This activity is called a Community Circle Discussion (Community Circle). The discussions are intended to build connections between community members and provide opportunities to share science ideas about topics that have the potential to affect everyone. These types of discussions do not have to happen in a community space and can be conducted virtually.

Community Circles are centered around relevant science phenomena or problems that raise questions students and adults have about the natural or designed world. The goals of Community Circles are to accomplish the following:

• foster connections in communities through discussions of relevant science ideas;
• prompt participants to think about what they currently know and understand about a common topic;
• give participants a place to ask questions about things that interest them, make them curious, or cause concern;
• discuss questions and ideas with experts and others working to design solutions for the problem; and
• discover something new in a way that moves everyone along the learning continuum of a particular science idea.

In this Community Circle discussion, participants discuss a public health problem with an expert in the field.

This discussion guide was created in collaboration with and supported by HESI Global.

Click the Download PDF button above for the complete Discussion Guide.

Graphic organizer to prepare for Public Health Professional Q&A Session