Marie Curie

A Recipe for Invention:
Scientist Biographies

by
Traci E. Morris and Susannah Gal
Department of Biological Sciences, Binghamton University 		George W. Carver

Editor's Note:  This case has an unusual format in that what follows are the teaching notes with information on suggested activities, student instructions, and lists of scientists for biographical research and study.  There is no "student version" of this case.  Instructors interested in adopting this exercise for use in their own classrooms are encouraged to create their own version of a case for their students from the materials provided in these notes.

INTRODUCTION

Case Purpose and Synopsis

The general public, including students, have many misconceptions about basic scientific facts as well as about the people who do scientific research.  In an early study, Mead and Metraux (1957) developed a composite image of a scientist from high school students.  The perception of a scientist was that they were most often a man, bald but with facial hair, working in a laboratory for long hours with little or no interests outside of science.   This is supported by Chambers (1983), who developed a "Draw-A-Scientist" test that showed these stereotypes begin appearing by 2nd or 3rd grade.  To most people, science is a foreign world, with a different language and highly unique customs, run by people with little outside contact.

In this case study, we wish to break down that stereotype and bring science closer to students' real life experiences.  Here, students research scientists in their field to find out where they worked, how they got to their positions, and personal facts about them.  From this research, a variety of activities can be done.  By making scientists more like "real" people, we hope science becomes less intimidating to students, making it more likely they will pursue science as a career.  This follows from a study by Rosenthal (1993) of biology and liberal studies majors where the former students were much less likely to associate the traditional stereotypes with scientists presumably because of having more familiarity with the actual people doing science.  Barman (1997) who used the "Draw-A-Scientist" test suggests that exposure to different views of scientists, for instance outside of the laboratory, may help to erode those stereotypes.  Students exposed to this case may simply extend their scientific awareness into their adult life, making them more scientifically literate, an outcome that would be of benefit to all of society.

Use of This Case

This case was designed for use at every educational level, from high school to upper level graduate courses.  It can be used in many fields of science including molecular biology/biochemistry, geology, chemistry, psychology, mathematics, computer science, engineering, and anthropology (see attached lists of scientific names in these fields).  This case can be used to facilitate an understanding of who has helped develop a specific science and of how the tide of gender, race, and nationality has changed—and science along with it.

We have used this case in the discussion section of an advanced molecular biology class of almost 100 students composed of juniors, seniors, and some graduate students.  They were asked to research a particular scientist and compare themselves to that person; a timeline was then created during lecture to place the discoveries of the scientists the student chose into an historical framework.

Case Objectives

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Week 1 (30 to 45 minutes)
Break the students into small groups of no more than five people.  Once in the groups, allow the students to choose a scientist from the given list.  Suggest that they choose someone that they have not heard of or know little about.  Do not allow more than one group to choose the same scientist. This will help to keep the students' interest and will diversify the follow-up discussion.

The students must then do research, using any or all of the resources below, on the lives of the scientist.  The research should include personal life details, education, awards and prizes, important scientific "discoveries," and anything else of interest/relevance.  The research could include searching out what were the obstacles for this individual, what were the turning points in their research, what were their "eureka" moments, whether science was a social or solitary process for them, whether they formulated ideas about process, philosophy, science as a way of thinking.  To make sure that the students use a variety of sources, it may prove useful to require at least three different sources from two different types of media.

During this first week, it may be helpful to suggest to the students that they split the task of finding information between the group members.  This way, each student will have a specific question to answer and may stay more focused on the information to be gathered.  Splitting the research may also allow the students to feel less daunted by the task of gathering all the information on a scientist themselves.

Week 2 (30 to 45 minutes)
(This may occur more than one week after the first meeting to allow information to be gathered)
The students should get into their groups to share the information they have gathered.  You should suggest that each individual student type up their information and the resources from which they found the information and distribute copies within the group.  This ensures that everyone has the benefit of the work done by others in their group.

At this point, there are numerous ways this exercise could be followed up in the whole class, in the discussion section or class, just within the group, or just individually.  These approaches are described below and could certainly be used in combination.  For the advanced molecular biology class, we used options A1, A3, and C1.  We have included a sample student handout to illustrate how we worded the project activities and how much time we gave students to complete the project.  Instructors should easily be able to customize their own handouts by choosing from the suggested activities below.

