Jumbo Content

Explain PACE with Commonly Used Words

Can you explain PACE with only the "ten hundred" (i.e., 1000) most commonly used words in the English language? Why "ten hundred"? "Thousand" is not in the top 1000 most commonly used words in English!

In science, jargon can be a key limiting factor for students, non-scientists, and sometimes even other scientists to understand your research. One way to try to remove jargon from the way we talk about science is to challenge yourself to explain your research in only common terms. This is perhaps "deceptively simple" considering the ten hundred most common English words do not include Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean, Ecosystem, or satellite.

Want to give it a try? Use this handy "Up-Goer Five" text editor created by Theo Sanderson, inspired by the xkcd comic "Up-Goer Five" that describes the NASA Saturn V rocket. Let us know what you come up with! Simply tweet your text and include .


Need some inspiration? Check out these examples from students at the 2022 PACE Summer School. Remember, there are very few words to choose from, so folks had to be creative in order to explain complicated things:

We flew over the water and took pictures to learn about tiny life in the water. Water moves this life around, and their different colors make the water look like a painting. I look at this painting up close to see the small parts. How does the water move to make this painting? How do the colors change? And if you are looking at a painting as big as the world, how much do the small parts matter? --sarah
Participants of the 2022 PACE Summer School.
Participants of the 2022 PACE Summer School.
Sun light acts different on round and not round things in the air and everyone thinks smoke is round. I found not round smoke using a light from space so now I study really big fires to learn where, why, and how much not round smoke is in the air. --natalie
For my work I look at the color of the water from space. Tiny things that live in the water send green and red colors off the water when there are lots of them in one area. I look at pictures from space for these colors at different times of the year in order to warn people whether or not it is safe to eat food from the water. --catherine
  Aerosols & Clouds   Ocean Ecology   Ocean Color   Instruments | View All