Portrayals of science and scientists, and ‘science for citizenship’ (original) (raw)

Abstract

There are increasing calls in the science education community for 'science for citizenship' as an important goal for the school science curriculum of the 21st century. The potential influence of portrayals of science and scientists in popular culture on the achievement of this goal is explored in this paper through a review of the literature. We develop a framework of important questions citizens ask in considering personal and social decision making in relation to science and technology issues, and how portrayals of science and scientists might contribute to this decision making process.

Loading...

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

References (66)

  1. BAK, H. (2001) Education and public attitudes toward science. Implications for the 'deficit model' of education and support for science and technology, Social Science Quarterly, 82, pp. 779-795.
  2. BERGER, M. (1980) Mad Scientists in Fact and Fiction (New York, Franklin Watts).
  3. BINGLE, W.H. & GASKELL, P.J. (1994) 'Science for citizenship' for decision making and the social construction of scientific knowledge, Science Education, 78, pp. 185-201.
  4. BOWDOIN VAN RIPER, A. (2002) Science in Popular Culture: A Reference Guide (Westport, CT, Greenwood Press).
  5. BRICKHOUSE, N.W. (2001) Embodying science: a feminist perspective on learning, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38, pp. 282-295.
  6. BROWNLOW, S. & DURHAM, S. (1997) Sex differences in the use of science and technology in children's cartoons, Journal of Science Education and Technology, 6, pp. 103-110.
  7. CAMPBELL, P. (2002) A citizenship dimension to physics education, Physics Education, 37, pp. 191-196.
  8. CRICHTON, M. (1999) Ritual abuse, hot air and missed opportunities, Science, 283, pp. 161-163.
  9. DUGGAN, S. & GOTT, R. (2002) What sort of science education do we really need?, International Journal of Science Education, 24, pp. 661-679.
  10. ELENA, A. (1993) Exemplary lives: biographies of scientists on screen, Public Understanding of Science, 2, pp. 205-223.
  11. ELENA, A. (1997) Skirts in the lab: Madame Curie and the image of the woman scientist in the feature film, Public Understanding of Science, 6, pp. 269-278.
  12. EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR EDUCATION AND CULTURE (2002) http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education culture/succes/science en.htm (accessed 29 July 2002).
  13. FREEMAN, J. (1996) Highly Able Girls and Boys (Northampton, The National Association for Able Children in Education).
  14. FURSICH, E. & LESTER, E.P. (1996) Science journalism under scrutiny: a textual analysis of 'Science Times', Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 13, pp. 24-43.
  15. GARDNER, M. (2000) Did Adam and Eve have Navels? Debunking Pseudo Science (New York, W.W. Norton).
  16. GOTT, R., DUGGAN, S. & ROBERTS, R. (2002) Research into understanding scientific evidence http://www.dur.ac.uk/richard.gott/Evidence/cofev.htm (accessed 31 January 2002).
  17. GREGORY, J. & MILLER, S. (1998) Science in Public: communication, culture and credibility (New York, Plenum Press).
  18. HAYNES, R.D. (1994) From Faust to Strangelove (Baltimore, The John Hopkins University Press).
  19. HEMISH, D. & TIDHAR, C.E. (1999) Still marginal: women in Israel's 1996 television election campaign, Sex Roles, 41, pp. 389-412.
  20. HENDERSHOT, C. (1997) The atomic scientist, science fiction films and paranoia: The Day the Earth Stood Still, This Island Earth and Killers from Space, Journal of American Culture, 20, pp. 31-41.
  21. HINMAN, R.L. (1999) 'Science for citizenship' revisited, Phi Delta Kappan, 81, pp. 239-241. HOUSE OF LORDS SELECT COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY THIRD REPORT (2000) http://www.parliament.the-stationery office.co.uk/pa/1d199900/ldselect/ldsctech/38/3809.htm (accessed 29 July 2002).
  22. HURD, P.H. (1998) Scientific literacy: new minds for a changing world, Science Education, 82, pp. 407-416.
  23. IRWIN, A. & WYNNE, B. (1996) Misunderstanding Science? The Public Reconstruction of Science and Technology (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).
  24. JENKINS, E. (1994) Scientific literacy, in: T. HUSEN & N. POSTLETHWAITE (Eds) The International Encyclopedia of Education (Oxford, Pergamon Press).
  25. JENKINS, E. (1999) School science, citizenship and the public understanding of science, International Journal of Science Education, 21, pp. 703-710.
  26. JONES, R.A. (1997a) The boffin: a stereotype of scientists in post-war British films (1945-1970), Public Understanding of Science, 6, pp. 31-48.
  27. JONES, R.A. (1997b) The scientist as artist: a study of The Man in the White Suit and some related British comedies of the postwar period (1945-1970), Public Understanding of Science, 7, pp. 135-147.
  28. KERR, B. (1994) Smart Girls Two: A New Psychology of Girls, Women and Giftedness (Melbourne, Hawker Brownlow).
  29. KOIVULA, N. (1999) Gender stereotyping in television media sport coverage, Sex Roles, 41, pp. 589-604.
