Communicating soil biodiversity research to kids around the world

Abstract

In today's era of unprecedented global challenges, such as biodiversity loss, and a concurrent growing scepticism towards science, effective science communication is paramount to bridging the gap between the scientific community and the public. This is particularly true for soil biodiversity. Soils are home to more than half of the species on our planet and provide essential ecosystem services to humanity. But we still know too little about them, and our knowledge often does not effectively reach the general public. In this article, we present benefits of communicating science in plain-language, for example via encouraging scientists to take a step back and rethink the wider context of their research. We created a series of scientific articles covering various aspects of soil biodiversity tailored towards kids aged 8-15 and published them in Frontiers for Young Minds, a scientific journal providing articles written by scientists for kids and reviewed by kids. This endeavour evolved into a comprehensive collection of 33 research articles, written by 78 scientists and reviewed by 30 scientific mentors together with 59 young minds. As these articles were only available in English, we recognized the language barrier as a significant obstacle, limiting access for the vast majority of children worldwide. Therefore, we started the Translating Soil Biodiversity project with the goal of translating the English articles into as many languages as possible. Thanks to the motivation and generosity of a hundred volunteers, articles from the collection have already been translated into 22 languages. This multilingual and open resource is now available as a valuable tool for children and educators globally. By making scientific knowledge accessible and engaging for kids around the world, we aim to inspire curiosity, foster understanding, and cultivate a sense of stewardship towards the environment from an early age. Through initiatives like ours, researchers can help to empower future generations with the knowledge and awareness needed to address pressing environmental challenges and to build a sustainable future, not only on top of, but empowered by, diverse and functional soil ecosystems.

Keywords

• science communication
• children
• young adults
• soil biodiversity
• translation
• teaching