Dr Sibrina Collins never expected a superhero movie to change the way she taught science. Then, in 2018, her sister invited her to go and see Black Panther. Collins hadn’t seen a Marvel movie before and had no real interest in comic books but as she watched the story unfold, an epiphany struck.
“I was really enjoying the movie, but then I thought about the idea of vibranium powering the whole country of Wakanda,” she said. “Everything was dependent on this fictional element: technology, research and medicine. I was absolutely fascinated by that, and I thought ‘OK, if this were a real element, where would it be on the periodic table?’ As a chemist, that’s what you do: come up with questions you think are interesting and need answers.”
On the way home, Collins, Director of the Marburger STEM Center at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan in the U.S., couldn’t stop thinking about the source of the fictional Wakanda’s power. The periodic table is based on a set of rules that allow chemists to predict an element’s location based on its properties such as its weight, reactivity or whether it is a metal. In the movie, the science of vibranium is explained at length: it’s lighter than steel, conducts electricity, is able to absorb vibrations and kinetic energy (e.g. bullets), and is radioactive enough to mutate local plants, enabling them to grant superpowers. All the information needed to follow the periodic table’s rules was there, on screen, in one of the biggest blockbuster movies of all time.
Spying a chance to make her students think, Collins and her colleague LaVetta Appleby decided to ask ‘where does vibranium belong on the periodic table? ‘ on an upcoming exam. “We couldn’t believe how engaged students were,” she recalls. “At one point, Professor Appleby’s physical chemistry students got wind of what we were doing, and they wanted to have a conversation about it in class too! Appleby said in all her 20 years of teaching the periodic table she had never seen the students more excited.”
The duo published the idea in the Journal of Chemical Education, where it has since been downloaded almost 18,000 times. This led to a partnership with Scholastic Science World, a magazine with more than 1 million readers, who turned the question into a worksheet for teachers as a pre-made lesson plan.
The students work in groups and create posters for a gallery wall, then defend where they think vibranium should be. But what they’re really doing is learning about the periodic table. And they’re doing it on their own; we didn’t tell them that’s what they were doing.”
In addition to use in the U.S. and Europe, her work has even influenced education programs and teaching in schools across East Africa and gained the attention of international publishers including Bloomburg and Wired.
While Collins was inspired by Marvel, she insists the choice of film is the least important aspect of the project. “I always try and find a teachable moment – whether it’s pop culture, or television, or anything – to connect with students,” she says. “What I would encourage others to do is look at other science fiction movies through the eyes of a scientist. My perspective is you are not changing the content of what you teach, you are only changing how you deliver it. You have created a hook that makes something interesting. And if your students are interested, they will persist in science.”
This also applies to identifying role models, she adds. Collins remembers how she felt as a child watching the “awesome, badass Princess Leia” in Star Wars. However, it wasn’t until completing her PhD at The Ohio State University where she was one of only seven African American students in her intake group of 200, that she decided to dedicate herself to championing diversity.
Since completing her doctorate, Collins has worked both as a chemistry researcher at Louisiana State University, where she focused on heart disease research, and as a professor at Claflin University and the College of Wooster. Much of her work has also focused on STEM outreach and promoting the history of African American chemists, including working as a writer and editor for the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and serving as Director of Graduate Diversity Recruiting at the University of Washington, Seattle as well as Director of Education at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in her hometown of Detroit. Her current role at the Marburger Center, a $20 million facility built from a gift by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, is to promote STEM outreach and encourage more students from underrepresented backgrounds to enter science.
Collins believes movies can help this mission.
I’ve given remarks to young students, particularly women, in middle school pursuing science. And when I ask them who their favourite character is, they all say Shuri.” Played by Letitia Wright, the character is Black Panther’s science genius. “They see something in her. They recognise that they can do that, go to a lab and make something happen.”
One aspect of the project that surprised Collins was how she is continuing the legacy of one of comics’ greatest writers. “After the paper was published, I read a book about creator Stan Lee. He emphasised that reading was the foundation of creativity, and was really thinking of comic books as a way to encourage young people to read. I talked to my father about it, and he said he used to share comic books with his friends – and if there was a word he didn’t know he’d look it up. So this is what Stan Lee envisioned.”
For those still holding back, Collins says there’s no reason to be afraid when it comes to taking inspiration from the wider world. “The movie encouraged me to do a lot of different things and step outside my comfort zone when connecting with young people,” she says. “Educators should know that they can really take any science fiction film and apply it to their classroom content. You have to present science in a way that resonates with your students. Just do things a little differently!”
Nor do educators have to stick to fiction. Real science is already slipping into mainstream movies; for example, the science in Dwayne Johnson’s blockbuster movie Rampage was based on Crispr gene editing, a real technique that won Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. “I remember as a kid watching The Incredible Hulk,” Collins says. “But now we’re at the point where technology has caught up with those characters. We can start having conversations about what’s realistic or not. I’ve seen one professor use the shrinking superhero Ant-Man to discuss how insects breathe. These connections are really important and you can balance the two.”
Now bitten by the comic bug, Collins is already preparing to use a Batman graphic novel in her next course. “It’s called Contagion. It was written in 1996, and it’s about a flu virus sweeping Gotham City and a race for a cure,” she says. “It’s just really timely. I’ve started reading it, and it’s fascinating. So I’m going to dive into the science that’s discussed. I’m having some fun!”
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Article by Kit Chapman
Photo Credit: LTU/Matt Roush