  30. KOLSTO, S.D. (2000) Consensus projects: teaching science for citizenship, International Journal of Science Education, 22, pp. 645-646.
  31. KOLSTO, S.D. (2001) Scientific literacy for citizenship: tools for dealing with the science dimension of controversial socioscientific issues, Science Education, 85, pp. 291-310.
  32. KYLE, W.C. (1995a) Scientific literacy: how many lost generations can we afford?, Journal of Research Science Teaching, 32, pp. 895-896.
  33. KYLE, W.C. (1995b) Scientific literacy, where do we go from here?, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 32, pp. 1007-1009.
  34. KYMLICKA, W. & NORMAN, W. (1994) Return of the citizen: a survey of recent works on citizenship theory, Ethics, 104, pp. 352-381.
  35. LAUGKSCH, R. (2000) Scientific literacy. A conceptual overview, Science Education, 84, pp. 71-94.
  36. LAW, N. & FENSHAM, P. (2002) Executive Summary of Society and Science: A Study of Citizens' Lives in Three Cities in China (Hong Kong, Department of Educational and Curriculum Studies, University of Hong Kong).
  37. LAW, N., FENSHAM, P.J., LI, S. & WEI, B. (2000) Public understanding of science as basic literacy, Melbourne Studies in Education, 41, pp. 145-155.
  38. LAYTON, D., JENKINS, E., MAGILL, S. & DAVEY, A. (1993) Inarticulate Science? Perspectives on the public understanding of science and some implications for science education (Nafferton, Studies in Science Education).
  39. LONG, M. & STEINKE, J. (1996) The thrill of everyday science, images of science and scientists on children's educational science programs in the United States, Public Understanding of Science, 5, pp. 101-119.
  40. MILLER, J.D. (1998) The measurement of civic science literacy, Public Understanding of Science, 7, pp. 203-223.
  41. MILLER, J.D. (2000) The development of civil science literacy in the United States, in: D.D. KUMAN & D.E. CHUBIN (Eds) Science, Technology and Society: A Source Book on Research and Practice (New York, Plenum). NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD (2000) Science & Engineering Indicators-2000 (Arlington, VA, National Science Foundation) (NSB-00-1).
  42. NELKIN, D. & LINDEE, S. (1998) Cloning people in the popular imagination, Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 7, pp. 145-149.
  43. OUTRAM, D. (1996) Professor Branestawn and his friends, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, 27, pp. 109-114.
  44. PARK, R. (2000) Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud (Oxford, Oxford University Press).
  45. PETERSEN, A. & BUNTON, C. (2002) The New Genetics and Public Health (London, Routledge).
  46. PETKOVA, K. & BOYADJIEVA, P. (1994) The image of the scientist and its function, Public Understanding of Science, 3, pp. 215-224.
  47. PHILLIPS, P., MCKAY, R. & MCKAY, H. (1992) The comic influence on the image of science?, School Science Review, 74(267), pp. 123-125.
  48. POTTS, R. & MARTINEZ, I. (1994) Television viewing and children's beliefs about scientists, Journal of Applied Development Psychology, 15, pp. 287-300.
  49. RAE, I. (1982) Dustcoats in dustjackets, Chemistry in Australia, 49, pp. 162-165.
  50. RAMPAL, A. (1992) Images of science and scientists: a study of school teachers' views. I. Characteristics of scientists, Science Education, 76, pp. 415-436.
  51. ROBOTTOM, I. (1992) Images of science and science education, Australian Science Teachers' Journal, 38(2), pp. 19-25.
  52. ROTBLAT, J. (2002) Citizenship and science, Physics Education, 37, pp. 186-190.
  53. ROTH, W. & LEE, S. (2002) Science literacy as collective praxis, Public Understanding of Science, 11, pp. 33-56.
  54. RYDER, J. (2001) Identifying science understanding for functional scientific literacy, Studies in Science Education, 36, pp. 1-44.
  55. R. Schibeci & L. Lee SCHIBECI, R.A. (1986) Images of science and scientists and science education, Science Education, 70, pp. 139-149.
  56. SCHIFF, S.D. (1980) Mad Scientists: An Anthology of Fantasy and Horror (New York, Doubleday).
  57. SHAFIR, G. (1998) The Citizenship Debates: A Reader (Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota).
  58. SHAMOS, M.H. (1995) The Myth of Scientific Literacy (New Brunswick, Rutgers).
  59. SHERMER, M. (2001) The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense meets Nonsense (Buckingham, Open University Press).
  60. SKAL, D.J. (1998) Screams of Reason (New York, WW Norton).
  61. SMITH, P. (1999) Sex, lies and Hollywood's administrators: the (de)construction of school leadership in contemporary films, Journal of Educational Administration, 37, pp. 50-65.
  62. SOLOMON, J., DUVEEN, J. & SCOTT, L. (1994) Pupils' images of scientific epistemology, International Journal of Science Education, 16, pp. 361-373.
  63. STEINKE, J. (1997) A portrait of a woman as a scientist: breaking down barriers created by gender role stereotypes, Public Understanding of Science, 6, pp. 409-428.
  64. STITH, B.J. (1999) The use of the movie 'Lorenzo's Oil' as a teaching tool: http://carbon.cudenver.edu/ ϳ bstith/loren.htm.
  65. SUTMAN, F.X. (1996) Science literacy: a functional definition, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 33, pp. 459-460.
  66. WANJEK, C. (2003) Bad Medicine (New York, Wiley).