science is beyond presenting the 5Ws and 1H that we all know but also the so what of our articles. Science stories present data and findings that could affect our lives. Let’s make our science stories to be an agent of change in our society by allowing our readers to have better-informed decisions.

Meanwhile, aside from lectures on Science News and Feature Writing, the seminar workshops also discussed social media content creation and basic principles of design and layout.

DOST-STII's Allan Mauro V. Marfal and Rosemarie C. Senora shared their knowledge and experience in creating engaging content for multimedia platforms.

"We would like to extend our appreciation to the DOST-Science and Technology Information Institute and Ms. Krixia (Subingsubing) for the opportunity given to our young learners. It is a kind of significant event that happened in our humble school. Looking forward to another very successful activity to be conducted in our school as part of your advocacy program," said in a statement by GFMINHS Principal Ramy Dalida.

"Science and technology have numerous practical applications in our daily lives, and it is our mission at DOST-STII to produce young, dedicated, and capable science communicators who can share phenomenal science stories with every Filipino. Our goal is to make science fun and exciting and to disseminate it through the platforms preferred by Gen Z and Gen Alpha," said DOST-STII Richard P. Burgos in a video message.

This seminar-workshop is one of the activities of the Science Journo Ako advocacy program of the DOST-STII that started in 2015, in partnership with various academic institutions, state universities and colleges (SUCs), and organizations that seek to strengthen science communication and instill a culture of science among the students, faculty, researchers, and industry practitioners. To date, SJA has already conducted 43 seminars/webinars, capacitating some 12,000 students, researchers, and science communication advocates.

If you want to bring your Science Journo Ako workshops to your school or area, e-mail us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or message us through our official Facebook page: Science Journo Ako.