Variations in the use of the information gathered

  1. In class or in discussion section:
    1. Have the students from each group pick one interesting or unusual fact they learned about their scientist and tell the whole class.  Having a list of what the students themselves found interesting might be useful in further discussions.
    2. Once the students have shared the information, have the students disperse to form groups where each of the different scientists researched are represented and each student is the only person who researched that particular scientist in their new group ("jigsawed" groups).  Now the students can ask questions of each other while role-playing their scientist.  Questions can include:
      • Why did you decide to investigate this area? Particular problem?
      • At what point during your research did you realize that you had made a major discovery?
      • Who will benefit from your work?
      • Where should the research go from here?
      • Did your family life hinder/help your work?
      • Who helped you?  From the past or in your lab now?
      From this, students should be able to think of many more questions and can be creative in their answers.  The students are not expected to know all these answers; but, with the information they have, have them imagine what would they answer if they were the scientist being asked.
    3. A time line of when the scientists did their work, were born, and died (if applicable) can prove very helpful to the students' understanding of the relevance of the history of science.  You should first draw a time line on the board starting with the earliest scientist (usually 1700 or 1800), then allow the students to place their scientist on the time line according to discovery/birth/etc. using Post-It notes.  Once this is filled in, allow the whole class to make observations.  Some start-off questions may include:
      • Is there a mass of discoveries at one time?  Or after a certain discovery, technological advance, new instrument or technique?
      • What would have happened if a certain person had not made their discovery?
      • When was there a major war?
      • What was going on politically in the country at the time?
      • Is there a difference in where the scientists came from/did research?  In Europe versus in the U.S., and when did that change?
      • Are there many women?  When did they start to come onto the scene?
      From these starting points, the students will have many observations and questions.  In order to construct such a time line, the teacher should have a fairly good grasp of the major events in history such as wars, technological advances, and scientific discoveries in general.  There are resources available that have done similar time lines that one can reference (e.g., Biographical Dictionary of Scientists).  Another visual option may be to use colored Post-it notes to represent gender, race, country, use of a particular technique, etc., on a time line drawn on the board.  This allows the students an opportunity to see trends that may not be visible with just names and/or discoveries on a blackboard.
    4. After collecting the information, the students could be assigned the task of creating a 5-minute presentation geared to the general public.  They could be the research assistants who have been working with this scientist during some specific period.  This presentation would need to address the important scientific discoveries and what led to those discoveries, as well as interesting tidbits about the scientist.  When the students reconvene, each group could give their presentation to the rest.  After listening to the presentations, the class could then decide what order they would like the scientists to be introduced (chronologically, in order of importance, grouped according to location or discovery, etc.) as if the whole were a half-hour-long documentary on different scientists in the field.  The students could then discuss the interrelationship of the different people presented and how the different research activities could be tied together.  The students could then write up their impressions of the different presentations and the discussion about the interactions between the scientists for a written report.  In addition, if these initial presentations were being conducted in separate discussion groups, the students could present again for the entire class in the order and with the links between the scientists that the discussion group decides.  This might be an excellent addition for a class that includes an oral or multimedia approach to instruction.
  2. Group work that may need no further class presentation time (class time though could be used by the groups to work on the project)
    1. After the students have information on the scientist, especially where they obtained their education and where they did their research, have them try to do a scientific trace to someone that knew the scientist and can be reached now.  The students could then contact that person and ask their impressions of that person as a scientist, as a person, as a mentor (or as a student).  The Internet has many sites describing the history of different research institutes.  Universities and Institutes may have a log of who worked there when and where they moved to afterwards that may be helpful in this.  The Community of Science website may be useful for current scientists.  In addition to the Internet, publications are a very useful resource as they often have more than one author, some of whom might be easier to trace.  Using this option will not only allow the students to learn about many different scientists and become familiar with scientific journals, but it will also allow them to realize that many people, often representing multiple disciplines, work together to make the major discoveries.  This variation may work well for upper level undergraduate or graduate courses.
    2. There are many scientists that do not have a specific website completely devoted to themselves, their lives and their work, so in this variation the students would develop a website for their specific scientist.  This would be an excellent project for a multi-media science class.  The site should include a history of the person (like in the write-up in C1 below), resources other than the Internet to find out more about the scientist, a list of publications, links to other sites (the institute or university where the scientist worked), and a "last updated date." As mentioned above, on there Internet one can find sites that provide the history of research institutes as well as university sites that may have a log of who worked when and where they moved to that may be helpful.  If the scientist is alive, they should be contacted for approval and also to see if they want their contact address printed on the page.  For scientists that helped found institutes for research or universities, the institution should also be contacted for information and approval.
    3. This variation works extremely well for upper level courses:  Once the students have information on the scientist, especially where they obtained their education and where they did their research, have them form a scientific family tree backwards and forwards from their main scientist.  Who worked for whom?  When?  Where did they go afterwards?  Ideally these family trees would then be tacked on the board in class, then common members on different trees could be circled and/or lines connecting them created with chalk or string.  This should be planned out ahead by the instructor who may know how some of the potential scientists are inter-connected.  The Internet has many sites on the history of research institutes.  Some sites of universities may have a log of who worked when and where they moved to that may be helpful in this.  The Community of Science website may be useful for current scientists.  In addition to the Internet, a very useful resource is publications.  Many publications have more than one author, one of whom might be easier to trace.  Using this option will not only allow the students to learn about many different scientists, but it will also allow them to realize that many people work together to form the major discoveries, that many people in the scientific community know or have worked with many others, and will allow the students the chance to become familiar with scientific journals.  (NOTE: This project may require more time than one week.)
  3. Individual work that may need no further class time
    1. The students can write a biography of the scientist and include the following information:  a short summary of their personal life, their education, their career time line, any awards or prizes they received, a description of their major discovery, and the effect of that discovery on the field.  It is also good to have the students compare and contrast themselves with their scientist.
    2. The students can do individual papers solely on the education and career of their scientist.  This will help the students to realize that there is more to a science degree than teaching and pure research.  Many students do not know what can be done once they graduate with a science degree and this might inform them of some options.
    3. The student paper could be purely on the "human side of science." The students should describe where the scientist came from, their family life, their choices in continuing in the sciences, etc.  The students can then compare what they "have" to what the scientist "had", compare possible gender bias, compare age of discovery, compare economic status, compare education, did they come from a scientific family, etc.  The student can be encouraged to argue which personal factors may have been most important in why that person became a successful scientist.
    4. From the presentations of all the groups, each student should decide what other scientist would be related (in field area/discovery/etc) to theirs and have the student write a letter as their scientist to the other scientist.  The other scientist could be from before, during, or after the student's scientist's time.  In this letter, the student should explain why the other scientist would be interested in what they (as their scientist) have found or accomplished.  It should include a short biography of who they are, where they worked/were educated, what they did, and why their work is important.  The students should be encouraged to be creative in writing to someone else of "their" work and relating to the other scientist.
    5. From the questions asked during the "jigsawed" groups (variation A2), the students can write up some of the questions that they liked best and how they answered them and why they answered in that way.  The write-up should also include a short summary of their findings about the scientist so the teacher can relate better if only somewhat familiar with the person.

