Chapter 2: Dispositions of Scientists in Mainstream Films: The Extraordinary Person Called a Scientist

Science education reform documents (AAAS, 1989, 1993; NRC, 1996, 2013) stress the notion that K–12 students should have an understanding of science in order to make informed decisions. The scientific endeavor is the overarching theme in K–12 education, but we can get so caught up in “the facts” surrounding science that we forget to inform our students about the people who actually conduct science (i.e., the scientist). There is a widely held stereotypical perception that a scientist is someone who (1) is male with facial hair; (2) wears a lab coat, glasses, and pocket protector; (3) works in a laboratory with bubbling beakers of unknown fluids; and (4) has thoughts of great discoveries or “eureka moments” (Finson, 2002). But, is this stereotypical caricature truly reflective of the people who conduct science? Story telling through film and television is a powerful tool for portraying science and the scientist. Extending our research of mainstream films’ portrayal of nature of science (NOS) and scientific inquiry (SI) (Koehler, Binns, & Bloom, 2013), we have developed the construct of the dispositions of scientists (DOS). In this chapter, we introduce this construct to examine the affective behaviors of the scientist in order to expand upon the stereotypical perception so often held by students. We will provide examples from mainstream films in which various DOS aspects are portrayed and will compare and contrast these film characters to demonstrate the variety of dispositions of scientists that are conveyed in mainstream box office films. We will conclude the chapter by providing strategies on how to teach DOS in the classroom using mainstream films and discuss the implications that DOS has for science education and science education research.