Blockbuster Science: Checking Our Positions

Abstract

Media has always played a significant role in shaping education. Visual cues and observable phenomena brought to life on screens or through vivid and engrossing sound effects make science accessible to people in ways that textbooks, journals and technical reports cannot. With the release of blockbuster films that tackle complex subjects, the science education community gets a chance to revisit how the story of science is told. This commentary considers how two blockbuster movies might be used to discuss how to teach science-technology-society topics in secondary classrooms. The NSTA Position Statements will also be examined in the context of science storytelling through popular media.

Keywords:

• Nuclear chemistry
• nuclear physics
• gender
• equity in science
• multicultural science
• Barbie
• Oppenheimer
• Barbenheimer
• position statements

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joy Barnes-Johnson

Dr. Joy Barnes-Johnson ([email protected]) (ORCID: 0009-0004-7228-6172) is Supervisor of Science for Princeton (NJ) Public Schools. She has taught in China, Jamaica, and throughout the United States. Dr. Joy has taken students as far as Costa Rica to engage in culturally immersive science, science service learning and student research. She enjoys working as a dissertation coach and volunteer with various education outreach programs including the NAACP (ACTSO) program and a perennial gardening project that promotes community partnerships and out-of-school learning She is currently writing a book framing the role of Black educators in the work of passing on a heritage of joy in celebration of the leadership of teachers. Her favorite things to do include reading, watching old movies and cooking shows, frolicking with family, and imagining new ways to see chemistry in everyday life.