LISTS OF SCIENTISTS

Please note that certain scientists were purposely excluded from the lists below because we were unable to find much, if any, information on them in the standard book-type references.  This convinced us that we should not include them in the list since it might prove too difficult for students to find the kind of information one would like to complete the project successfully.  If you have suggestions of scientists you think should be added to these lists, please contact Susannah Gal at sgal@binghamton.edu.

Anthropologists
Biologists/Biochemists
Chemists
Computer Scientists
Engineers
Entomologists/Zoologists/Botanists
Geologists/Meterologists
Mathematicians
Molecular Biologists/Geneticists
Physicists
Physiologists/Medicine
Psychologists

STUDENT RESOURCES

There are a wide number of resources for material about the lives of scientists.  Those listed and described below are by no means exhaustive.

Reference Works

Books

Again, the listing below is not exhaustive.  There may be many more in your library that will be useful.

Internet Sites

This list should help students get started.  Students should supplement this list with their own searches using search engines such as Lycos.com, Google.com, and Yahoo.com, to locate specific web pages on the scientist they are researching.

Movies

Other

STUDENT FEEDBACK

This case study was used in the discussion sections of an upper level molecular biology class of about 100 students.  Small groups of students were asked to research an individual scientist including their career and professional life, awards and honors, education, major contribution to the field of molecular biology, and personal life.  The students were then asked to share the information gathered with the other members of the group and write a paper including the above information plus a section comparing and contrasting themselves with the scientist.

In lecture a timeline was drawn on the board and colored Post-It notes (relating to gender) were placed on the timeline.  Once in place, questions such as those found in variation A3 were discussed as a whole class.  The following are comments students made after the timeline presentation.

REFERENCES

Acknowledgements:  Publication of this case study on the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science website was made possible with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Date Posted:  05/07/03 nas

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