Scientists are ordinary people

Most people think that scientists are men who came from rich European families and who became famous for their bizarre discoveries. Research from all over the world (e.g. by Barman et al., 1997, Schibeci, 2006) is showing that, because of this, secondary school students are becoming progressively reluctant to study the sciences, since they do not relate to this image.

In order to break away from this stereotype, a seminar was organised by the Grade 10 (Form III) students of San Anton Senior School, entitled "Scientists are ordinary people... who followed their dream".

The seminar was coordinated by Godwin Degabriele, resident chemistry teacher for 15 years at the school, and consisted of a series of highly illustrated Power Point presentations which discussed discoveries and personal lives of contemporary, lesser known scientists, many of which female, and coming from a non-European background.

Besides describing the scientific research which these scientists conducted, the presentations also focused on showing the human side of these people, such as their interests in music, philanthropy, drama and so on.

The activity avoided discussing the more well known classic scientists such as Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, in favour of ones like Shirley Ann Jackson, an established, Afro-American physicist, Karen Chin, an Hispanic American palaeontologist who did pioneering work with coprolites (fossilized dinosaur dung), Catherine Burr Blodgett, an international multi award-winning chemist, Elison Onizuka, a Hawaiian-Japanese physicist and astronaut who died in the 1986 Challenger disaster, Carl Sagan, an American physicist and writer, and Dorothy Hodgkin, a famous English chemist to mention a few.

The seminar was conducted in one of the science laboratories, during the open day organised by the school on March 28. It also inaugurated the newly installed computer projector, one of a series that were installed in the school's specialised rooms, and which are the latest current investment of the school. Parents and guests present at the school's open day were invited to attend to the activity.

The seminar was part of the theme "The image of the scientists in the media" chosen to be developed this year during the chemistry course offered by the school. This theme involves investigating how the media presents scientists to everyday society with films and TV programmes (such as CSI, Grey's Anatomy, and Mythbusters), and examining how true to life this image is.

The idea behind this theme is to put chemistry - and indeed all the science subjects - in a more pragmatic light, to promote the relevance of these subjects to everyday life, as well as to pinpoint the need of the sciences in industry.

In coordination with this project, the Grade 10 students also wrote argumentative essays entitled Ix-Xjentist fil-Media, coordinated by the Maltese teacher Edel Grima, in which they discussed the classical stereotypic image of the scientist promoted by the media, and whether this image is really a true to life one.