Several CDT Students have published an article on Green Chemistry—Sustainability at the Atom Scale in Frontiers for Young Minds
Writing an outreach article like this was a first for all of us. The journal Frontiers for Young Minds is aimed at and reviewed by 8-15 year olds, so has a very different demographic to other academic journals! It also means the reviewing process is very different. The young reviewers and their mentors answer a series of questions asking what they learned from the article, why it was important, what they found most interesting and any parts they found confusing. They can also ask us any questions they might have. From this feedback we were able to adjust our article to make sure it was accessible to the widest possible audience. Drafting advice included making sure sentences were short enough to read aloud without running out of breath!
We really enjoyed the process of developing our article (and Jess had a lot of fun drawing the figures!), and learned a lot about translating science for a lay audience. Our article is a “Core Concept” style, but the journal also accept “New Discovery” submissions which are based on a published research article, and we'd really recommend anyone interested to take a look at how they could have a go. The Chemistry and Materials section is a new addition to the journal, so this is a great opportunity to gain a new and important skill!
Jessica Streets (Cohort 6)
