From the wizard to the doubter: Prototypes of scientists and engineers in fiction and non-fiction media aimed at Dutch children and teenagers

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to gain insight into the prototypical scientists as they appear in fiction and non-fiction media consumed by children and teenagers in The Netherlands. A qualitative-interpretive content analysis is used to identify seven prototypes and the associated characteristics in a systematic way. The results show that the element of risk is given more attention in fiction than in non-fiction. Also, eccentric scientists appear more often in fiction. In non-fiction, the dimension useful/useless is more important. Furthermore, fictional scientists are loners, although in practice scientists more often work in a team. In both fiction and non-fiction, the final product of the scientific process gets more attention than the process itself. The prototype of the doubter is introduced as an alternative to the dominant representations because it represents scientists and engineers in a more nuanced way.

Who Reads Science Fiction and Fantasy, and How Do They Feel About Science? Preliminary Findings From an Online Survey

“…Although there are correlations between support of real science and the benefits of science fiction as a form of pursuit, there are only very weak correlations with scientists in science fiction and real scientists being comparatively more or less "grounded." This contrasts with the findings of a previous study, focused on children's literature, that indicated representations of science fiction scientists are negative and unrealistic (Van Gorp, Rommes, & Emons, 2014). The findings of this survey may suggest that negative representations of fictional scientists have a limited impact on the attitudes toward scientists expressed by the adult science fiction reader.…”

Scientists and deliberativeness of European public television news

“…99 Along the same lines, very recently seven prototypes of scientists were found in fiction and non-fiction media consumed by Dutch children: a genius, a genius wizard, a nerd, a puzzler, an adventurer, a wizard, a mad scientist and a misunderstood genius. 100 Irrespective of the differences between these stereotypes, they all have in common that tend to be at odds with the image of scientists that provide, as experts, rational arguments to an issue.…”

Human Culture and Science Fiction: A Review of the Literature, 1980-2016

“…Literary criticism is an expected theme in a review of publications on fiction; pedagogy, however, was not a search term and consequently the prevalence of the use of science fiction in education and for educational purposes was a significant finding. This varied from classroom education employing science fiction texts and media as aids to learning (Larsen, 2011;Toscano, 2011;Wilsing & Akpinar-Wilsing, 2004), to observations on how science fiction has served as popular, informal, education on a range of topics; leading to both positive (Coyer, 2014;Hansen, 2004;Jonsson, 2013;Strauss, 2015) and negative outcomes (Banerjee, 2003;Geraci, 2007;Hull, 2005;Jameson, 1987;Jonsson, 2013;Kohlmann, 2014;Kotasek, 2015;Parrinder, 2009;Shaddox, 2013;Van Gorp, Rommes, & Emons, 2014), to recommendations on the use of science fiction as an effective educational medium or resource (Erren & Falaturi, 2009;McIntire, 1982;Milner, 2009;Van Dijck, 1999).The majority of the remaining papers were classified under the closely related, but distinct, themes of science and technology studies (Bainbridge, 2004;Brandau, 2012;Fendt, 2015;Maguire, 2013;Schwartz, 2013;Sielke, 2015;Slaughter, 2014) and science communication (Carpenter, 2016;Nerlich et al, 1999), which were also connected to pedagogy in three papers (Hansen, 2004;McIntire, 1982;Toscano, 2011). The two explicitly communications-themed papers were concerned with the melodramatic and negative effect of use of science fiction tropes in media representations of science.…”