We Can Do Better

One of the goals of Prove Your World is not only to encourage scientific thinking, but also to dispel the stereotypes about scientists. Ask someone to picture a scientist and they’ll likely imagine someone in a lab coat, typically white and male, often with wild fuzzy hair. It’s a stereotype that’s often encouraged in children’s science shows. Bill Nye always wore a lab coat on his show, for example. Then check out a more recent video from the Ohio PBS series Spaced Out, where the two “scientist” hosts even wear their lab coats to a baseball game.

Surely we can do better.