Beyond Science Fiction: Teaching Science Through Fiction (Patty Mechael)

Growing up there was the general view that there are educational swim lanes. Kids who were good at math and science, like me, did not belong in the language arts and history lanes and vice versa. This was carried forward in the early focus to get more girls into Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). But thank goodness for whoever had the wisdom to expand it to include art and make it STEAM. As someone, growing up in New Jersey in the 1980s, who was both creative and gifted in STEM, I had very little exposure to the merging of art in my educational experience in STEM. And then in college, I took what is still one of my favorite educational experiences to date, a seminar course called African Politics through Fiction. Each week, we would read a novel by a prominent African writer that illustrated the political situation and cultural context a country.  At the start of each class, the South African professor would provide an overview of the politics of the country and then launch us into the equivalent of a book club discussion. As someone who has spent much of the last 25 years working in public health in over 20 countries in Africa, it was an amazing and entertaining way to quickly immerse and orient myself to them.

 

When I began writing The Antidotes: Pollution Solution with my now 10-year-old son, Gabriel, I wanted to create a book and experience that was realistic, scientifically accurate, educational, and entertaining. I did not want to write science fiction or fantasy, but science-inspired fiction. My vision for the book was that it would be used by science teachers and librarians to engage kids in multidisciplinary dialogue about the bridging of science and art, while teaching basic scientific and public health principles like water quality testing and plotting results on a graph. In the book, one of the two narrators, Izi, struggles with her love of science and her passion for singing and performing arts. Can she do the two together? And can she use her art to make the science more accessible and fun?

 

In the writing and revision process with the help of more seasoned middle grade fiction writers, like Caela Carter, I learned that I first needed to entertain and then make sure that the science was correct. There was also some debate about whether to include science experiments and/or illustrations to accompany the experiments. I am very pleased that we included both as another example of the importance of merging science and art. The way that I think the book will work best if for kids and teachers to read the book independently at home over a period of a month and to have weekly book club discussions about the story and complementary opportunities to run the experiments in science class alongside the characters in the book.

 

One important theme for discussion includes the benefits of diversity and teamwork in the sciences as well as the arts and in the intersection of the two. In The Antidotes: Pollution Solution, Gir, the male narrator, must come to grips that Izi is better at science than he is and that’s a good thing. Drawing on my own experience as a female scientist, kids need to learn how to collaborate in the sciences across genders and races so that scientific initiatives are more representative of who we are as a society. And they need to engage across disciplines to bring creativity into the sciences. In the words of Albert Einstein, “The greatest scientists are always artists as well.”

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Dr. Patricia (Patty) Mechael is a mom, writer, and public health specialist; who combines her passions for public health, women’s rights, technology, science, and the world to inspire children and adults through her writing. Drawing on her career in global health, Patty’s works wrestle with the toughest public health and societal issues of our time, including the environment, responsible technology and AI, pandemic preparedness and mental health. Her writing also draws on her more than 20 years of work across more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Patty holds a PhD in Public Health and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Master’s in Health Science in International Health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. She is the author of the middle grade fiction novel, The Antidotes: Pollution Solution (October 4, 2022), which she wrote with her 10-year old son (available for pre-order on Amazon).